Developing New Musicals: The Road to MEMPHIS

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How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Everyone knows the answer to that one. But how about this one: How do you take a show to Broadway? It certainly takes more than lots of practice. The journey of a new work, especially a new musical piece, is a long arduous road that demands not only a terrific story, music, and lyrics, but lots of time, patience, and persistence from a producer (or two, or three, or more) who knows how to put together a creative team, and whose passion is on par with his or her writers’, whose interpretation of the work is on the same page as the writers, and who knows exactly how to market the show to the right audiences. And that’s just for starters. The element of luck and being in the right place at the right time can be just as significant.

After 30 years of churning out a newspaper every week (for those who don’t me, I am the former editor of Back Stage, a weekly trade paper founded by my father in 1960), I decided to follow my dream of producing, and specifically developing and producing new work, and these past two years I have been learning and discovering for myself the answers to the question that I posed above. By no means am I there yet, but little by little, I’m beginning to learn the ropes.

That’s why a panel discussion presented last month by Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) caught my eye: “From Table Reading to Tony Award: A Long Way to Memphis” featured the key players of Memphis talking about just how this multi-Tony Award- winning show got to Broadway. Speakers included Memphis lead producers Sue Frost and Randy Adams of Junkyard Dog Productions; writer Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics); producer Barbara Freitag; and general manager Carl Pasbjerg of Alchemy Production Group. Bob Ost, executive director of TRU, moderated.

The story of Memphis is not your typical production story, however.  It was producer and writer George W. George who first came up with the idea of producing a musical based on a chapter he read in a book about Dewey Phillips, one of the first white disc jockeys in the late ‘40s/early ‘50s to play black music, noted DiPietro. He and George spent about half a year writing the book, and when it came to looking for a composer, DiPietro admitted that though he knew lots of them, he knew “zero rockers.” Then out of the blue (here’s where the luck element comes in), he got a call from David Bryan, the keyboardist and longtime member of  the rock and roll group Bon Jovi, who told him that he was very interested in the project, even admitting that he could “hear every song in my head.” The next day, DiPietro received a FedEx package from Bryan with a completely synthesized CD of the music he wrote enclosed. He listened to it and knew that Bryan was the one.

Bryan and DiPietro wrote the show and, again, luck knocked on the door. It was 2002. Randy Adams, managing director of TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., called and asked Joe if he happened to be working on anything new. Bryan and DiPietro flew out to the West Coast, did a reading of Memphis there. Jon Kimbell, then the artistic director/executive producer of North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass., just happened to be at that reading and after the first act approached Randy about doing a co-production of Memphis. The two agreed. It was produced at North Shore in 2003 and, according to DiPietro, lots of New York industry folks went up to see it at North Shore. It was also a huge hit at TheatreWorks when it was produced there early in 2004.

DiPietro and Bryan continued to work on the show for the next two years or so, working on other projects as well since George W. George still held on to the option. Then one day, Joe got a call from Randy Adams wanting to know what was happening with the show. Adams had left his job at TheatreWorks and formed a production company with Sue Frost, the longtime associate producer of Goodspeed Opera House who had also just left her 20-year gig. Together, Adams and Frost formed Junkyard Dog Productions, devoted to developing and producing new work.

“Well, funny you should ask this, because the option is up in the summer of 2007,” DiPietro told Adams. The creative team met with Frost and Adams and Junkyard Dog decided to do a reading of Memphis in New York.

DiPietro noted to the TRU members in the audience, the majority of whom are producers and aspiring producers, “Writers need to ask their potential producers where they see the show going.” He stressed that the writers and producers must see the same vision, and must be on the same page with regard to the work. And Adams and Frost met their criteria.

Junkyard Dog decided that a New York reading was necessary, not only to attract other producers and investors, but also to get others’ opinions and thoughts on the project. The $34,000 budgeted reading took place in early 2007 at New World Stages, where over 400 people attended. It was where Barbara and Buddy Freitag, and Marleen and Kenny Aldaheff came on board as producers.

“Now we had the lead team,” Frost concluded.

After that, everything just started falling into the right place. DiPietro knew Christopher Ashley, who was then the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and asked if he wanted to come onboard. Ashley felt the show needed more dance (surprisingly, dance at this point, was not an integral part of the show) and asked about bringing choreographer Serge Trujillo in. A connection was also made with David Armstrong, then the Producing Artistic Director of Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre.

It was now the summer of 2008. Instead of doing a workshop production of Memphis at La Jolla before going to on to Seattle, it was agreed that La Jolla and the Fifth Avenue Theatre would do a co-production that was to be enhanced by the producers. The show’s general manager, Carl Pasbjerg, warned the producers not to spend a whole lot of money on the physical production, noting “We’re not even sure where the show is yet.”

Frost and Adams admitted that the negotiations with these two leading regional houses went well because they understand the language of resident theatres and knew what they wanted, having both worked in the nonprofit arena for so many years, and knew how to make things happen with little or no money. Frost notes, “There was a true level of trust between the participants.”

Their timing was right too. The Night they Raided Minsky’s (from writers Charles Strouse and Susan Birkenhead) was playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in L.A. which attracted lots of East Coast producers and investors. Word was out about Memphis, and so, many of these same producers, took the short trip up to Seattle.

There were a lot of changes made during this time, and a lot of the changes were based, not only on discussions between the producers and writers, but on audience feedback. The Fifth Avenue Theatre encourages its audiences to write their thoughts about the show that they had just seen. DiPietro’s assistant went through all their remarks and the creative and producing team took into consideration those remarks which consistently came up. DiPietro was particularly interested in finding out from audience members 1.) At what point did their minds start to wander or lose interest; 2.) At what point did they stop understanding, or were confused; and 3.) At what point did they get ahead of the show, i.e., when did it become predictable to them?

More emphasis was put on the romantic relationship, and on the racial issues. New York scenic designer David Gallo came in at this point and designed the set always thinking of the next level – Broadway. “When we got to New York [fall of 2009] and loaded in at the Shubert Theatre, we did it on straight time,” added Frost, emphasizing the need to always think ahead. They also brought the show in under budget.

The producing team and general manager admitted that the show’s New York beginnings were tough, but they hung in, focusing in on marketing to the show’s niche audiences, trying to get across the fact that Memphis was not another jukebox musical. Pasbjerg pointed out the ways that they did save money, and stressed the fact that they never had to touch their contingency funds. They just had to survive the winter months.

Memphis won four Tony Awards (Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Orchestrations) and deserved to win a few more. I’ve seen the show twice so far and have read the reviews out of town and have seen for myself how much the show has grown. The producers continue to creatively find new ways to attract new audiences even though Adams states that Memphis is definitely a word-of mouth show.

It certainly is. I tell everyone who asks me what show to see when they’re coming to New York. States Sue Frost when talking about the power of print and media, “They can certainly break you, but they can’t make you.” Nope.  Frost and Adams knew just what to do to make it.


*THE MEMPHIS TEAM in picture above (l. to r.): Producers Randy Adams and Sue Frost, general manager Carl Pasbjerg, producers Barbara and Buddy Freitag, book and lyric writer Joe DiPietro, and TRU exec director Bob Ost