Memphis @ Cain Park, June 14 to July 1, 2018

(Photo by Steve Wagner)

Memphis @ Cain Park, June 14 to July 1, 2018

Review by Laura Kennelly

I love it when shows remind us that the “Olden Days” were lively--even way back in the 1950s. Memphis (The Musical), winner of four 2010 Tony Awards (including Best Musical) rocked (well, of course) the packed Alma Theatre last Friday at Cain Park. (It probably didn’t hurt the summer celebration mood that it was also Wine Tasting Night there, but I digress ….)

Memphis (book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro with music and lyrics by David Bryan) tells the story of how one Memphis DJ popularized the music he heard in black clubs via his late-night radio show. As the well-known story goes, Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. all owe their inspiration to what they heard growing up in the South.  

[Geography Note: At the time, the city of Memphis was ideally situated to spread black music northward--conveniently situated just north of Clarksdale, Mississippi and other small towns on the Delta Blues Trail that leads from and to New Orleans, home of the best music in the world (IMHO).]

Once the DJs started playing rock and roll records, there was no stopping the trend. Director Joanna May Cullinan and Music Director Jordan Cooper allow the talented cast and crew to simply enjoy the music and so illustrate why white folks (and, by extension, the rest of the world) loved it.

The show’s storyline is based on the larger-than-life personality of a white radio DJ named Dewey Phillips (yes, related to Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records). He’s called Huey Calhoun in the show. Douglas F. Bailey II handles the demanding role of a person “with no boundaries” with seemingly inexhaustible energy.

(Quibble: Bailey gets the cadence right, but no self-respecting southerner from that area would ever land on the final “g” the way he does. It’s “goin’,” not “goinG.” Trust me, honey, on that one, or take a listen on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jGgOoCRamI])

But OK, DJ Bailey admires and then recruits a black singer, the reluctant Felicia Farrell (Nicole Sumlin) to sing for a wider audience. Her reluctance is overcome by his persistence (and love). The beautiful Sumlin’s terrific Felicia sings like a powerhouse with the ensemble and touches our feelings on the love songs (“Love Will Stand”).

The  most fun part of the show comes when local teens, devoted listeners to Calhoun’s late-night radio shows, start dancing. They create a demand for more and more of this “new sound” and both black and white kids groove to the new beat. At the beginning the dozen plus dancers sort themselves according to race, but by show’s end they’ve merged into one talent-packed joy-provoking ensemble. Choreographer Leilani Barrett makes the small stage seem larger than it is as the dancers fill every nook and cranny with movement.

Other cast members include Michael Swain-Smith as the “mute” Gator (but watch out!), Anthony Savage-Williams (as Delray, owner of the Rock ‘n Roll bar), Elijah Dawson (as good-guy Bobby), and Cynthia O’Connell as Mama (who just doesn’t “get” her son).

Bottom Line: Music can be a wonderful and powerful meeting place. This Cain Park show tunefully celebrates this idea.

Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin @ The Cleveland Play House, June 7 to June 24

Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin @ The Cleveland Play House, June 7 to June 24

Review by Laura Kennelly

I think I met Irving Berlin last night (June 14). Well, that’s what it felt like after Hershey Felder channelled the great songwriter to a happy crowd at The Cleveland Play House’s Allen Theater. Felder, as Berlin, shared a well-presented selection of the composer’s greatest hits. (The prolific Berlin wrote over 1,000 songs during a career that spanned both World Wars, the Depression, FDR, JFK, and beyond so there’s no attempt to be comprehensive, but the musical numbers chosen did evoke their eras.)  

When the show opens, we see Berlin as an old man in a wheelchair (he died at 101 in 1988). Suddenly, years drop off, he stands up and starts telling his story. All he remembers of Russia was when he was five years old, hiding and watching his house burn down. His Jewish family emigrated to the United States and settled in New York (the city he never left) and began to create a new life.

As it turned out, the youngster was a natural musician with a gift for writing melody and lyrics. He made a good living (he learned early to keep the rights to everything forever) composing vaudeville ditties such as “My Wife’s Gone to the Country, Hurrah! Hurrah!” (1907) before moving on to fame and fortune writing musicals. He was a major figure in what became fondly remembered as the Golden Era of Musicals (i.e. the 1940s and 1950s) with shows such as “Holiday Inn,”  “Annie Get Your Gun,” and “Call Me Madam.” Almost as a side job he also wrote for Hollywood films (including the musical “White Christmas”). Felder offers short clips with Fred Astaire dancing and singing Berlin’s music.

It’s almost easier to say what popular song from those years isn’t by Irving Berlin than to say what is. His hit songs include “White Christmas” (of course), “Puttin on the Ritz,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Heat Wave,” “Blue Skies,” “Always,” and “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” And, of course, “God Bless America” made famous by Kate Smith in 1938.

Felder, who accompanies himself on the piano for most songs, inserts clips and quips to keep things moving briskly along, but be warned, there’s no intermission and it gets long--music-packed, but long. The night I went, he asked for audience questions after the show--questions which proved amusing (“What do you think of critics?”) and informative (“What’s next?”).

Felder, who has already done (and still does) musical/theatrical recreations (such as this one) that focus on great composers such as Beethoven, Gershwin, Chopin, answered the last question by playing a Debussy Arabesque.

Bottom Line: Fun time for summer evening.  It’s either a history lesson or a stroll down memory lane or both. Personally, it was a pleasure to remember (and even sing along--well, he invited us to at one point) the songs that first made a music theatre junkie out of me. And, by the way, June 24 at 6:30 p.m. there will be an extra show: One of Felder’s Great American Songbook/Sing-along performances where the audience joins in all the time.