“Memphis” is based in 1950s Memphis, Tenn., when racial tension is high. Huey Calhoun, a disc jockey at a local radio station, loves rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll music, otherwise known as “race music” during the ’50s.

Calhoun falls in love with a black soul singer and his career as a DJ takes off. “Memphis” takes you through Calhoun’s life as he struggles to keep his relationship strong and listen to the kind of music he loves.

“Memphis,” as it appeared onstage at Stephens Auditorium in Ames, has not changed much during the past two years. The cast might have changed, but the music and the lines they deliver have not changed in style.

Calhoun is still goofy and naive and Felicia Farrell (the black soul singer Calhoun falls in love with) still dreams of making it big.

The whole cast does a good job on making their characters believable. No one broke out of character, and you really do start to feel how much each character is invested into the show.

There were a few things I noticed that were a little different since the last time I had seen it.

The choreography was great, but a few of the numbers were a little off. One or two dancers would be a few seconds behind the rest of the group and it was a little distracting. Also, when I had seen it at the Civic Center in Des Moines, the second half of the show was portrayed a little differently.

During the TV show portion of that show, the camera would project onto a screen behind and above the actors. So while the TV would follow the characters you could see them projected on the screen in the background in black and white as well as watch them on the stage. It almost looked like they were on an old black and white TV.

Even though they did not include that into this performance, it still did not take anything away from the performance. It was just a cool addition that could have been left in the show.

There also was one last thing that was a little off during the performance. There might have been a number of things that threw it off, but “She’s My Sister” performed by Delray and Calhoun seemed to start off a little rocky. The lines leading up to the song were rushed and the rest of the song also seemed a little rushed.

Overall, the play was humorous, the songs were sung with powerful voices, and the acting was really believable and emotional.

4/5