HOWDY FOLKS!! This is Team New York Broadway Tours and it?s only 18 days away till The 73rd Annual Tony Awards. However to keep us entertained and tracking down the days till we reach Broadway?s biggest night, we are waking you up each morning with some of the greatest musical performances from previous telecasts on our TOP 40 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN. Get ready because here comes another great big Broadway number.
At # 18 on out countdown, we take a trip to a HONKY TONK town in Tennessee in the 1950's during a time of segregation and the birth of Rock N' Roll. In this town, we meet a young Caucasian DJ who attempts to get an African American nightclub singer on the radio and eventually falls in a forbidden romance with her leading them into dangerous situations. This is of course Memphis The Musical. The show features a score by Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan along with additional lyrics and a book by Joe DiPietro.
From the 2010, Tony nominees Chad Kimball as "Huey Calhoun", Montego Glover as ?Felicia Farrall?, and the cast perform the show?s toe tapping finale anthem STEAL YOUR ROCK N?ROLL.
MEMPHIS originally was developed during the 2003-2004 season at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts and TheaterWorks in Mountain View, California. It had it's official world premiere production in 2008 at La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California and later played The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington in 2009.
Following the success of those world premiere productions, MEMPHIS officially arrived on Broadway in 2009 playing the Shubert Theatre where it ran for a total of 1,195 performances. Under the direction by Tony winner Christopher Ashley and choreography by Tony nominee again this year Sergio Trujillo, the cast consisted of….
Chad Kimball (later Adam Pascal) as "Huey Calhoun",
Montego Glover as "Felicia Farrall",
J. Bernard Calloway (later Christopher Jackson) as "Delray",
Tony nominee this year Derrick Baskin as "Gator",
Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart as "Bobby",
Cass Morgan (later Nancy Opel) as "Mama Gladys Calhoun",
and Tony winner Michael McGrath (later John Jellison) as "Mr. Simmons".
The musical was nominated for 8 Tony Awards in 2010 winning 4 including Best Musical
During its run on Broadway, one of the performances of MEMPHIS was filmed in front of a live audience and released in Movie Theaters. It's currently available on DVD and can be watched on BroadwayHD as well. The filmed performance features the entire original cast live from the stage of the Shubert Theatre.
Following the success of Broadway, the show went on to become a worldwide hit across America, in London's West End, Australia, and more. It's currently also being done in High Schools and Regional Theaters everywhere.
Doesn't this show make you wanna yell HOCKADOO?!!
#TonyAwards #BroadwaysBiggestNight #CountdownToTheTonys #NYBTTop40TonyAwardsCountdown #ThisIsBroadway
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