Memphis the Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre)
Following hot on the heels of The Scottsboro Boys, which opened earlier this week, Memphis is another Tony-winning Broadway hit that has taken its own sweet time to reach these shores.
The story of Huey Calhoun (loosely based on Dewey Phillips), a white DJ who promotes black music in his titular hometown in the racially segregated 1950s, what it lacks in narrative subtlety it makes up for with a sound as rich as you're likely to hear on any West End stage.
That's thanks in no small part to the efforts of Beverley Knight, who has graduated from The Bodyguard to playing Calhoun's protege and love interest Felicia with a poise that confirms the former chart topper as a bona fide West End star.
And as Huey, Killian Donnelly is allowed to unleash the full range of a voice that deserves better than the jukebox fare he was given in The Commitments. His big number, "Memphis Lives in Me", is a second act show-stopper that ranks as one of the most stirring odes to a city since "New York, New York".
It's one of several memorable tunes packed into David 'Bon Jovi' Bryan's original score; others include "The Music of My Soul", sung by Huey to convince the patrons of a black bar where Felicia performs that he's the real deal, and "Someday", the hit that makes Felicia's name and prompts interest from big shot producers in New York. As Felicia proclaims, "Rock 'n' roll is just black people's blues sped up."
I can't pretend the book and lyrics of Joe DiPietro are among the most sophisticated you'll encounter. In fact a few lines and narrative twists are so crass as to be almost laughable. There's also something distinctly troubling about the denouement, which implies Huey has been rendered a shell of a man by his love for a black woman. In this it strongly diverges from Hairspray, its otherwise comparable predecessor on the Shaftesbury stage.
But hey, this is a night to leave your narrative nit-comb at the door and sit back and enjoy the music. It's delivered by a fully committed ensemble (other stand outs including Rolan Bell as Felicia's velvet-voiced brother and Tyrone Huntley as the "mute" barman), all overseen by Christopher Ashley's slick and steady direction. As Huey himself might say, Hockadoo go.
