Memphis -- the musical -- a review

M and I were 5 stories up in the balcony at the new performing arts center in town yesterday, looking down on Memphis, which had all the elements you would expect from a Broadway version of "the birth of rock n' roll," along with many more overt messages about race than I've seen in a musical in a long time. Despite the fact that we were vertically challenged, M and I enjoyed the show.

The show holds plenty of entertainment, and it looks on 1960's Memphis through its music. The heart and soul of the music is rock 'n roll, which is in a way a fusion of gospel, blues, and rockabilly -- "black" music and "white" music. There is a love story, between a white man, Huey, and a black woman, Felicia. Huey first charms his way into a joint where Felicia is singing to a black-only crowd, then steals his way into a radio gig playing "black" music for a "white" audience.

The story allows many hearts to ache for the couple, who love each other despite their differences. Huey's is a straight, pure love, whereas Felicia's is more complicated due to the fact of segregation. The violence that maintained segregation does make an appearance in the form of a brick thrown through Huey's mom's window, a beating endured by both Huey and Felicia, and even a gun that goes off when some segregationists take down a speaker so that white kids won't dance to "black" music. The worst elements of segregation, though, are not the focus of the show. It is more a dramatic backdrop providing tension throughout the show than the main thrust of the story, and even the beating that Felicia and Huey endure seems to have no lasting impact -- it happens just before intermission; by the end of intermission, almost all is right again, with Huey on television and Felicia showing no scars.

 The acting in the show is top-notch, with Huey and Felicia both investing their parts with soul. The costuming and dance routines support the idea of color overcoming a "black and white" world, especially when the contrast between the colorful costumes is shown against a backdrop of black-and-white TV broadcast behind the performers. The show stopper is a song, "Change Don't Come Easy," sung by Huey's mom, who comes to accept Huey's love for Felicia.

The critic from the New York Times that I read didn't like the show at all. However, critics and audiences often want different things from their entertainments. The audience for this show was enraptured, and gasped and awwed at the surprising moments of the show. They also laughed at times and shared in the characters' heartache and dramatic moments. The musical worked for me as a bit of historical drama with a Broadway twist, and I can see why it won a Tony award in 2010, despite the critics. It tells a story that is compelling, even today, when we are supposedly so much more enlightened about race.