Let Your Soul Glow

I love the fall in New York. Baseball playoffs, College and NFL Football hit their stride, and the Broadway season kicks off. Last night, I saw the first offering in the "New Musical" category: Memphis. The tagline is simple: "His Vision. Her Voice. The Birth of Rock 'n Roll." Truthfully, I had been looking forward to this show since I heard it was coming to Broadway. While the story may be familiar, it is, for all intents and purposes, a truly original musical.

I chose to write about this show for a couple of reasons:

1. The talent. While the book (which is, essentially, the dialogue and song lyrics of the show) was far from perfect, the energy, and the outright talent of the cast, hooked me. Chad Kimball and Montego Glover may be the hardest working musical leads on Broadway right now. And the entire cast (and I mean, entire cast) completely charms you onto your feet. They are often better than their material. Not to say all the material is weak. But, it might benefit from some tweaking during previews. The cast, on the other hand, does not have a weak link.

2. The underlying issue regarding the birth of this genre. There was a particular scene that truly affected me in this show. I won't give it away, but you'll know it if you see it. While many of us may have been exposed to a variation of this scene in some other medium (movies, TV, etc.), it is still horribly effective. Seeing unprovoked, baseless cruelty, even though it is "make believe," evokes a frightening reminder about our culture and society. We know that Rock 'n Roll would not have existed without African Americans in the South. Furthermore, we know about the complicated history of race relations in this country. But, we need to be reminded again. Because these issues are important and still exist. Theatre can be not only our entertainment, but our education. And we need to learn from our history so that we don't repeat it.

The Laramie Project may seem like a period piece about the senseless beating, and subsequent murder, of a gay man. 1998 seems like so long ago, doesn't it? Well, last Friday, in Queens, NY, a 49-year old man named Jack Price was beaten within an inch of his life (a life which he may not have much longer) for being gay. He was leaving a local deli and was beaten for being gay. That's it. Just like so many black people in our country's young history were beaten and killed for only one reason: They were black. Are we learning?

I know I'm getting in a little deep here, but I feel this is important. Sometimes we need to be forcefully reminded that although we have come very far as a country, we still have quite a long way to go. Art holds up a mirror to society and allows us to look at ourselves to see if we really have the strength to BE the change we want to see in this world (Thank you, Mathatma). I hope we have that strength. I really do.