NETworks’ performance of “Memphis,” by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, took the audience straight into 1950’s Memphis where racism and segregation ran high. Bright, colorful lights, and loud, catchy rhythm and blues music recreated the look and feel of a club on Beale Street where we were introduced to naïve and maybe a little crazy Huey Calhoun (Joey Elrose). Right away Huey, a White guy, met his love interest, Felicia (Jasmin Richardson), a Black girl, and the musical takes off as Huey struggles to overcome society’s rejection of African-Americans and African-American culture.
David Gallo’s set design of Memphis was very detailed and aesthetically pleasing. I found it extremely appropriate for the band to be on stage, rather than in the pit, since a main focus of the musical was on actual music. A recurring location in the musical was Delray’s underground nightclub. Gallo created the underground part by adding in a second level to the stage, above where the band was playing. The door was at the top with a staircase leading down into the club. There was a big open space for a dance floor, a table on stage left where people could sit and enjoy the music, and the bar on stage right. The band was on stage in the back, adding to the nightclub feel since many clubs do have live bands performing. Another location in the musical was at the department store where Huey worked. The store had the 1950s feel with department signs lit up and hanging vertically with black dots lining the border and a loud, bold font. The most 50s sign of all, was the one that labeled the ‘records’ department. In present day this would be the music department and you can’t even find that in a typical department store. This records department was central to the scene so it was the only one that had actual items in it. In true department store style, it featured a wrap-around counter with a glass case to display the items for sale inside. This department was where the music was played for the whole store to hear, and ultimately where Huey wanted to work before he was fired and found a job at the radio station.
The lights during most of the musical were bright, fun and prominent yet fitting, thanks to the work of lighting designer Howell Binkley. During the opening number at Delray’s, Felicia and Delray (RaMond Thomas) were singing “Underground” in the nightclub. The lights were all different colors, lighting up the stage in blue, green, red and yellow. Lights were flashing on the backdrop behind the band and also lighting up the stage floor. The nightclub floor was usually lit up in a blue or purple fun pattern, like circles. The backdrop frequently featured two different colors, at one point lighting up red and yellow alternating vertical stripes during a musical number. The colorful lights and fun patterns helped bring the audience into a fun and exciting nightclub on Beale Street. During other scenes, like at the department store, Huey’s mom’s house and at the radio station, the lights are far less exciting. This makes the Black nightclub really stand out as a fun and exciting place when compared to the White department store or White the radio station. Another example of this was when Huey started playing the records of Black music at the department store. The music started playing, people started dancing, and the lights lit up the stage as if it were a nightclub. The lights abruptly went back to standard, white room lighting when Huey’s boss came back into the store and turned off the music, providing a sharp contrast to the fun and exciting Black world.
The acting in “Memphis” also contributed greatly to the world of the play. Huey Calhoun has an accent that sounds sort of southern and is usually associated with a poor, uneducated person. We later learn this is exactly case, as Huey cannot read, still lives with his poor mother and is struggling for employment. Joey Elrose does a great job giving off Huey’s crazy vibes as well. We first meet Huey as he walks into a Black nightclub and starts talking to everyone. All the people (all black) in the club are taken aback and nervous at Huey’s presence. They stare astonishingly at Huey and step away from him, as if they can’t get too close. A few people inquire about why he is there, but Huey is just totally naïve to why it’s weird he would be in there, noting there are no differences between himself and the owner of the nightclub, Delray. Huey also takes some great risks at work. When he finally gets hired at the radio station, his boss tells him he needs to read an advertisement on air. Huey can’t read, so he asks the janitor to read it to him. Huey then precedes to go on air, read most of the ad, and then change up the ad in a way that made the audience cringe and fear for his job. Huey yells into the mic about how the beer in the ad is his favorite and you can put it in your car for gas, and other things that are obviously not true at all and not what’s on the paper at all. The whole advertisement sounds very natural, as if Elrose was really on the radio making it up as he went along. Another great performance comes from Huey’s mother (Pat Sibley). She plays an old lady in the musical and performances with an old lady crackley voice. She even sings with the same accent. She also moved a lot slower than the other characters and had stiffer movements, like most older people do. She gave the appearance of being a lot quieter without actually lowering her voice, which probably isn’t too much of a challenge next to loud Huey. While Huey always seemed to be yelling, talking a lot and having big and fast movements, Huey’s mom was frequently sitting down, moving slowly and using small movements, and being the voice of reason to Huey.
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