When I heard that Tony nominated lead actor Chad Kimball would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the show this fall, I thought I had better make an effort to catch it before he left. I went to this past Saturday evening's performance, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it (except for the ending, more on that later).
from playbill.com
The lead performers in Memphis were all very strong, and Kimball with lead actress Montego Glover exhibit some of the best on stage chemistry I've seen in awhile. But I'm going to cut to the chase. I frankly don't believe it deserved to win the Best Musical Tony over American Idiot. I realize Green Day's rock opera turned Broadway musical was very polarizing (you either loved it or had no desire to see it), but for pure creativity I think it deserved the top prize over the fairly formulaic (again except for the ending) Memphis.
About that formula... There's a typical structure and style that most musicals follow (based on the three act structure forced into two acts). That's not necessarily a bad thing (they can't all be Next to Normal after all). The somewhat predictable nature of musicals is sort of woven into the genre. And with each new Broadway musical we see a newt twist on the classic structure. In the Heights brought hip hop to the Broadway stage, just as The Book of Mormon brought offensive humor. Memphis falls into this category of musical. It's formulaic, but brings the stylings of 1950's R&B to the fore.
In addition to the unique music, Memphis also showcases an unusual protagonist in Kimball's Huey Calhoun, a white, slow-drawling, stupid (yes there's no other word for it) DJ who brings the soulful, underground R&B sounds of Memphis's black community to the mainstream. Kimball really delves into the character, adopting one of the most annoying (annoying, but not badly performed) accents I've ever heard. But Huey is hardly your typical musical lead. While his refusal to see the racial lines of the segregated South may seem heroic and forward thinking, it springs mostly from his lack of awareness or acknowledgement of the ways of the times. He's truly only a few steps above Lenny from Of Mice and Men in the intelligence department. Yet, Kimball actually gets you to root for Huey. You want him to succeed. This, combined with the aforementioned chemistry between the romantic leads, builds up an expectation for a happy ending.
An expectation that is not met. I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT for anyone who may read this post who hasn't seen the show. I admit, I really wanted some kind of happy ending for these characters. I felt they deserved it. Instead, Memphis provides us with one of the most unsatisfying and confusing (at least to me) endings on Broadway. After Glover's Felicia leaves Huey in Memphis to pursue a singing career in the North, the show transitions several years. We find Huey in some kind of makeshift studio, alone and mostly forgotten, still broadcasting the "music of his soul" over the radio to one dedicated listener. Felicia suddenly appears, and we learn that she's incredibly successful and engaged to another man. The show concludes with Huey surprising Felicia and the gang while they're performing on stage in Memphis (to be clear, in the scene prior she does ask him to come to the show to which he declines).
Initially I was quite disappointed. This ending can hardly be considered happy. On a superficial level, the romantic in me really wanted Huey and Felicia to find some way to be together, either in their current time, or perhaps many years in the future after the civil rights movement had done away with segregation laws (i.e. like the ending of Aida). I understand that for the sake of story sometimes happy is not meant to be, but I still expect a satisfying ending. There are plenty of musicals that don't have happy endings, but still resolve in a good way:
Three Shows That Don't End Happily But Are Still Satisfying
(Major SPOILERS to follow)
1. Les Miserables - Everyone basically dies, but the show still ends with such a message of hope. Even if your life seems miserable, you can be a good, loving person with faith in God and you will ultimately be rewarded (I generally don't like overt religious statements, but I accept it in this show).
2. West Side Story - Tony and Bernardo die, and Maria is forced to go on living without them. But you can see that their deaths finally awaken an understanding in the rival gangs. You leave with the understanding that the bitterness and fighting is over, and for the time being, peace has been achieved.
3. The Phantom of the Opera - The Phantom doesn't get Christine in the end. We assume he lives the rest of his life in solitude, hidden away. This may seem quite depressing, except that you know now he sees the difference between the deformity of his face and the ugliness of his behavior. So much so that he is able to let Christine go.
What makes these endings satisfying is the fact that we see some change in the characters. They have grown in some way by their experiences over the course of the show. With Memphis
From a literary stance, I don't understand what the creative team was trying to achieve with this ending. Are we supposed to feel bad for Huey that he lost it all? Are we supposed to blame him for screwing everything up? Is it supposed to emphasize how horrible the era of racial segregation was in the U.S.? Or am I completely misinterpreting everything, and we're supposed to believe Huey is simply content as long as he's able to share his music with someone? I am so incredibly confused by this ending (but apparently I'm the only one who doesn't get it, since Googling "explain Memphis musical ending" yields no relevant results).
For several days now, I've pondered the ending of Memphis, and I'm no closer to a definitive explanation. I'm afraid to say this unsatisfying ending nearly ruined an otherwise good musical experience. It tweaked me enough that I think I would strongly hesitate seeing it again in the future. Maybe after the general feeling of unease that surrounded me when I left the theatre has warn off, I might be tempted to return to try and glean something new from this seriously ambiguous ending. Or perhaps in lieu of dishing out the big bucks, I'll just watch the movie (i.e. video recorded performance).
Daily Monku: I dislike how Broadway audiences so readily give a standing ovation at curtain call. Frankly, not every show deserves it. And yet, at the end of most Broadway performances, the audience will inexplicably stand. There also seems to be a higher percentage of standing ovations in the orchestra over the mezzanine(s) (I guess if you spend all that money, you really want to like it). No one wants to be that one douche bag who doesn't stand up during a standing-o, but that's what I've been reduced to on many occasions. Yeah, I'm that person. It's not like I'm rude. I still applaud at the end of the show, but you've got to earn my standing ovation.
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