Memphis orchestra

[Gmerchant123]

Posted: 12/26/13 at 5:08pm

Hello. While watching the Memphis DVD I noticed that there is a African American group and a white group of musicians. Did they really have two different groups of musicians? Where did they play while they weren't on stage? Thanks!

[Broadwaystar2]

Posted: 12/26/13 at 5:53pm

There was only one orchestra. The only black people you saw on stage orchestra wise were the piano player and drummer because they were playing in a black club. The rest of the band played behind the set at all times. At the end of the show you can see how the back is set up. That's the way they played the entire show.

[kmccoy2]

Posted: 12/27/13 at 2:21am

The band was 9 pieces. It wasn't divided into a white group and a black group. The two you could see in the first act were characters in Delray's club, so they were black, but the rest of the band wasn't race-specific. The band sat on three platforms: stage right held the bass, guitar, and key 2/organ; the center platform had the drummer and key 1 (who was also the MD); and stage left held the wind section - reeds 1, reeds 2, trumpet, and trombone. The platforms could all move upstage and downstage. On the first national tour, the center platform was automated while the outer two were pushed by hand. I think on the Broadway production all three platforms were automated. In the first act, the two outer platforms stayed all the way upstage, while the center platform moved downstage for scenes in Delray's and upstage for other scenes. The whole band was there and playing (for most songs ... the orchestrations didn't always include every instrument... I don't think the church scene "Make Me Stronger" had winds, for example.) In act 2, all three platforms were at a middle position for Huey's TV show and you can see the whole band then. They moved even further downstage during the final DJ booth scene so that they were prominent in the finale.