Emma Gray
Editor
Parkland Theatre will be bringing “Memphis The Musical” to its stage in April.
The musical roughly tells the story of a famous Caucasian DJ in the 1950s who played music performed by African Americans on the radio. The real DJ who did this was named Dewey Phillips, but in the musical the character is called Huey Calhoun. Phillips is known for giving now-famous singers like Elvis their starts in radio.
Jeff Dare, director of the musical and music teacher at Edison Middle School, says that while many parts of the play are based on reality, some are not. He says while it is true that Phillips did start playing controversial music on the radio and much of the story presented in the play about how he did that is accurate, the musical adds in a relationship with an African American woman named Felicia, which is not based on reality.
Because of the time period and subject matter, the musical deals with race relations in the 1950s throughout. In order to get a good idea of what the time period was like and how characters would have been thinking, the cast and crew have been working with Latrelle Bright, a dramaturge, or literary theatre editor. Her job is to research the background of the musical and communicate with the cast and crew to make sure the show is as historically accurate as possible on different fronts.
One aspect that Dare says he is working with Bright on is the various reactions that ensemble members have to events in the show. He says he want to make sure there are a variety of responses from characters to portray how people might have really thought.
Another aspect Dare and Bright are working on is making sure the production does not gloss over deeper issues. Dare says in the musical “sometimes white folks get off a little too easily” and they do not have to deal with the consequences of their actions and words. This is another aspect he is working on correcting while staying true to the script.
Dare says that the creation of the musical is coming along well.
“It’s really starting to come together; we’re doing a lot more runs of big sections of the show,” Dare said.
For Dare, this musical presents some challenges because of the large cast required and setting.
Dare says he has had “to be very organized to make things work.”
With a smaller cast, Dare says everything can be more fluid and done as they go, but that with a large cast, a lot of the details need to be worked out ahead of time to make sure things go smoothly. To prepare, Dare planned out all of the movements of the show and made a list of cues and scene changes before he began working with the actors.
Dare says that getting all of the “boring” aspects out of the way, like “organizational and logistical planning,” first, allows him to focus on the acting side when working with the actors.
Getting all of the details down before starting rehearsals also helped Dare organize a show, which he says has fast transitions and multiple scenes on stage at once at times.
As part of his preparation for directing the show, Dare says he and his wife visited Memphis to get a feel for the city. In particular, he remembers the feeling of Beale Street, which he wants to bring to the Parkland stage.
“You go down the street and there’s all these neon flashing signs and every place has live music,” Dare said.
Overall, Dare says that the creation of this musical has been a growing experience for him, but that the process has been very smooth and professional thanks to the cast, crew, designers, and Parkland staff.
The website advises that this play contains some strong language, which may not be suitable for all. According to Dare, the musical contains some curse words, including racial slurs, but does not contain very much suggestive language.
Tickets are priced at $16 for adults, $14 for students and seniors, and $10 for youth, with special pricing available for large groups. Showing will be held on April, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and on April 15 and 20 at 3 p.m. After the first showing there will be a talk-back with the Dare, Bright, and the cast.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit theatre.parkland.edu/memphis.html
