ONE OF THE many reasons to like the Broadway show “Memphis” is that it
reminds us a musical can tackle serious issues and even turn bittersweet
while still delivering rousing, joyful songs.
That comes across surprisingly well in the TV version, which is a film
of the stage performance. Broadway musicals are rarely filmed for TV
while they’re still running — you don’t give the product away while
you’re trying to sell it — but the producers and PBS’ “Great
Performances” seem to feel, correctly, that “Memphis” is a strong anchor
for Black History Month.
This production is especially gratifying because it captures the superb performances of Chad Kimball and Montego Glover as a couple who fall into an interracial romance in a most inadvisable place: 1950s Memphis.
Kimball plays Huey Calhoun, a white kid captivated by black rhythm and blues music and particularly by Felicia Farrell (Glover), who sings it.
Huey finesses a gig playing R&B on a previously all-white radio
station. Felicia gradually finds herself sharing the feelings he has for
her from the start.
Needless to say, no one else approves of any of this. Not her family, not Huey’s mother, not the city around them.
So it becomes one of those “the heart wants what the heart wants”
dilemmas, set against some music that lays out the problem and some
that’s just good fun.
Ironically, the music in a strictly historical sense is the least authentic part of the show.
Real 1950s rhythm and blues, wonderful as it was and remains, would sound way too dated and stylized for Broadway.
What we hear, then, is something more like 1960s soul, with richer
production, a smoother all-around sound and an inevitable touch of
Broadway sheen.
But that’s okay, because the music still makes the show’s larger point. Written by Joe DiPietro and Bon Jovi’s David Bryan, the songs still sound like something that would have felt out of the pop mainstream and even vaguely dangerous in the 1950s.
“Memphis” itself has echoes of “South Pacific,” with its stark
portrayal of the barriers that have not just kept people apart, but
encouraged some to consider themselves superior by virtue of the station
to which they were born.
It’s a world where just being two people sometimes isn’t enough, and “Memphis” tells that tale in a moving way.
The other concern here is that Broadway musicals are notoriously tough to capture on film and then transfer to television.
Film, through no fault of some outstanding producers and directors,
drains some of the life and exhilaration from live theater. That’s why
stage classics like “The Sound of Music” or “My Fair Lady” were
dramatically overhauled in their movie versions.
With “Memphis,” too, this is true: If you love this Tony-winning show on TV, you’ll love it even more at the Shubert Theatre.
But the TV version, directed by Don Roy King,
has more than enough to recommend it, with stage sweeps, closeups and
superb sound. Whether you visit Broadway or not, this is a treat.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com