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Orpheum Opens $10 Ticket Lottery for Hamilton

Photo: Joan Marcus

Bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman, he grew up to be a hero and a scholar. Who else could I be talking about but everyone’s favorite $10-bill Founding Father, the one and only Alexander Hamilton, star of the revolutionary Broadway musical Hamilton. With 16 performances on the schedule from Tuesday, February 18th, to Sunday, March 2nd, Hamilton is making its way to the Orpheum Theatre. To coincide with the show’s run here, producer Jeffrey Seller and the Orpheum Theatre Group have announced the Ham4Ham digital lottery, offering 40 tickets for $10 for every performance.

The lottery opened on Friday, February 7th, and will close at noon on Thursday, February 13th, for tickets to performances February 18th to 23rd. Subsequent lotteries will open each Friday and close the following Thursday for the upcoming week’s performances. Winners will be notified Thursday between 1 and 4 p.m. via email and mobile push notification, and winners may purchase up to two tickets. 

Photo: Joan Marcus

To enter, download the official Hamilton app (here) via the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Patrons must be 18 or older and have a valid photo ID. Only one entry per person will be allowed, and repeat entries and disposable email addresses will be discarded. Tickets are nontransferable and void if resold.

For the full schedule of Hamilton performances at the Orpheum, visit here. The Orpheum will also host a Kids Night on Broadway on Thursday, February 27th, with pre-show interactive activities, photo booth opportunities, and more for the youngest audience members, starting at 6:30 p.m. For that night, if you buy an adult ticket, you can get a free ticket for a child under 18 by calling 901-525-3000, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Availability is limited.) 

Hamilton is recommended for ages 10-plus due its strong language. 

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We Recommend We Recommend

Dance Theatre of Harlem Comes to Memphis

Dance Theatre of Harlem company artists Derek Brockington and Delaney Washington (Photo: Nir Arieli)

In the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, the famed ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell derailed his plans to start a company in Brazil in favor of founding one in Harlem, his birthplace. Harlem, after all, was responsible for his success, yet an under-resourced and untapped community. And so, in 1969, the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), as it was named, started with 30 children in a church basement. Two months later, that number grew to 400. Now, as Jennifer McGrath, Orpheum Theatre vice president of education, community engagement, and Halloran Centre programming, says, “Dance Theater of Harlem is one of the preeminent dance companies in the entire world. These are extraordinary artists with extraordinary talent.” 

And they’re on their way to Memphis to perform at the Orpheum Friday, February 7th, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 8th, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  “We’re absolutely thrilled to have them,” says McGrath. “The artists are extraordinary, their passion, their ability to make you feel something, to be drawn into their performance, and what they give is truly extraordinary.”

While a ballet company in name (and the first Black classical ballet company), DTH’s programming often blends styles of dance. For its Memphis performances, the program includes two of artistic director Robert Garland’s pieces: New Bach and Higher Ground.

New Bach is set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and combines ballet with street style, creating a “new and different style,” says Garland. Meanwhile, Higher Ground blends ballet and African-American and African-diaspora social dances to the music of Stevie Wonder. “This ballet looks at the current affairs of the world through the 1970s lens of his music,” the artistic director says.

Photo: Jeff Cravotta

When asked why he incorporates different styles, Garland says, “I found that the dancers that I worked with were very well-versed not only in ballet but also in other styles, and so I wanted to give them an opportunity to be on both sides of the hyphen [in African-American], both African and American.”

Also on the program are Take Me With You set to music by Radiohead and Blake Works IV set to music by James Blake. “So there’s sure to be something for everyone to connect to,” says McGrath. 

The company will also lead a free community dance workshop on Saturday, February 8th, at 10 a.m. at the Halloran Centre. For it, Garland says the company members plan to use the music of John Coltrane “to do a demonstration about the rudiments and fundamentals of becoming a ballet dancer.” The free workshop is open to all ages and abilities, but space is limited. (Register here.)

“We’ve done these free community dance workshops with other dance companies, and I honestly think they’re some of my favorite days of the year that we’ve had,” McGrath says. “You know, we have 3-year-old grandbabies dancing next to their 85-year-old grandma. We’ve had everybody under the sun from professional dancers and teachers of dance companies to have somebody that maybe has never taken a dance class in their life. It’s really just about being together in community. It’s just an example of the power of the arts.”

