http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillystage/137590426.html

By Howard Shapiro
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The pumping musical Memphis celebrates an America whose definition of freedom is always evolving. The national tour, which pulled into the Academy of Music on Tuesday and is staying through Sunday, delivers the show about the ‘50s with the same high-energy and spirit as its Broadway rendition.

Memphis, which is loosely based on a true story about a young Memphian who integrated the music on the city’s radio stations, won the best-musical Tony in 2010, and its popularity across demographics has helped producers turn it into a new Broadway experience, across formats.

The musical still runs there nightly — soon to reach its 1,000th performance — and the national tour travels the country, but it also was digitally shot on several cameras, then screened at movie theaters last year in across the country, and a DVD of the full show hit the stores this month.

It’s easy to see why Memphis is the vehicle for that sort of multi-media trial. With electrifying music and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, plus intricate, high-energy choreography by Sergio Trujillo (watch how he moves the dancers by their shoulders, hips and knees) and casts here and on Broadway that deliver the show as if it were a smoking plate of barbecued ribs from Beale Street, the show is a joy from beginning to end.

It tracks the trajectory of a white guy who connives his way onto Memphis radio as a disc jockey in the ‘50s. Then he introduces the city’s whites — who trivialized the sound blacks were making as “race music” and generally blocked it from their lives in the same way they segregated the black community — to the recordings blacks were making at the city’s walk-in-and-record studios. This is the music that became known as rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and it’s plentiful, and beautifully performed.

Memphis is a lot like Hairspray — it’s about tearing down racial walls. Set 10 years earlier than Hairspray, it has the same sweet sensibility about a serious issue. Its two national-tour leads, Bryan Fenkart as the brash, goofy DJ and Felicia Boswell as the black singer he falls for, are charming and big-voiced, and Quentin Earl Darrington and Will Mann run gracefully in other major roles.

And a special bow to Julie Johnson, the white mama of our hero and an unlikely character to belt “Change Don’t Come Easy,” an in-your-face anthem about the pain that accompanies a new order. The whole country, of course, was singing some form of that song through the ’50s and ’60s, which is why we look back and respond toMemphis with a big, knowing smile.

Contact staff writer Howard Shapiro at 215-854-5727, hshapiro@phillynews.com, or #philastage on Twitter. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/howardshapiro. Hear his reviews at the Classical Network, www.wwfm.org.
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Memphis: At the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets,  through Sunday. Tickets:  $20-$100. Information: 215-893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway

http://canadianimmigrant.ca/entertainment/sergio-trujillo-the-pervasive-choreographer-of-memphis-the-musical/

By Celna Chacko-Saran

Born in Colombia and having spent his childhood there, Sergio Trujillo had an uphill climb when his family decided to move to Canada in 1976. This was just as he was about to hit his teens. English was a language he did not comprehend and the children at his new school were quick to point out his colored skin in their jokes. Trujillo, however, asserts, “Growing up in Canada has a lot to do with who I am today.”

And today, as an internationally recognized choreographer, Trujillo is nothing short of a celebrity. Raised in a Colombian family, dance has always been a part of the culture, especially social dancing. Little wonder that he decided to take up dancing as his profession after watching a live performance at Canada’s Wonderland, a popular amusement park in Vaughn, Ontario.

“I witnessed my parent’s integration into the Canadian culture as they worked hard to provide for a good life for their family. This encouraged me to work hard in pursuing a career in dance,” says Trujillo. Enrolled at a chiropractic school, he took a sabbatical to dance in his first show, Jerome Robbins Broadway.

Having danced professionally for over 10 years, Trujillo began making a shift towards choreography in 1999. He assisted choreographers like Jerry Mitchell, Rob Marshall, Debbie Allen and Vince Paterson before he became an independent choreographer. He credits Des Mc Anuff, director of Jersey Boys, and theatre artiste Chita Rivera as his mentors.

