This is an advertisement
About the Show
After 10 years in development, over two years on Broadway and four Tony Awards, all-American musical Memphis has gone national. Composer David Bryan, better known as the keyboard player for Bon Jovi, says that he and his collaborators have worked tirelessly to make sure the touring version of the show is every bit as good as the Broadway hit.
“Some people think tours are the lesser version of Broadway,” Bryan recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our show is a lateral move. It’s certainly not lesser.”
Memphis, loosely based on the biography of Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips, is set in the turbulent south in the 1950s and tells the story of Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ whose love of good music transcends race lines and airwaves. The tour kicked off last October in its namesake city, starring Bryan Fenkart as Huey Calhoun and Felicia Boswell as Felicia Farrell, and on January 31 will make its way to Atlanta's Fox Theatre.
In order to keep the show in mint condition, Bryan is a very hands-on creator. “It’s an amazing feat to get a show up every day, but I’m the first guy to turn the lights on and the last to turn them out,” Bryan said. “It’s about quality control. [Bookwriter and co-lyricist] Joe [DiPietro] and I went to every meeting, saw every actor for Broadway, and when it came to the national tour, I was there for rehearsal and we flew down to Memphis to open the tour,” he continued.
His intense work ethic aside, Bryan's dedication is driven by the respect he has for the show's subject matter. “It’s entertainment that matters,” he said. “It’s a message that celebrates what brings people together rather than what separates us. In the '50s, it was illegal for a white person and a black person to be married. That’s kind of frightening to think about now. But this story is working like crazy across America. It’s important for people to see that you can celebrate the spirit of rock ‘n' roll, but you have to look at what came before it."
