Tennessee and the Tonys

With both "Memphis" and "Million Dollar Quartet" nominated for the Best Musical Tony, this seems to be Tennessee's year in the spotlight.
They're up against Green Day's "American Idiot" and "Fela!"

From the official "Memphis" web site:

From the underground dance clubs of 1950s Memphis, Tenn. comes a hot new Broadway musical - inspired by actual events - with heart, soul and energy to burn. He's a young, white radio DJ named Huey Calhoun (Chad Kimball), whose love of music transcends race lines and airwaves. She's a black singer named Felicia Farrell (Montego Glover), whose career is on the rise, but who can't break out of segregated clubs. When the two collaborate, her soulful music reaches radio audiences everywhere, and the Golden Era of early rock 'n' roll takes flight.

A thrilling theatrical event that combines Broadway splendor with the roots of rock, Memphis features an original story by Joe DiPietro ("I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change") and a brand-new score with music by Bon Jovi founding member David Bryan. Directing is Tony® nominee Christopher Ashley ("Xanadu") and choreography is by Sergio Trujillo ("Jersey Boys"). The cast also features Derrick Baskin, J. Bernard Calloway, James Monroe Iglehart, Tony nominee Michael McGrath and Cass Morgan.
Both of the leads, Kimball and Glover, were nominated for Tony Awards in their categories.

"Million Dollar Quartet" is about the historic night in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis ended up in the studio together.

Levi Kreis, who figuratively set fire to his piano as Jerry Lee Lewis, was nominated as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

You can read more from the creators of "MDQ" in an earlier post. --

-MKilgore