# Memphis Bound > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memphis_Bound > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memphis_Bound.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Bound > Source revision: 1297829033 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ***Memphis Bound*** (usually styled ***Memphis Bound!***) is a 1945 American [musical](/source/Musical_theater) based on the [Gilbert and Sullivan](/source/Gilbert_and_Sullivan) opera *[H.M.S. Pinafore](/source/H.M.S._Pinafore)*. The score was adapted and augmented by [Don Walker](/source/Don_Walker_(orchestrator)) and Clay Warnick, with a libretto credited to Albert Barker and [Sally Benson](/source/Sally_Benson), "with gratitude to [W. S. Gilbert](/source/W._S._Gilbert) and [Sir Arthur Sullivan](/source/Sir_Arthur_Sullivan)."[1] The original production starred an all-black cast including [Bill "Bojangles" Robinson](/source/Bill_%22Bojangles%22_Robinson), [Avon Long](/source/Avon_Long), [Billy Daniels](/source/Billy_Daniels), [Ada Brown](/source/Ada_Brown_(singer)), and [Sheila Guyse](/source/Sheila_Guyse).[2] ## Plot An all-African-American touring company is traveling to Memphis on a [showboat](/source/Showboat), the *Calliboga Queen*. When the boat is run aground in Tennessee, the company mounts a production of [Gilbert and Sullivan](/source/Gilbert_and_Sullivan)'s *[H.M.S. Pinafore](/source/H.M.S._Pinafore)* to raise funds to get it unstuck.[3] Much of the musical consists of a [play within a play](/source/Play_within_a_play), as the company presents a musically updated version of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera;[4] the boat pilot (played by [Bill Robinson](/source/Bill_Robinson) in the original production) takes a major role as Sir Joseph Porter, [First Lord of the Admiralty](/source/First_Lord_of_the_Admiralty).[5] Another actor ([Avon Long](/source/Avon_Long) in the original) sings and dances the role of Captain Corcoran, while the part of Josephine goes to an [Andrews Sisters](/source/Andrews_Sisters)-style trio of women from the company chorus ([Sheila Guyse](/source/Sheila_Guyse), Ida James, and [Thelma Carpenter](/source/Thelma_Carpenter))—each had been promised the role, so they join forces and play it simultaneously.[6] The police arrest the company for performing without a license, and the case is taken to court in a scene involving excerpts from another Gilbert and Sullivan work, *[Trial by Jury](/source/Trial_by_Jury)*.[3] ## Productions The show was given a pre-Broadway tryout at the [Colonial Theatre](/source/Colonial_Theatre_(Boston)) in Boston, Massachusetts, early in May 1945.[7][8] The production gave top billing to Bill Robinson and Avon Long.[8] The show then opened at the [Broadway Theatre](/source/Broadway_Theatre_(53rd_Street)) on May 24, 1945.[9] In 1939, Robinson had starred as the Lord High Executioner in [Mike Todd](/source/Mike_Todd)'s musical *[The Hot Mikado](/source/The_Hot_Mikado_(1939_production))*, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's *[The Mikado](/source/The_Mikado)* (another updated version, *[The Swing Mikado](/source/The_Swing_Mikado)*, opened on Broadway almost simultaneously). *Memphis Bound* marked his return to Broadway, in another vehicle based on Gilbert and Sullivan.[10] [John Wildberg](/source/John_Wildberg), who had successfully presented [Philip Yordan](/source/Philip_Yordan)'s *[Anna Lucasta](/source/Anna_Lucasta_(play))* with an African-American cast on Broadway the previous year, was producer;[11] Robert Ross directed, assisted by [Eva Jessye](/source/Eva_Jessye), with [Vinton Freedley](/source/Vinton_Freedley) credited for "personal supervision" of the show.[12] *Memphis*, one of numerous [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War)-era Broadway musicals created by white production teams for black casts, was the last such show to appear during the war.[13] Most of the score was derived from the Gilbert and Sullivan original;[4] the vocal arrangements and updated lyrics were by Clay Warnick, while the orchestrations and score were adapted by [Don Walker](/source/Don_Walker_(orchestrator)).[14] The show also included four original songs by Warnick and Walker—"Big Old River," "Stand Around the Bend," "Old Love and Brand New Love," and "Growing Pains"[14]—written in a pastiche of existing styles.[3] (In the show billing, Walker was credited with the new music, and Warnick and Walker shared credit for the new lyrics.)[1] "Growing Pains," an original duet for Robinson and 8-year-old actor Timothy Grace,[15] was strongly flavored by a [Duke Ellington](/source/Duke_Ellington) sound,[4] while the Gilbert and Sullivan material was arranged as [swing music](/source/Swing_music)[11] with a [boogie-woogie](/source/Boogie-woogie) edge.