Trujillo’s work sprawls across North America, Europe and Asia. In early 2011, he had the honour of four of his shows simultaneously running on Broadway — the 2010 Tony Award for best musical winner Memphis, the 2006 Tony and Olivier awards for best musical winner Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, and Next to Normal, the recipient of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize.

New York-based Trujillo was in town recently to promote Memphis, which is performing at the Toronto Centre for the Arts till Christmas Eve. Set in the 1950s, Memphis revokes the cultural revolution as a young white DJ, Huey Calhoun falls in love with a black singer.

Trujillo feels that there is potential for more and more Canadians to make their mark in the field of dance and choreography. “Individuals from any cultural ethnicity with artistic aspirations just need to stay focused and persevere to achieve their dreams,” adds Trujillo as he signs off.

http://www.postcity.com/Eat-Shop-Do/Do/December-2011/Memphis/

Up at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, a very recent musical is playing. It’s also Tony award-winning, but don’t let that put you off. Written by the solid librettist Joe DiPietro, along with David Byran, the gifted composer and long-time keyboardist of rock group Bon Jovi, Memphis is a fine show that I wish could have stayed for months in Toronto, but it’s running until only Dec. 24.

The story is lightly based on a (white) disc jockey in the ’50s in the southern United States who did a daring thing at the time: he started to play “race music.” Of course, he also helped turn Elvis Presley into one of the most popular and beloved musical stars of the 20th century. (Presley’s real claim to fame was that he almost single-handedly made African-American music acceptable to the American white majority.)

Bryan’s music consists of pretty satisfactory imitations of mid-century rock ‘n’ roll. The white DJ Huey is played wonderfully by Bryan Fenkart, and Felicia, the black female singer who rides to the top and beyond (and is also the DJ’s love interest), is played by the striking Felicia Boswell, whose voice is booming and ethereal.

I was personally moved to tears a dozen times, since I was involved in Mississippi’s Freedom Summer of 1964 as a teacher, and experienced the glorious rhythm and blues of the local Baptist church — the likes of which gave birth to modern rock ‘n’ roll — every single Sunday.

Memphis is delightful entertainment. It’s hardly a great musical — you may not be able to hum a single tune from the show — but it has a rollicking sense of freedom, and it’s full of hope for America to grow into multi-racial greatness.

Memphis, Toronto Centre for the Arts. Runs until Dec. 24.

http://www.insidetoronto.com/opinion/columns/article/1263053–front-row-centre-rock-to-the-rhythm-of-memphis

MARK ANDREW LAWRENCE

December 14, 2011

Sensational dancing and an exuberant star performance by Bryan Fenkart drive the show Memphis, now on stage at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

Fenkart plays a hapless disc jockey, Huey Calhoun, who introduces Memphis radio listeners to the sounds of rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues during the ultra-conservative years of the mid-1950s.

Inspired by the career of Tennessee-born DJ Dewey Phillips, Memphis takes us to a time and place when radio was run by unadventurous owners who resisted any attempt to integrate what was then called “race” music into their playlists.

Huey is a renegade, a fast-talking high school dropout who manages to land his own show on a local radio station where he defies the owner by playing the music he has heard in one of the city’s underground clubs.

In particular, Huey showcases a singer he has discovered, Felicia. They quickly fall in love, but this is a time when interracial marriage is against the law and the pair runs into painfully violent opposition to their relationship.

Felicia’s first record is a soulful ballad called Someday and when Huey plays it, the response from his teenaged listeners is sensational. Soon an executive from RCA records comes to town to lure Felicia to New York with promises of fame and fortune. He even offers to bring Huey to the big city as well, as long as the couple keeps their relationship discreet.

David Bryan and Joe DiPietro supply some appropriately jivey music for this show, and while some of the songs attempt to mimic the sound of the era, much of the score offers more rhythm than blues. The songs provide plenty of atmosphere, but rarely develop the plot or characters. Huey is given two powerful anthems, The Music of my Soul and Memphis Lives in Me that underscore his passion for this music, but most of the rest is simply there to inspire the dancers.

