#1
Posted: 3/26/07 at 11:46pm
So, I went to this reading of the musical "Memphis" at New World Stages today. Chad Kimball, J. Bernard Calloway, Derrick Baskin, Montego Glove, Marcus Neville, James Monroe Iglehart, and Candy Buckley, with a terrific ensemble of Terita Redd, Betsy Morgan, Anika Larson, Jessica Cope, John Eric Parker, Neal Mayer, Kevin Covert, and Rashad Naylor.
I'm not sure if this was a true story, or not but it was about Huey Calhoun, a white "race" music lover, who gets hired at a radio station and starts playing what was called "race" music back in the 50's, and becomes very outspoken and very idealistic, and very much all for the black rights movement. He eventually does the "unthinkable" on national television with a black girl and loses everything...
That's everything in a nutshell. The music is fantastic, the book wasn't entirely entact [because I think it was more to showcase the music], but the music had everyone in the house clapping and tapping the beat.
I think this show has some real potential, but it needs just something a bit more to differentiate it from Hairspray because I think that's what it'd be compared to in many instances, but it has a lot of potential to be a great, great show. I can't wait to see how this turns out! Did anyone else go?
I'm not sure if this was a true story, or not but it was about Huey Calhoun, a white "race" music lover, who gets hired at a radio station and starts playing what was called "race" music back in the 50's, and becomes very outspoken and very idealistic, and very much all for the black rights movement. He eventually does the "unthinkable" on national television with a black girl and loses everything...
That's everything in a nutshell. The music is fantastic, the book wasn't entirely entact [because I think it was more to showcase the music], but the music had everyone in the house clapping and tapping the beat.
I think this show has some real potential, but it needs just something a bit more to differentiate it from Hairspray because I think that's what it'd be compared to in many instances, but it has a lot of potential to be a great, great show. I can't wait to see how this turns out! Did anyone else go?
