MEMPHIS REVIEW 10-14-09

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:54pm

This afternoon I decided to take in the new Joe DiPietro / David Bryan musical, "Memphis", at the Shubert Theatre.

As the curtain went up, the opening number of "Underground", set in an underground Beale St. nightclub in Memphis, was a bit blaring, and I couldn't really understand 70% of the lyrics as belted by the leading lady of the show, Felicia Farrell played by Miss Montego Glover. Unfortunately, the same problem of indecipherable lyrics continued throughout the show.

Soon, Chad Kimball's character of Huey Calhoun is released onto stage. All through the introduction of Huey into the show, I was thinking his over the top style, which includes an incredibly broad and soon annoying accent, was a choice by the character to win over the affection's of Felicia. It wasn't. This over-the-top "I've got so much cool" swagger proves to be one of the more grating elements of the show. One isn't sure if this was a choice arrived at by Director, Christopher Ashley, or perhaps the actor himself, but the choice makes the character nothing but a gelatinous mess during every moment he is on stage, which is unfortunate... Huey is in just about every scene.

The story the show attempts to be a tale of brave and heroic individuals willing to stand up to miscegenation, racism, and... traditional white music? Quite a noble feat for an original musical. Unfortunately, this show about "Rhythm and Blues" and "The Music of My Soul", comes off incredibly white bread and soul-less. The sound-alike-tunes keep coming one after another, making one wish for a traditional book scene. After we get one or two of those, we're begging for the music again. I am sure this cast is filled with able actors, but not a soul is letting on in this production. Chris Ashley should be taken out back into the Shubert Alley and shot for his book scene direction in this show.

The pacing is break neck and nothing ever landed with this audience member. The sets were nice enough, but the costumes, especially that of Huey are puke worthy for most of the show. (I didn't know it was legal to put some of those fabrics onstage!) The orchestrations, credited to David Bryan and Daryl Waters are atrocious, blaring, and colorless, one blast of sound after another. It seems that no one told Mr. Bryan that in theatre, not all 9 instruments have to be playing at the same time THE ENTIRE SHOW! Sergio Trujillo's choreography tries very hard to save the show, but no amount of jiving from the incredibly gifted ensemble can help this swirling sinking mess.

In the end, the guy kind of gets the girl? I don't know. Everyone seemed to be dancing very energetically, so I guess everything will turn out all right... I mean, the one or two times we do see the much feared racist, they looked completely harmless. I feel sorry for the ensemble members who give this their all and make those challenging and fun dances look effortless... they will all be unemployed within the month...


Updated On: 10/14/09 at 05:54 PM

[brochatkid]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:56pm

Wow, I guess you really liked it. :)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 6:11pm

The entire cast has really bad diction. I could barely understand what they were singing in a majority of the songs.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 6:18pm

The guy who played the older brother had particularly bad diction. Every time he sang he sounded like he had marbles in his mouth.