The ensemble executes Sergio Trujillo’s high wattage choreography with both precision and wild abandon. The opening number, Underground, sets the bar very high, but subsequent numbers keep moving it higher.

The cast of this touring production is on a par with the excellent original Broadway company. Felicia Boswell brings beauty and poise to the role of Felicia, with Quentin Earl Darrington giving a strong performance as her overly protective brother, Delray. Rhett George is a clear audience favourite as Delray’s friend, Gator, who breaks his vow of silence to lead an impassioned prayer for peace and tolerance at the climax of Act One.

Christopher Ashley’s brisk direction keeps the focus on the story. The book deals with issues of integration, racism and intolerance that have been explored in other shows (notably Ragtime and Hairspray), but as developed in Memphis, these elements remain powerfully persuasive.

Dancap Productions presents Memphis at the Toronto Centre for the Arts until Dec. 24. For tickets, visitwww.dancaptickets.com/pages/memphis or call the box office at 416-644-3665.

Mark Andrew Lawrence reviews theatre productions for The North York Mirror.

http://torontosceneto.com/2011/12/08/1115/

Posted by torontosceneto in Theatre Reviews

On a cold windy winter’s night the 2010 Tony Award®-Winner For Best Musical and most awards in the 2009-2010 Broadway season MEMPHIS a Dancap Production Shimmied and Shook its way to its opening night last night. Raising the roof of the Toronto Centre for the Arts. MEMPHIS will play until December 24th.

This phenomenal musical comes to us from the underground dance clubs of 1950s Memphis, Tennessee. MEMPHIS has everything you could ever want in a musical, explosive dancing, irresistible songs, humor and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love. If there is only one show you can go to make it this one. It is an incredible show, a must see.

MEMPHIS directed by the Tony Award®-Nominee Christopher Ashley, tells the story of a young white radio DJ Huey Calhoun who wants to change the world, and a black club singer Felicia Farrell who is ready for her big break. This is a fabulous story of the rise in popularity of Rock and Roll and tender love story in a time when inter-race relationships were not tolerated in the Southern United States.

Bryan Fenkart is brilliant as, Huey Calhoun, who is mostly a product of the mind of Tony Award®-Winner Joe DiPietro. But the similarities to the legendary Memphis radio disc jockey Dewey Phillips (who was the 1st DJ to broadcast Elvis Presley) cannot be missed. Calhoun is a simple young southern white boy, an outsider, a hillbilly, who discovers himself when he takes over as a DJ on a local Memphis radio station and promotes what at that time was called “race music”, early Rock and Roll. Calhoun’s DJ style is as a speed-crazed hillbilly, with a frantic delivery, keen sense of humor and a great ear for the music that the young people of Memphis both black and white are craving to hear. His popularity grows and his #1 radio show takes on a new life as a TV show, “Huey Calhoun’s Cavalcade” where he continues to successfully promote Rock and Roll in Memphis.
Set in a backdrop of racism and bigotry Huey secretly falls in love with a colored girl Felicia Farrell beautifully played by Felicia Boswell, and when she leaves for New York and fame, he makes the more complicated decision to stay with his first love, the city of Memphis. Huey’s rise to fame is meteoric as is his fall.

There are so many memorable moments. The electricity between Bryan Fenkart and Felicia Boswell is visible for all to see. The fantastic dancing so expertly choreographed by the incomparable Sergio Trujillo. The fabulous songs of Bon Jovi founding member and Tony Award®-Winner David Bryan are wonderfully performed by the whole company. My personal favorites “Colored Woman” by Felicia Boswell as Felicia Farrell, “Big Love” by Will Mann as Bobby, “Change Don’t Come Easy” by Julie Johnston as Mama, Quentin Earl Darrington as Delray and Will Mann as Bobby and last but not least “Memphis Lives in Me” by Bryan Fenkart as Huey Calhoun.

