Importance of lighting design

“在20世纪50年代演出时诞生的灯光设计是相当伟大的。它的一切都在顶部，人们享受着娱乐，就像他们可以在俱乐部和音乐节目里一样。它那不同场景之间的灯光切换给人一种像被淹没在时光潮流的感觉，让人不想回到现实中去。”

“Memphis” is a story about a high school dropout, Huey, and his story with Black R&B music and the black singer Felicia. The story begins by Huey walking into the club “Delray” located in 1950s Memphis, as a record salesman who promises to sell five records to keep his job in a department store. Huey sells 29 records in the “Delray”, but was fired because the boss is unhappy about the type of music he sells. Unemployed, Huey went back to “Delray” and meets Felicia, a black female singer in the club, also the sister of the club owner Deray. Then, Huey goes to apply for a job as a DJ in the radio station. He starts to play African American music in the station. Just as he is about to be driven out by the station owner, the young men in the bar begins to call in ask him to play more music of black style. Gaining much popularity in the station, the owner, Simmons, decides to ask Huey to stay as a formal employee in the station after he passes the test: in two weeks, he must prove his value.
Huey is successful in attracting music audiences, but as a high school dropout, he is too illiterate to even read a beer advertisement. Simmons almost fires him for that, but the manager of the beer store calls in to let Huey do all his advertisement because of the immediate word Huey improvises in the advertisement. Soon, Huey gains a lot more popularity and he advocates white people to go to black churches to hear black music and appreciate them. Then, Felicia shows up and asks Huey to play her record in the station. But Huey’s mother, who is strongly against the African Americans, refuses to let her son to do so and even break the record of Felicia. Huey, however, takes a whole band into the station the next day and asks Felicia to sing in the radio. The record quickly becomes a hit and encourages young blacks and whites to appreciate each other’s music. Soon Huey and Felicia find themselves in love, but it is so hard for two people of different races to fall in love with each other given the time. Delray, as Felicia’s brother, warns Huey that if anything happens to Felicia, he will go after him anyway. 
Two years later, Huey purposes to Felicia on their way to “Delray”, but she refuses, fearing that the time and the society will not tolerate their combination, but says that if they can get rid of all these barriers, she will definitely accept. When they are kissing, some white gangsters come and start to beat them up. Huey carries Felicia back to the club, and Delray is so angry that he wants to beat Huey. Just then, a friend of Delray, who refuses to speak after he sees his father lynched, calms Delray down. Delray then escorts Felicia into the ambulance.
After that, Huey opens a new TV show as a VJ and needs to pass the test of the TV station. His program was a great success and Felicia has gained great popularity in the region. Felicia wants Huey to go with her to New York so that their relationship and career will not be interfered, but Huey refuses to leave. The TV station then tells Huey that he can stay if he promises not to use black dancers. Huey refuses and kisses Felicia on air, the program is cut by the station and Huey is fired for the prejudice of the station. Unemployed Huey becomes a DJ in a small station four years later. Felicia pays a visit to him, telling him that she is engaged and wants to share the performance with him for the last time before she goes for a national tour. Huey refuses at first but later joins as the play goes on. In the end, the two receives great applauses from the audiences.
I personally feel much moved by the show, as it describes a man who has great love for music and engages himself into the cause of equality. But his destiny is played again and again by the principles he insists and he loses his love in the end by playing one last time with her, which makes the story sad but remindful. The music of the play is great and the atmosphere is just as the 1950s.
The lights of the show is great, with a classical design of the 1950s, when everything was on its top and people were enjoying entertainment as much as they could in the clubs and music programs. It gives people an impression of drowning into that epoch and doesn’t want to come back to reality. The switching of light between different scenes are not instant, but will definitely add to the atmosphere it changes and gives the audiences the emotional surroundings. 
The sets and costumes of the play repeats our feelings about the 1950s and the distinctive barrier between black and white, the deep wound of racial discrimination and the regret of so many beautiful things destroyed by this discrimination. The actors’ costumes are made in accordance to the time and can reflect the identity of the roles; for example, Huey’s costume is a bit like the cowboys of the time, while Felicia’s is the typical kind of club singer, with red dress and wide collar. The sound of the theatre created was shocking and made the scene impressive, especially as Memphis is a musical. 
The Walnut Street Theatre, in my opinion, is a little bit more like a cinema than a traditional theatre. I was sitting in the right half of the back seats in the theatre. Each seat roll is set up higher than the previous role, and on the stage there is a huge screen which makes it look like cinema. To be honest, this new style of theatre gives people an interesting angle to learn the plays in a more “modern” way. The stage lights were moderate and the play was fine. In addition, the Walnut Street Theatre put a lot of pictures and sculptures on the staircase and in the corridor of the theatre, so that people will have better understandings about the history and the upcoming shows of the theatre, which is nice and convenient for those who would like to learn more about its past and future. Compared to Plays and Players of summer 1, its stage is larger and the decoration is a little bit more moderate, instead of warm, probably because of the essence of Memphis is very different from the play in Plays and Players.

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