In a further effort of community outreach and engagement, DTH, on the invitation of the Orpheum, visited Memphis this past December to teach master classes at Campus Schools, Collage Dance Collective, and Middle College High School and to perform at St. Jude Heroes Celebratory Pasta Party and First Baptist Church Broad Avenue. (Fun fact: Kevin Thomas, Collage Dance’s artistic director and co-founder, was a principal dancer for DTH before he came to Memphis.)

Overall, McGrath hopes that DTH’s visits, past and future, will inspire more support for dance in Memphis. “We know Memphis as a Music City, which it undoubtedly is,” she says. “And I come from New York, and prior to living here, I made my career in dance. And Memphis is one of the most dance-rich communities I have ever experienced.

“… And so we want to be bringing a company like Dance Theatre of Harlem, and then also get those ticket buyers to go out and support Collage and support Ballet Memphis and support new Ballet [Ensemble] and so on because we can really raise the entire ecosystem together.”

Tickets ($62.50-$97) to see Dance Theatre of Harlem perform at the Orpheum can be purchased here. Following the Saturday, February 8th, matinee performance, audience members will be invited to a Q&A session. 

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Village People Meets “Mamma Mia”

James Newman of Village People plays a prospective father in "Mamma Mia" at the Orpheum. (Photo: Courtesy of the Orpheum)

James Newman dressed Western in his first stage role as “Little Jake” in Annie Get Your Gun. He was 14.

“I probably had cowboy boots,” he says. “Some kind of hat, like a floppy little kid’s cowboy hat. My first musical I was a cowboy.”

Fast-forward several decades and Newman was a cowboy again. Except his cowboy boots had rhinestones on them. In 2013, he took over the part of the Cowboy in Village People. “I only had one pair of chaps. Cow print cowhide chaps. I had all kinds of jeans. It’s a disco cowboy, right?”

Newman wears another big hat when he’s on stage in the musical Mamma Mia, which is now showing at the Orpheum. He plays writer Bill Austin, one of the three men who could be the father of  Sophie, played by Alisa Melendez, in this delightful show that runs through July 28th.

Newman describes his character as “commitment phobic.” Austin doesn’t like to settle down. He just wanted to have a fling with Donna (Christine Sherrill), not become the father of her child. “He’s very lighthearted. He’s got the least amount of angst of the three dads.”

So, it’s shocking news when Austin learns he could be Sophie’s father.  Austin “never put down roots,” but he “likes this child.”

Newman is enjoying the role. “It’s always nice to play a joyful character,” he says. “It makes your life lighter.”

The Mamma Mia cast takes a bow on opening night at the Orpheum. (Photo: Michael Donahue)

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Newman remembers “as a child of four always trying to get attention from two working parents.”

And, he says, “Like every little kid, I wanted to be a movie star.”

So, performing in a play was perfect for him. “It fit my personality 100 percent.”

The Little Jake role seemed to be custom-made for Newman, who was “so little” and had a “very high voice” in high school. 

He sang “Doin’ What Comes Naturally” in the musical, which was apropos because singing and acting apparently came naturally to Newman. He wanted to pursue theater, but, he says, “I lived in Alabama. It was all about sports.” 

His dad attended his shows. His mom went to most of them, but she “didn’t understand why you would start singing in the middle of a show.”

Newman, whose teacher inspired him to continue acting, moved to New York after he graduated from college when he was 22. He began appearing in Off-Broadway plays before moving to Broadway. His repertoire now includes Hands on a Hardbody; Curtains; Minnelli on Minnelli; Tommy; Kiss Me, Kate; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Newman, who wasn’t the original Cowboy in Village People, describes his experience playing Cowboy as “very joyful. People come to the show already loving it.”

Newman has been enjoying the ride. Like, he says, when acclaimed actress Helen Mirren came up to him and said, “Excuse me. Can I get a picture with you?”

James Newman as the Cowboy in Village People (Photo: Courtesy of James Newman)

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Theater Theater Feature

Wicked at the Orpheum

National Touring Company of Wicked (Photo: Joan Marcus)

In my junior year of high school, our revamped theater program found its feet with the production of a traditional spring musical, The Wizard of Oz. It was 2008, and three years previously, the smash hit Broadway musical Wicked had begun its national tour, one that would break every house record in every city it played in. As a 17-year-old voracious reader, I knew of Wicked the novel, not the show, but that changed when, for the first time I could ever remember, a Broadway musical became a common topic of conversation in the hallways of a small-town high school. At the time, I was confused about what the big deal was. Wicked the book was a strange and almost unpalatable read, and I could barely understand how it had been translated to the stage in the first place. It took over 15 years, but I finally have seen what all the hubbub was about.