http://www.fabmagazine.com/fab-blog/next-gay-review-memphis

For a musical to resonate, the path to true love must be a difficult one — with no obstacles to overcome, there is no emotional investment by the audience. Memphis‘s central romance rivals West Side Story‘s lovers’ dilemma but adds a historical reality that gives it an extra kick. When Felicia Boswell reminds her interracial lover that it is illegal for them to wed, the audience gasps in recognition and shock. And the gay component winces with an extra bit of bitterness. From our supposedly cozily cosmopolitan perch in multi-racial Toronto, it seems inconceivable that as late as the 1960s interracial marriage was not only socially unacceptable but also against the law. Yet the Gulnare Freewill Baptist church in Kentucky just banned an interracial couple from services, and the battle for gay marriage is far from over in the grand old U S of A. It’s hard to be smug when confronted with how little things have changed, except on the surface, and Memphis is a potent reminder that doing the right thing and standing up for social change is often painful but absolutely necessary.

That makes Memphis sound like a political tract or activist theatre, which it is thank goodness, but it is also a rollicking good time. The stage explodes with inventive dance moves set to a non-stop beat and stellar vocal performances. From dramatic moment to showstopping song — there are at least six — Memphisdoesn’t stop for a second. Gospel-inflected R&B done Broadway style is always infectious, and the cast grabs on to the songs and milks them for all they’re worth. Even the cliché situations that can be seen coming — the mother, a spectacular Julie Johnson, overcomes her racism and suddenly sings roof-raising gospel — are excused by great voices and emotionally pitch-perfect performances.

Bryan Fenkart is a gangly, oddly sexy lead, and Felicia Boswell is sheer sexiness — they generate a smouldering heat that makes the audience believe and makes the tragedy of their ill-fated love heartbreaking. And what could be more charming than watching bobbysoxers transform into beboppers? The interracial finale is subtle but powerful and makes a happy ending out of a realistic and somewhat bitter dénouement. Memphisis irresistable, and the audience rose at the end in an ovation that was not Toronto politeness but actual enthusiasm. Chilly North York is pulsating with heat for as long as Memphis is in town.

Memphis runs till Sat, Dec 24 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. dancaptickets.com

http://www.toronto.com/article/706587–d-j-who-shook-rocked-and-rolled

By Richard Ouzounian

Theatre Critic

Memphis

4 stars (out of 4)

Book by Joe DiPietro. Music & Lyrics by David Bryan. Directed by Christopher Ashley. Until Dec. 24 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-640-0172.

Wow! I don’t know about you, but in these days when every musical either seems to be a revival or based on a movie, it’s a real kick to find a show that’s original in every sense of the word.

Welcome to Memphis, which Dancap Productions opened at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on Wednesday night and I caught at its Tuesday preview.

I’d seen the show on Broadway in 2009 right after it opened and had enjoyed it, but wasn’t exactly blown away.

So something must have happened between now and then. My best guess is that a slightly stripped-down production with an emphasis on honesty rather than glitz has helped this show find its groove.

Let me make it clear. Memphis is an explosion of energy, joy and emotion you won’t want to miss! It’s loosely based on the true story of Dewey Phillips, a Memphis boy who was one of the very first white disc jockeys in America to play black music on the radio back in the 1950s.

Joe DiPietro’s book has a couple of stories it wants to tell, which is all well and good. Besides a portrait of that renegade and true original that Dewey was, we also get into an interracial affair he had with a singer of the period, their struggle to survive against the bigotry of the times and the final life lessons they both had to learn about what it really means to be free.

DiPietro’s dialogue is witty, tangy and accurate. It’s only occasionally that his plot machinations get mechanical or sentimental, but I guarantee that you’ll find a lump in your throat on several occasions.

If a show is about music and how it made people want to jive, you’re going to want to deliver those qualities big time and this show does, with singing that rocks your soul and dancing that rocks your world!

