Sunday, August 3rd, was the final performance of “Memphis
– the Musical” at the Shubert Theater in New York. The 2010 Tony-winner for “Best Musical” and “Best
Score” (written by Bon Jovi’s David Bryan, who made an on-stage appearance
after the final number), closed after 1,166 performances.
The show tells the love, life, and personal stories of a
poor white DJ (Chad Kimball when it opened, and then Adam Pascal) and an aspiring black rock-and-roll singer (Montego
Glover) during the 1950s in a racially-charged and highly segregated
Memphis.
I’ve seen many Broadway musicals, but never on closing
night. I had seen Memphis soon after its
opening, and decided that I needed to see this again on closing night, so my
boyfriend and I headed up to our balcony seats , 6 rows from the last.
I have never been to a show
as emotionally charged as this one. Within 10 minutes, we were
completely drawn into the action, along with every other person in the sold-out
theater. And the tears began, and flowed
through the entire first act. I was a
little better in the second act – I didn't tear up until the second or third
song . . .
The audience was, in a word, America. And the audience was a participant in the show’s emotion, not a mere
spectator.
Sitting next to my white boyfriend and me was an elderly
black man. An Asian woman with a black
husband sat next to him. A couple of
young guys sat behind us, and a racially-mixed child sat just across the aisle,
in front of the East Indian family. And that pattern replicated itself
throughout the 1,521-seat theater.
For many of us, Memphis strikes a very deep chord. Each theme of racism, hate, fear, forbidden love, poverty, distrust,
hopes, dreams, and a sense of one’s “home”
is, of itself, enough to pull at the heartstrings. Together, those themes weave an incredibly
powerful and realistic view of humanity and a society in wrenching transition. I only later realized the incredible irony of
those messages: at the very time we were watching the final performance, the
community of Oak Creek, Wisconsin was trying to make sense of the hateful slaughter of Sikhs by a white supremacist in
their midst.
The final curtain call was an event in its own right, as
former cast members and artistic directors joined the cast on the stage, and
the audience refused to quiet down.
I am sorry that this show has ended. It is a show every American needs to see.
I am grateful I was
there. The Finale is embedded below.
Hockadoo, indeed !
.
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