“Every single song I heard gave me goosebumps.” Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Memphis is one of the most heartwarming down to earth musicals I saw in 2012. The story in Memphis is loosely based on disc jockey Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music in the 1950s. Dewey Phillips wanted to bring black music to white listeners in the segregated South, where in the 1950’s segregation in the United States has meant the physical separation and provision of separate facilities (especially during the Jim Crow era), but it can also refer to other manifestations of racial discrimination such as separation of roles within an institution, such as the United States Armed Forces up to the 1950s when black units were typically separated from white units but were led by white officers. Black music was never popular to white listeners or on the radio; Dewey Phillips wanted to change that.

Memphis has songs that made me so desperate to dance to, because it gives the rock and roll feeling to bring everybody in the stage. Every single song I heard gave me goosebumps just like the song “Defying Gravity” in Wicked. My personal favorite songs in Memphis were The Music of My Soul, Memphis Lives in Me, and Steal Your Rock ‘n’ Roll. The songs that Felicia (Felica Boswell) sang were very energetic and beautiful. There was also a song where a big black man (Will Mann) named Bobby was doing all different kinds of stunts; he was doing back flips, the mashed potatoes, and so much more that everybody in the crowd was going wild because he was so talented that I would want to do those moves in the future.

There were a few problems I had in Memphis that I wished that they could clean up. First off the song Say a Prayer which was the song that ended the first act was very disappointing, it didn’t end up so powerful as other musicals I have seen and I wished they could have done a better job to make it very powerful as the other songs. The ending of Memphis was a letdown for me while I was watching the ending it felt unfinished, they could have added something more to it to make it better just like the rest of the musical they could have added a little more tweaks to the musical.

I loved the musical Memphis and so did my loving best friends in Amas Musical Theatre. We all enjoyed it together and we all loved the music, the story, and the dancing that we would definitely recommend it to everybody to watch Memphis. If Memphis lived in me and my friends then Memphis will definitely live in you. I give Memphis an 8.5 out of 10.