The rock musical about an interracial love affair in the 1950s segregated South stars Tony Award nominees Chad Kimball and Montego Glover. Memphis opened on Broadway Oct. 19, 2009, at the Shubert Theatre under the direction of Christopher Ashley. Broadway previews began Sept. 23, 2009.
Bon Jovi songwriter and band member David Bryan and DiPietro penned the score to the musical, which is flavored with gospel, R&B, rock and soul sounds. DiPietro will be tweeting during the 2 PM performance to give Broadway fans a peek at his point of view. You can follow his reactions here.
Memphis also features Derrick Baskin, J. Bernard Calloway, James Monroe Iglehart, Michael McGrath and Cass Morgan.
Memphis will launch a national tour in its namesake city at the Orpheum Theatre in October 2011. In April 2010, Tony Award-winning lyricist and book writer Joe DiPietro told Playbill.com that a movie adaptation is also in development.
Songs in the production are "Underground," "The Music of My Soul," "Ain't Nothin' But a Kiss," "Everybody Wants to Be Black on a Saturday Night," "Make Me Stronger," "Colored Women," "Someday," "She's My Sister," "Radio," "Say a Prayer," "Big Love," "Love Will Stand When All Else Falls," "Stand Up," "Change Don't Come Easy," "Memphis Lives in Me" and "Steal Your Rock 'n' Roll." Memphis is produced on Broadway by Junkyard Dog Productions, Barbara and Buddy Freitag and Kenny and Marleen Alhadeff with Latitude Link, Jim and Susan Blair, Land Line Productions, Demos Bizar Entertainment, Apples and Oranges Productions, Dave Copley, Dancap Productions, Inc., Tony Ponturo, 2 Guys Productions, and Richard Winkler in association with Linda and Bill Potter, Broadway Across America, Jocko Productions, Lauren Doll/Bob Bartner, Patty Baker, Dan Frishwasser, Loraine Boyle/Chase Mishkin, Remmel T. Dickinson/Memphis Orpheum Group and ShadowCatcher Entertainment/Vijay and Sita Vashee.
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