Memphis

I was raised on 50′s & 60′s R&B.  Motown, Aretha, and James Brown were in constant rotation in my household growing up.  Explains a lot, I’m sure.

Anyway, the fact that I was hesitant about the new musical Memphis surprised me.  A new (not jukebox) musical filled with tunes and attitudes from the era of music I was weaned on?  It should have been a no-brainer, right?  Something was nagging at me, and while I’m still unsure why I wasn’t racing out to see it, I did eventually get tickets and see the show.  Obs.

Memphis itself is an enjoyable theatre experience.  Lots of fun, enjoyable vibe, and some dynamic performances.  I recommend it for anyone who enjoys a musical in any form.  However, the show was clearly in development way too long.

The story is fairly simple – white guy loves R&B, stands out in the crowd, gets a radio show & promotes the new sound to a white audience (leveraging the burgeoning youth culture).  He, of course, falls in love with a singer, and eventually pushes too hard.  Its loosely based on real people in Memphis, but there’s no real formal credit there.

If the plot bears a passing familiarity to Hairspray & Dreamgrils, that familiarity is not really all that passing.  It clearly sits as a companion piece to the two, firmly sandwiched in there.  Tonally, Memphis also fits somewhere between those two shows.  It has some of the “overcome circumstance” of Dreamgirls blended with some of Hairspray’s sweetness & congenial attitude.

The performances are quite strong, if ultimately disjointed.  Chad Kimball gives a tender, if slightly nasal performance as the DJ trying to share his love of “race music”.  Montego Glover, as the symbolic star he falls in love with, radiates energy and knocks the house down a few times with a ferocious voice and arms that rival Angela Bassett in “What’s Love Got To Do With It”.  She’s positively dynamic, and I went home looking for other work she’s been in.  I look forward to seeing more of her.

However, as I hinted, the two don’t have great romantic chemistry.  There’s a likeness, a comfort, but no heat.  Since the show was in development for 7-8 years prior to the move to the Broadway, these two actors clearly became close and that closeness removed any heat from the performances.

The remaining cast does quite well, if unmemorably.  The songs themselves are enjoyable, if almost all equally unmemorable.  As rote as the plot sounds, the performances and some well-scripted moments in the first act make the show truly electric.  However, as the second half comes through, the book nearly falls apart.  Cliche after cliche come falling down.  The show’s extended development again clearly makes too much of an impact on wrapping up the show.  A Dreamgirls-inspired finale is frankly too close to its predecessor in style & tone.

Overall, Memphis is an enjoyable piece of theater.  Despite whatever issues the second act has, I really found myself enthralled with the show.  The first act shines so brightly that is almost really makes up for the many missteps in the second act.  And the music is delightful.  Here’s hoping the show has a successful run and Montego Glover has a long & stories career on Broadway.

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