Wicked has become a global phenomenon and a household name, just as much as its origin story, The Wizard of Oz. I can’t bring to mind another example of a spin-off gaining as much traction and coexisting so long alongside the original. The Orpheum Theatre was a packed house last Thursday, with the audience hanging on every word and madly cheering after every number. The merch table in the lobby was nearly overrun, and all this after 20 years of the show being on stage.

Olivia Valli as Elphaba (Photo: Joan Marcus)

On the drive home, my friend Meagan Kitterlin asked me how I already knew some of the songs when I hadn’t actually seen the play before. “Doesn’t everyone know ‘Defying Gravity’?” I answered. I couldn’t tell you the first time I heard that song, or “Popular,” but they are both nearly as familiar to me now as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The wild success of this musical is staggering, and seeing it in person, I understand why musical-lovers go crazy for this show.

The grandeur of Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre lends itself to the opulence of Wicked’s presentation. A giant clockwork dragon adorns the proscenium arch, looking like some sort of steampunk nightmare come to life. Wicked reimagines the early life of the Wicked Witch of the West, painting her as a complicated, misunderstood figure. The musical centers not only on the Wicked Witch — whose name is Elphaba, after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author, L. Frank Baum — but also largely on Glinda, nee Galinda, the Good Witch. Celia Hottenstein, who plays Glinda, says, “For both characters, you’re observing how society and the public views these women. Glinda the Good and Elphaba, this person who is other, different, but you, through the show, see who they really are as people.” Glinda and Elphaba are college roommates, and from their first meeting, immediately at odds. Elphaba has obviously lived a life of hardship, constantly judged for her green skin, while Glinda has obviously lived a life of privilege, being granted her every desire almost before she can even wish for it. The two inexplicably become friends, and their friendship becomes the backbone of the entire musical.

Olivia Valli’s portrayal of Elphaba is surprising. I expected a bitter, passionate introvert, but Valli plays Elphaba as almost spunky. She’s hopeful, she seems like kind of a nerd, and she’s got moxie. It’s not at all what I was expecting, but it works. Valli and Hottenstein have undeniable chemistry onstage, and watching Elphaba and Glinda interact is where the true magic of Wicked lies. The musical is all about people’s perspectives, especially around what is considered “good” and what is considered “wicked.” As Hottenstein points out, “I think this show really delves into what it means to ‘do good’ and to ‘be good.’ It’s not as easy as you think.” This show’s message resonates with so many people, and Hottenstein is no exception. “To have compassion for people is the message that really has stuck with me. To always have compassion and always have empathy for others because everybody has their own struggles. And everybody is trying to be a good person, I think, for the most part.”

With show-stopping vocal performances, a set that might as well be another character it has so much personality, and a message all audiences can relate to, it’s no wonder Wicked is so justifiably good.

Wicked runs at The Orpheum Theatre through April 21st.

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We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: “Les Misérables” Is Anything But

The cast of "Les Misérables" receive a standing ovation on opening night at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

When it comes to me keeping up with new musicals, Les Misérables slipped through the cracks.

I’d never seen the show, which won eight Tony Awards, including “Best Musical.” I’d never seen the 2012 movie. I didn’t know a single song from the musical.

All I knew going into the Orpheum recently to see the musical was that the lead character was Jean Valjean and the show had something to do with a prison. And it was set in France.

I wouldn’t let anybody tell me anything about it because I wanted to be totally surprised by everything.

Since I took Spanish in high school and college (and still can’t read or speak it well), I had to look up the definition of “Les Misérables.” One meaning is “The Wretched.”

Well, this show is anything but that.

This is a stupendous production. I loved everything about it. The cast is great, the scenery is spell bounding, and the music is beautiful.

Hints about two things that astounded me (and won’t spoil anything for anybody): a scene with a bridge and the beautiful “Bring Him Home” song, which I plan to add to my repertoire at my piano gigs. So, now when people ask me to play something from Le Mis, I don’t have to say, “I don’t know anything.” And have to resort to playing “Edelweiss” or some other musical mainstay.

The story from the 1862 Victor Hugo novel is about Valjean, who is released from prison, where he’s been for 19 years. He was locked up for a minor offense. And it traces his life after prison as he’s on the lam after breaking parole and the people he encounters that change his life for the better.

That sounds so simplistic, but I don’t want to say much because I want people who’ve never seen it to be surprised. Like I was.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Orpheum so crowded. I ran my usual several flights to the top-floor restroom at intermission only to find that floor jam-packed, too.

