Memphis is a musical with music by David Bryan, lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro, and a book by DiPietro. The show is loosely based on the story of Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music in the 1950s. It ran on Broadway from October 19, 2009, to August 5, 2012, winning four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show was staged at the Strand Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts during the 2018–2019 season, North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts and TheatreWorks in Mountain View, California during the 2003–04 season, as well as the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle during the 2008–2009 season.
Adaptations (1)
Memphis was adapted into a 2011 film.
Memphis: Direct from Broadway2011 · film · 165 min · dir. Don Roy King · IMDb ↗IMDb8.1Memphis is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically-rich Tennessee city. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, a club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world unable to accept their love. Originally shown in select theatres, then broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 39, episode 11).
