This Broadway export of the Tony Award winning musical MEMPHIS to the West End, is very good news indeed for London theatregoers.
Although it has an original score that the majority of the audience didn’t know, it had everyone leaping to their feet and roaring their approval on the night I saw it. The likelyhood is you'll feel the same way.
The show tells the story of how Huey, a geeky, white Memphis DJ won't take no for an answer when he sets out to convince the mainstream record buying public that they should be listening to music from the black community, specifically as sung by his girlfriend, Felicia.
A simple, no frills, heart wrenching production delivered with catchy original songs. The replacement cast is not quite up to scratch compared with the original, but this is definitely one to catch before it leaves the West End in March 2015.
A show full of working class, no frills energy, but at times it needed reigning in. Well done to the women, both for what they achieved and the actors’ performances – the men need to catch up here.
The Whitehall Theatre around the corner from 10 Downing Street has always been a bit of a white elephant since the 1960s when the farces for which it was once famous went out of fashion. Then about ten years ago it was converted into two theatres, The Trafalgar Studios, one which seats around 300 and a tiny little basement studio that seats fifty. Last week I had the chance to see shows in both spaces.