Tour of Broadway musical Memphis closes out main portion of Performing Arts and Concert Series with a responsive and enthusiastic crowd.
Hockadoo! No one could steal Memphis’ rock ‘n’ roll Tuesday night as the tour of the Broadway musical brought the audience to its feet and closed the main series of the Ohio University Performing Arts and Concert Series.
Memphis tells the story of Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ whose love of music transcends the traditional racial boundaries of 1950s Memphis, Tennessee. He meets Felicia Farrell, a black club singer who is ready to get her name known and with whom Huey falls in love with. Huey is determined to make her a star despite the racist culture of the segregated 1950s South.
The audience clapped, gasped, cheered and laughed along the whole way through the performance. The clapping and cheering continued for the actors even after the curtain call, for the actors had finished as the band members on stage played everyone out of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
“It seems like everybody is having a good time,” said a beaming Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center.
During the performance of “Stand Up,” the audience began cheering and clapping for Rendell DeBose, who plays Bobby and is the main performer in the number, before the song had ended.
One random audience member’s enthusiasm for the show was even heard by the cast. At the moment when Huey tells Felicia he wants to get together with her, an audience member yelled out, “What?!” said Eben K. Logan, who plays Laverne and is an ensemble member in the musical.
“We were all laughing and talking about it backstage,” Logan said. “I love it when stuff like that happens. … (The Athens audience) was fantastic.”
Zuri Washington, who plays Felicia, said that moment even brought a smile to her face onstage.
Maureen Mierke, a sophomore studying journalism, said she thought Washington’s performance was amazing and said her solo “Colored Woman” is “definitely going on” her playlist titled “Strong,” which features empowering songs.
Washington said she loves to sing “Colored Woman” because it is such an anthem but loves to perform “Someday” because her co-star Daniel S. Hines, who plays Huey, is “really silly.”
Sheila Shafer, an Athens resident and Performing Arts and Concert Series subscriber, said she was impressed with the talent of the cast.
“The singing is the strongest in musicals we’ve seen. …We’ve been coming for about six years,” Shafer said.
Parts of the musical reminded Megan Ruth, a freshman studying civil engineering, of Hairspray, another musical focusing on racial segregation, music and the media, due to the musicals’ similar focus on segregation as well as the choreography.
Mierke said the plot of the musical was impactful.
“It hurts knowing how the world used to be like that, and sometimes still is,” she said.
The power of the story is what Logan said she loves about being a part of Memphis.
“It’s such a ‘fantastical’ story,” Logan said, referencing a moment in the musical. “It’s still so relevant today.
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