How was MEMPHIS' first preview? — Page 2

I knew about 40 people last night, all industry, all comped- I am sure the box office wouldn't admit to the general public that they're papering the house, when others are paying. I know that I didn't pay.

Sorry if my statement about the physical production not evoking the atmosphere was confusing. What I meant was that it didn't evoke anything specific. It was just a random, racist town in the South. For the show being titled "Memphis" I excepted to really get a sense what that specific town was like.

I have never been to the English countryside, but The Norman Conquests perfectly evoked what it must be like to be there. The ennui forced upon Annie, the calm that suited Tom; it was all there in the plays. You actually felt like you had taken a trip to the English country. Last night did not feel like a trip to anywhere specific.

I AM surprised that the town is painted as overly racist. Those weren't characters. They were cartoons. When the White store owner tells Kimball they don't sell N***** music there, or when the White father slaps his daughter for dancing to Black music it looses all effect. It's all SO cliched.

Compare this to Caroline, or Change. Talk about dealing with race and religion in a powerful way. It took the breath out of my body the first time I heard Caroline tell Noah Hell is where Jews go when they die.

Of course there needs to be a culture of racism for this show to work. The problem was it was given to us in such a heavy handed way. You were either good or bad in this show. People aren't like that. It isn't that simple.

I'm not saying hate crimes didn't happen or people weren't beaten for using the wrong water fountains. I know these things did/do happen. I wasn't trying to deny the truth of these incidents. I was just saying they weren't presented in a well conceived way.

As far as the loud audience response, yes it was loud, but first previews are often heavily papered with friends and family. As far as a "visceral" reaction at a first preview, you must not have been at the first preview of [tos]. Now that was crazy!

I'm not perplexed that I'm seeing a work in progress. I fully realize this was the first preview (after an out of town try-out). Did I pay for my ticket? Yes. If I waited til after opening and said these same things, would that make it better?

For the record I see a lot of first previews, and have raved after many of them in the past. In fact the first preview of Wishful Drinking was absolutely amazing.

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 12:56 PM

I am curious why the defenders of the show think what was onstage last night was so great. The director and choreographer seemed to shy away from really dealing with the racially charged aspect of interracial love, yet shoe-horned in too many drawn out (and poorly conceived) dance number. Is the Act One Finale Jump Rope number really the best way to explore changing relations to race???? I don't think Christopher Ashley is capable of leading a show with such weight. I think he's talented with the Xanadu and All Shook Up type shows- but there was very little emotional truth onstage. Considering this show has had two full productions prior to Broadway, you would hope that they would have a better production. The writers all seem very talented- I hope they all locked in a room at The Shubert rewriting right now.

uncageg- I know those things probably happened. It just doesn't make for good theater when we're hit over the head with these events.

Let's compare this to Ragtime. Father doesn't understand the "New Music." He has racial issues, but isn't about to go beat up Sarah and Coalhouse. Mother's Younger Brother knows he wants to do something to aid social change, but doesn't quite know the right outlet. Even Mother must sort out her changing feelings about race.

This makes the destruction of the car even more powerful. Not all Whites are as racist as Conklin and the other firemen. Not all Blacks had the same reaction as Coalhouse either. Even after Sarah's death characters like Booker T. wanted to pursue a bureaucratic form of justice.

These characters are layered. They are NOT cartoons. I feel like Memphis was aiming for this honesty, but simply missed the mark.

Somethingwicked- You didn't give a qualification for a first preview response. ALL first previews are full of family, friends and well-wishing fans. The first preview of 9 to 5 was also VERY crazy. I you could have placed money on that one being a hit and looked what happened. (For the record I had a great time at the first preview of 9 to 5.)

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 02:07 PM

Whizzer, RAGTIME is one of my favorite musicals of all time, but it also has a historically inaccurate ending. The odds of Mother and Tateh being able to realistically raise Coalhouse Jr. given the time period (let alone it being socially acceptable) are highly unlikely.

Yankee, there was no "deliberate" withholding of information. Get over yourself.

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 03:28 PM

Yes the ending of Ragtime is more metaphorically than actually realistic. Still, the characters are all fully-drawn and have mostly realistic reactions to the situations in which they are placed.

I'd just like to step in to point out that not all the Ragtime characters are fully drawn. Most? Maybe, but certainly not all. Too many historical peripheral characters were sorely underused in a confusing manner only to act as backdrop or scenery. Having read the novel first, it was one of the biggest problems with what felt could have been the best musical of the last thirty years.

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I saw the out-of-town of Memphis and will weigh in as from what I've heard, not much has changed.

I agree 100% with Whizzer. It is Dreamgirls meets Hairspray. That was my first reaction after Act I and it only continued to grow in comparison in Act II.

And while the situations did happen and the point of view expressed were very real when they happened, the overblown, over-dramatic dialogue makes the situations laughable. Glover's character, not sure if it's still in, actually said to Kimball "I can't have babies because of you!" and that's just one example of the soap opera dialogue.

And Somethingwicked, I find it very suspect that you didn't chime in on the show until someone said it was heavily papered. Even if you got the info from the box office, which I doubt you did, why would they tell you the house was papered? That is simply bad PR. I work for a non-profit organization that distributes free tickets and know that Memphis was heavily papered out of town. Asking the box office is not a reliable source of determining attendance or paid tickets.

If people are having a great time at Memphis then good for them. But ganging up on Whizzer for having a critical opinion ( reason I seldom post here) is worse than Marvin wanting to see "the bald spot". I swear some of you act like you have money invested into the show. And I think comparing Ragtime and Memphis is like comparing South Pacific and Civil War.

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 06:37 PM

Saw the show tonight and yes it has its problems but I enjoyed it a lot.

Updated On: 9/25/09 at 12:38 AM

somethingwicked: why do you care so much? leave it! jeezzz

(off topic, sort of)

Anyone know where the TDF seats are for this?

I've been looking forward to the responses from Broadway since seeing the show in La Jolla. It was clear from all the regional reviews there were problems with the book. And I felt they were very straight forward and easily addressed

I feel much like WaterPolo that a huge opportunity was missed here because there is much to like in Memphis.

Spoilers:

How can you expect to illicit a strong response from the audience when you create a central character who is flawed and never evolves enough to allow anything but ambivalent feelings. I personally feel that Huey deserved a moment of redemption but you need to like the guy more for that to be effective.

And why would Felicia fall in love with him. I haven't seen the current show but I can't recall much in the way of tenderness or a reason for love to take hold.

Oh well.

Geez, as a person who hates "Hairspray", this just killed any desire I had to watch the show.