I have been so busy lately with rehearsals and trying to get costumes together (somehow I ended up in charge of costumes for the play I am currently in!) that I was thrilled last Friday to have the night off. We went to see Memphis at the BJCC, part of the Broadway in Birmingham series. I was extra excited to go because I have never seen Memphis, but I have a personal connection to it. Last year when I did my BFA project TIMELINE, Stephonn and I were in complete agreement that the story of our lives would not be complete without a scene about our faith. Although we had very different faith journeys and were in very different places at the time we were writing and producing our show, the church was definitely a part of our story.
I wanted to start with “Orphans of God”, a song that had a special story for me and that I had found years before and shared with several people including a show choir director who used it in his show and my church music director. I wanted to sing it in church with a couple of my friends who are in the choir there. I was told I could not sing in church because I was not a member of the choir, which was news to me. Soon afterwards the song was sung in church by others. It is a great song and I mainly just wanted it shared with the congregation, so although I did get weepy to not be the one singing it, I was glad to hear that message in my church. When we decided to put in the “faith section” for TIMELINE I had no hesitation in picking the song I knew in my heart I needed to sing.
Stephonn picked out a song from Memphis entitled “Make Me Stronger”. We decided to do both songs with our ensemble of singers and we staged “Orphans of God” in a very “white church” kind of way- standing in a formation and singing. For “Make Me Stronger” we added bright choir robes, I left to change for the next scene and Stephonn and crew sang and moved more in keeping with the black church that Stephonn had grown up in. I loved listening to them as I changed my clothes behind the curtain!! Many people told me afterwards that they appreciated that section of the show the most because they saw so little of that at school. There were other sections of the show that also seemed to speak to members of the audience, my story of dating Tim and our long marriage seemed to give hope to some, Stephonn’s journey of self acceptance touched many, and the outwardly appearing “odd” friendship between Stephonn and me were a few of the moments that seemed to resonate with our audience. But overall, I heard comment after comment about the faith section of our show.
Friday night I was immediately captivated by Memphis. Both the music and the story grabbed me. But when they sang “Make Me Stronger” my husband Tim and I both had tears in our eyes, not only because of the song in the context of the play, but because of our memories of TIMELINE and the great kids we worked with during that show. Memphis continued to be intense and moving through the first act and when the lights came up for intermission, we were still teary eyed!
During intermission, the two old ladies behind us (who I must say seem to do something annoying every show!) began to try to figure out what decade this play was taking place in. Somehow the hints had not been clear enough for them. I guess they missed the first line that stated it was 1951. Or the playbill that said it was taking place in the 1950’s. When they couldn’t remember when “that woman decided to sit in the front of the bus” I nearly jumped over the seat, but I didn’t! They finally decided it was taking place in the 60’s as the lights went down for Act Two!! Ugh!!
Act Two was not as intense for me. Although the singing, acting and spectacle of the play were equally good, the introduction of the TV show in the second act made me think of Hairspray, a play much more lighthearted, but certainly addressing some of the same issues. For the main character in Memphis, Huey, to give up success, the woman he loves and a broader platform from which to share his views in order to stay in the city he loves seemed unlikely to me. I get that he did not take the bigger job because he did not want to change the black dancers and performers on his show for white ones, just to appease the new bosses, but in the song “Memphis Lives in Me” Huey made me feel that for him, being in Memphis meant more than any of that.
The music was beautiful, the voices were incredible and the emotions stirred up by the story were moving. For me, the whole purpose of art, for theatre in particular, is to move people. To tell a story and evoke emotions. If just one person tells me they learned something, laughed, cried or thought about something after a performance, I consider it a success. Memphis was definitely a show that made you laugh, cry, think and remember. Remember the past of our region and our nation and for me, the more recent past that put me on a new and exciting life path. Memphis was the best theatre going experience I have had in a long time!
