The 2010 Tony Award® winning Best Musical MEMPHIS will be captured live-in-performance by Broadway Worldwide for high definition exhibition in digital cinemas nationwide this spring. For the first time ever, audiences around the country will be able to experience Broadway's current Tony Award® winning Best Musical in their own home town movie theatre during its Tony Award®-winning year. The Broadway production of MEMPHIS will be captured live during regularly scheduled performances January 18-21st at the Shubert Theatre, utilizing multiple high definition cameras and 96 tracks of sound recording.
The timing of the high definition recording and exhibition of MEMPHIS is historic, providing a unique opportunity to brand and market the show to national audiences in support of both the current Broadway engagement and the forthcoming touring production. Emmy Award®-winning director Don Roy King (Saturday Night Live, CBS' The Early Show, Survivor) and Grammy® and Emmy Award®-winning sound producer Matt Kaplowitz (Ghandi, PBS' To Bear Witness) lead the production team for Broadway Worldwide.
Details about the national theatrical exhibition schedule for MEMPHIS will be announced in the spring.
Critically acclaimed MEMPHIS won four 2010 Tony Awards® including Best Musical, Best Original Score (
David Bryan and
Joe DiPietro), Best Book (
Joe DiPietro), and Best Orchestrations (
David Bryan and
Daryl Waters). MEMPHIS won four Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actress (
Montego Glover), Outstanding Music (
David Bryan) and Outstanding Orchestration (
David Bryan and
Daryl Waters). MEMPHIS has also won four Outer Critic Circle Awards including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Score (
David Bryan &
Joe DiPietro), Outstanding Actress (
Montego Glover) and Outstanding Choreography (
Sergio Trujillo).
MEMPHIS takes place in the smoky halls and underground clubs of the segregated 50's, where a young white DJ named Huey Calhoun (
Chad Kimball) fell in love with everything he shouldn't: rock and roll and an electrifying black singer (
Montego Glover). MEMPHIS is an original story about the cultural revolution that erupted when his vision met her voice, and the music changed forever.
MEMPHIS, the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, stars Tony® nominee
Chad Kimball (Huey) and Tony® Nominee
Montego Glover (Felicia) with
Derrick Baskin (Gator),
J. Bernard Calloway (Delray),
James Monroe Iglehart (Bobby),
Michael McGrath (Mr. Simmons), and
Cass Morgan (Mama) opened on October 19, 2009 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street). Previews began on September 23rd.
The show features a Tony® winning score with music by Bon Jovi's founding member and keyboardist
David Bryan and lyrics by Bryan and
Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change), who also pens the musical's Tony® winning book. MEMPHIS is based on a concept by the late
George W. George (producer of the Tony nominated Bedroom Farce and the film My Dinner With Andre), with direction by Tony nominee
Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreography by
Sergio Trujillo, who is currently represented by an astonishing four shows on Broadway (Memphis, Jersey Boys,
next to normal and The Addams Family).
MEMPHIS is produced on Broadway by
Junkyard Dog Productions, Barbara and
Buddy Freitag and Kenny and Marleen Alhadeff with
Latitude Link, Jim and Susan Blair,
Demos Bizar Entertainment, Land Line Productions,
Apples and Oranges Productions,
Dave Copley,
Dancap Productions, Inc., Alex and Katya Lukianov,
Tony Ponturo, 2 Guys Productions, and
Richard Winkler in association with
Lauren Doll, Eric and Marsi Gardiner, Linda and Bill Potter,
Broadway Across America, Jocko Productions,
Patty Baker,
Dan Frishwasser,
Bob Bartner/Scott and Kaylin Union,
Loraine Boyle/
Chase Mishkin,
Remmel T. Dickinson/Memphis Orpheum Group and ShadowCatcher Entertainment/Vijay and Sita Vashee.
Broadway Worldwide was established in 1995 as first-to-market in the high definition, surround sound production and worldwide distribution of Broadway musicals captured live-in-performance for digital cinema, DVD and television. With a mission to capture a show as it is performed in front of paying audiences during its Broadway engagement, Broadway Worldwide seeks to provide an authentic Broadway experience on screen. This will enable worldwide audiences to sample the excitement of Broadway in their home towns, generating awareness and whetting appetites for the stage productions themselves. To date, Broadway Worldwide has captured and distributed SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ, Broadway's longest running musical revue,
Stephen Sondheim's PUTTING IT TOGETHER starring
Carol Burnett and JEKYLL & HYDE starring
David Hasselhoff. Broadway Worldwide's production team is led by founder and executive producer Bruce Brandwen, Emmy Award®-winning director Don Roy King (Saturday Night Live, CBS' The Early Show, Survivor) and Grammy® and Emmy Award®-winning sound producer Matt Kaplowitz (Ghandi, PBS' To Bear Witness).