Mercifully, this is not a jukebox musical, but composer-lyricist David Bryan knows how to deliver the style of the period handily. Interestingly enough, his songs are better when they’re trying to depict character or help tell the story rather than just coast through on atmosphere, but a smoking 9-piece band keeps the sound hot and the cast raise the temperature to sizzling.

Sergio Trujillo’s choreography adds coals to the inferno, with movement that plain just doesn’t stop. We know from Jersey Boys that he can capture this style, but in Memphis, he kicks it up towards art, playing with the authentic touches to add some hits of Fosse, or riffs from modern dance that take us just that extra step we need.

Ultimately, this show depends on its cast and here we’re on solid ground.

Bryan Fenkart lets it all hang out as Huey (as Dewey Phillips is called here), beginning as an illiterate good ol’ boy with a passion for black music and a tongue that won’t stop flapping.

But as the show goes on, we see an interesting portrait of a man handed fame who isn’t ready to deal with it and by the time he stands front and centre to wail the 11 o’clock number, “Memphis Lives In Me,” you get a real sense of a guy who’s been on a journey and learned something along the way.

Felicia Boswell is a perfect magic of silk and spice as Felicia, the singer who rises to the top, first because of Huey and then, despite him. Her Act I song of revelation, “Colored Woman,” brings down the house and rightly so.

I also loved Julie Johnson’s Mama, who goes from trailer trash to show biz savvy, Quentin Earl Darrington’s big brother with an agenda and Will Mann’s gentle giant with a twinkle in his eye.

Credit director Christopher Ashley with helping bringing out so many solid performances and thank Dewey Phillips, for bringing black music into the heart and soul of North American sound and makingMemphis possible.

http://www.nwitimes.com/entertainment/columnists/offbeat/offbeat-memphis-rates-as-best-new-musical-in-for-broadway/article_62581104-9ea0-5fd5-83e8-ac935bca0979.html

By Philip Potempa philip.potempa@nwi.com, (219) 852-4327 | Posted: Friday, November 25, 2011 12:00 am

For anyone who snags tickets for the remaining performances of  the two-week run of the hit Broadway musical “Memphis,” it’s easy to see why it swept the 2010 Tony Awards.

This show is sensational and it’s only playing until Dec. 4 at Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago.

If you read my preview story on F7, you can see the multiple Tony categories it won during the awards telecast.

And in the leads for this tour are likable and talented Bryan Fenkart as Huey, the ambitious “white” radio station DJ who breaks down musical race barriers for his listenership, and beautiful, golden voiced Felicia Boswell as Felicia, the singer who changes his world.

While Fenkart was the stand-in for the Huey role on Broadway, Boswell played the lead female role while in the New York production.

This two-and-a-half hour musical seems to fly by because it is both engaging and entertaining, while also sharing an important message of acceptance.  ‘Memphis’ rates as best new musical in 2011 for Broadway in Chicago‘s season thus far.

The songs and musical numbers make you want to leap to your feet as the energy from the stage is shared equally by the eager audience.

Adding to the show moments are the supporting cast of true talents, with Quentin Earl Darrington playing Felicia’s brother Delray, William Parry as Mr. Simmons and Julie Johnson in the role of Huey’s mother.

Johnson does a fantastic performance as a mother torn by the poverty and son she’s raised as a widow and the brutal truth about what’s acceptable in the society of the day when faced with issues of black and white.

She has the audience enthralled in the Act Two with her number “Change Don’t Come Easy.”

Other songs to remember from this cast include “Underground,” “The Music of My Soul” and “Say a Prayer.”

Fenkart and Boswell deliver heart and soul performances and effortless carry the story and audience right along with them for this high-spirited ride.

The scenic design for “Memphis” is simple, yet effective because the emphasis remains on the music and the personality. There’s an array of ambitious costumes by Tony nominee Paul Tazewell.

