The musical Memphis teems with Connecticut regional theater connections. While it did NOT have an out-of-town try-out or workshop at Goodspeed Musicals (main developer of Broadway-friendly song-and-dance shows in the state, from Man of La Mancha to Annie to All Shook Up), Memphis availed itself of the expertise of producer Sue Frost (who left her Goodspeed post as Associate Producer partly in order to explore Broadway producing opportunities) and book writer Joe DiPietro (who updated the Gershwin show Oh Kay! as They All Laughed for the Goodspeed in 2001, penned the book for All Shook Up and also did Babes in Arms and O. Henry’s Lovers there).
Why bring this up now? (It was a year ago that Memphis won the Best Musical Tony!) Applause Books is poised to publish DiPietro’s Memphis libretto this months, replete with color photos, as a 160-page paperback fro $16.99. The show continues to scratch itch, stand when all else fails, say a prayer and steal your rock & roll at the Shubert Theater on Broadway.