[3] Robinson interpolated his specialty, a dance on stairs, as a high point of the show.[16] Avon Long, known for playing Sportin' Life in the 1942 Broadway production of *[Porgy and Bess](/source/Porgy_and_Bess)*, provided additional solo dancing, using a full-body movement style contrasting with Robinson's foot-based work.[17] ## Reception John Chapman of the *[New York Daily News](/source/New_York_Daily_News)* gave the Broadway production a rave review, saying "It has been too many years since I have seen a musical with the zip, the stomp, and the whoosh of *Memphis Bound*. … It's good-naured as a puppy, and frequently very smart."[2] [Wilella Waldorf](/source/Wilella_Waldorf) of the *[New York Post](/source/New_York_Post)* was more critical of the book, commenting that though the adaptation of *H.M.S. Pinafore* was "interesting musically and often very funny," the show as a whole was inconsistent, with "no uniform pattern … set for the travesty."[10] *[Life](/source/Life_(magazine))* magazine's anonymous critic highlighted the contributions of Robinson and *H.M.S. Pinafore*, noting with amusement that both were 67 years old, but added that when neither were featured onstage, "the show gets very dreary."[5] Bob Francis of *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))* magazine similarly praised the *Pinafore* segments and the stars over the original elements of the book,[18] commenting: "If two actors could put *Memphis* over for a smash, it should be Robinson and Long. Unfortunately, the task is too heavy for a two-man job."[19] Critics widely praised Robinson's performance and especially his dancing.[20][16][19] During its run, *Memphis* moved from the Broadway to the [Belasco Theatre](/source/Belasco_Theatre_(Broadway)). It closed on June 23, 1945, after 36 performances,[9] losing money on its original investment.[10] The show was hampered in part due to competition from *[Hollywood Pinafore](/source/Hollywood_Pinafore)*, a [George S. Kaufman](/source/George_S._Kaufman) musical comedy drawing on exactly the same Gilbert and Sullivan material.[10] However, Kaufman's version, which opened exactly a week after *Memphis*, was a much more pronounced critical failure.[4] "The Nightingale, The Moon and I," one of the numbers closely based on the Gilbert and Sullivan originals,[4] was recorded in the 1990s for the compilation album *Life's a Funny Present*.[14] ## Notes ### References 1. Suskin 1990, p. 431. 1. Suskin 1990, p. 432. 1. Hischak 2009, p. 294. 1. Mordden 1999, p. 108. 1. *Life* magazine 1945, p. 57. 1. Dietz 2015, p. 281. 1. [""*Program for* Memphis Bound""](http://collections.si.edu/search/record/edanmdm:nmaahc_2013.46.25.269), Pinafore Enterprises, Inc., May 1945, p. 1, retrieved March 27, 2019 1. "Program for *Memphis Bound*", p. 2 1. Hischak 2009, p. 292. 1. Suskin 1990, p. 433. 1. Francis 1945, p. 34. 1. Dietz 2015, p. 280. 1. Jones 2003, p. 132. 1. Dietz 2015, p. 282. 1. *Life* magazine 1945, p. 62. 1. *Life* magazine 1945, p. 58. 1. *Life* magazine 1945, p. 60. 1. Francis 1945, pp. 34, 59. 1. Francis 1945, p. 59. 1. Suskin 1990, pp. 432–33. ### Sources - Dietz, Dan (2015), [*The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VRiMBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA281), Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 9781442245280 - Francis, Bob (June 2, 1945), ["Memphis Bound"](https://books.google.com/books?id=uhEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT33), *Billboard*. Vol. 52, no. 22, pp. 34, 59 - Hischak, Thomas S. (2009), [*Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows Through 2007*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeiySJZXF4C&pg=PA294), Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., ISBN 9780786453092 - Jones, John Bush (2003), [*Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theatre*](https://books.google.com/books?id=a9w7BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132), Hanover: Brandeis University Press, ISBN 9780874519044 - *Life* magazine (June 25, 1945), ["'Memphis Bound': 'Pinafore' and 'Bojangles', both 67 years old, liven Negro musical"](https://books.google.com/books?id=YUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57), *Life*. Vol. 18, no. 26, pp. 57–62 - Mordden, Ethan (1999), [*Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zF7nCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA108), New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195128512 - Suskin, Steven (1990), "Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre, Oklahoma! (1943) to Fiddler on the Roof (1964)", New York: Schirmer Books --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Memphis Bound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Bound) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Bound?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.