There are also plenty of favorite names dropped during the course of the story about the changing music and radio industry of the 1950s. From Perry Como, Patti Page, Lena Horne to Nat King Cole, Dick Clark and Roy Rogers.

“Memphis” is based on a concept by the late George W. George, producer of the Tony nominated “Bedroom Farce” and the film “My Dinner With Andre,” with direction by Tony nominee Christopher Ashley (“Xanadu”) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo, who is currently represented by three ongoing shows on Broadway this season: “Memphis,” “Jersey Boys” and “The Addams Family.”

“Memphis” is the perfect example of a stage musical that changes lives.

Tickets are $37-$95 at (800) 775‐2000 or BroadwayInChicago.com or memphisthemusical.com

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or (219) 852-4327.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111117/ENTERTAINMENT05/311170069/-Memphis-meets-Music-City-rollicking-good-time?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Nashville will always be known as the one and only Music City. But it seems that local audiences lost their hearts to Memphis on Tuesday night, with the opening of the Tony Award-winning musical in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall.

With music and lyrics by Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan, and book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro (based on a concept by George W. George), Memphis tells the story of Huey Calhoun. The fictional white DJ brings rhythm & blues, or “race music,” to the mainstream in the 1950s. But along with his passion for the music of Beale Street, Huey also develops an interest in a particularly lovely singer named Felicia.

In the still-segregated South, there’s not much of a future for their interracial romance. But there’s an undeniable — if somewhat overly simplistic — message of hope behindMemphis. And while the character-driven songs are not entirely memorable, they do a fine job of capturing the era’s rock ’n’ roll roots.

At first, Bryan Fenkart seems an unlikely hero as Huey, often coming off more hick than hip. But that’s part of his charm. And beyond all his motor-mouthed mischief (his nonsensical catch phrase “Hockadoo!” becomes an instant sensation), Fenkart brings a genuine sense of wonder as he discovers his own potential right along with the music.

Felicia Boswell is absolutely stunning as the “fantastical” Felicia. She establishes her character — and her vocal power — early on in the bluesy “Underground.” But she is just as at home with toe-tapping gospel (“Make Me Stronger”), pop (an almost Diana Ross-infused “Someday”) or power anthem (“Colored Woman”).

The pair receive ample support from some big men with even bigger voices. Quentin Earl Darrington strikes an imposing figure as Felicia’s protective brother and club owner, Delray. Rhett George spends much of the first act in silence (his character Gator hasn’t spoken since witnessing his father’s lynching as a child), but finally finds his voice in the moving “Say a Prayer.” And Will Mann is charming as Bobby, a radio station janitor who drops his broom and raises the roof with the rousing “Big Love.”

Julie Johnson also is outstanding as Huey’s bigoted, but ultimately redeemable (aren’t they always?), Mama. And when she broke out in the gospel-tinged “Change Don’t Come Easy,” the opening-night audience cheered her on with glee.

The entire company is sensational — an exuberant and youthful bunch who make the most of Sergio Trujillo’s wildly inventive choreography.

The technical elements enhance the crowd-pleasing fun, with David Gallo’s set effectively transforming Jackson Hall into a gritty juke joint and various other Memphis locales. Adding to the fun are Gallo and Shawn Sagady’s projections, Paul Tazewell’s period costumes and Howell Binkley’s moody lighting. Conductor Alvin Hough Jr. also deserves special mention for leading a rockin’ onstage band.

Christopher Ashley directs with great style and energy. I particularly enjoyed the creative ways in which he introduced various musical acts of the day, both real and imagined. And where else will you find race relations remedied by a little double Dutch jump rope competition?

This “music can heal all wounds” approach may seem superficial when set against the very real social injustices of the era. But this remarkable cast makes up for whatever depth may be lacking in the show’s script.

If you’re like me, Music City will always be dear to your heart. But don’t be surprised if Memphis leaves you longing for a lazy stroll down Beale Street. Hockadoo, indeed.