Theatergoers following the opening-night performance of Les Misérables at The Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

If you want to see Les Miserables before it ends its Orpheum run February 11th, you’d better hurry.

“Very limited tickets are still available,” says Brett Batterson, president and CEO of the Orpheum Theatre Group. “We sold 96 percent of the tickets each performance.”

They might have 30 to 50 tickets left for each of the remaining performances, he says.

“This show has always done well. They advertise it as the world’s most popular musical. I don’t know where they get that basis, but that’s their tagline.”

As for the Orpheum performances past and present, Batterson says, “It’s always done well.”

And, he adds, “It’s always sold like crazy.”

What sets Les Miserables apart from other musicals? “In my opinion, it all starts with the story. The book is a classic. Much loved.”

And, he says, “The music is so engaging that everybody leaves the theater humming one of the songs if not multiple songs.”

Then there’s “the brilliant staging,” Batterson says. “How beautiful it is to see it unfold on the stage.”

People are going to the theater again, Batterson says. Their audiences are returning. “What we’ve see this year looking back, Funny Girl sold really well. Beetlejuice was pretty much sold out. Six was pretty much sold out. Company did well. It didn’t sell out or anything, but it did well.

“I think we’re seeing the audiences are back,” he says. The “fear of Covid is past.” People aren’t reluctant to go to the theater.

And, he says, “I think the shows are really strong. So, people are coming. And on the 26th of February we’re going to announce a really strong season for next year.”

Gary Beard and Joe Lackie were among the first nighters at Les Misérables at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Vickie and Ron Olson were at the opening night of Les Misérables at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: In Good “Company”

The cast of "Company" gets a standing ovation on opening night at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

My love affair with the Broadway musical, Company, dates to the early 1970s. I bought the original cast album with my hard-earned money from working either in the book, toy, or camera department (I was moved around) at the old J. B. Hunter department store. That was long ago. Before Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library took over that store’s location.

I loved this show. It was so modern at the time with great music and lyrics by the late Stephen Sondheim. The original production featured the late Dean Jones as Bobby, a newly-turned 35-year-old man living in New York. His friends, the company he keeps, love him, but they don’t love him being single. They want him to get married and settle down. Even though not all of these friends are great examples of married bliss.

The new production, which opened in Memphis January 2nd at the Orpheum, gender switches, and “Bobby” becomes “Bobbie,” a Black woman. So, instead of making out with a woman flight attendant, Bobbie, played by Britney Coleman, has a hot night with a male flight attendant, played by Jacob Dickey. And a song about a nervous female bride-to-be is performed by a male groom-to-be (Matt Brodin), whose husband-to-be is played by Ali Louis Bourzgui.

Other concessions to the updated version include lots of cell phones.

I’d never seen the musical and I only had a sketchy idea of the plot, but I wasn’t sure a woman would be right. I was so conditioned to the lead being a man. But I loved the show. Coleman is engaging and her voice is so fabulous.

I also loved Judy McLane, who played the brassy Joanne. The late Elaine Stritch was Joanne in the original production. McLane’s dynamic voice was perfect in the powerful “The Ladies Who Lunch,” where she makes fun of the follow-the-crowd women “too busy to know that they’re fools” who flitter around the right art shows and other cultural events where they think they need to be. And wear “caftans” and hold “brunches in their own behalf.” Instead of being like the cynical Joanne, who just sits back with a vodka stinger and shakes her head, so to speak, at these phony baloneys.

This is a show that has the proverbial “songs you sing when you come out of the theater.” It was so great and nostalgic to hear them again. And you can hear every word in these songs, which are crisp and sharp. You want to listen to these lyrics because they are Sondheim at his cleverest.

Company brought back memories, for me, from the time before I went out in the world and began my actual career. I thought this musical was so hip. 

Now, I better understand what I was listening to on my turntable back in the ’70s. Before I turned 35.

Company runs through January 7th.

Leslie Hester and Lavi Tsuna at opening night of Company at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Regina Cheers at opening night of Company at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Sophia Holland and Lowell Shaw at opening night of Company at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Alice Kerley and Kathy McLallen at opening night of Company at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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We Saw You

We Saw You: “Frozen” Is Heartwarming

The cast of "Frozen" gets a standing ovation on opening night at The Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

With temperatures expected to be in the 100s this week, anything with the word “Frozen” in it sounds good.

So, that’s a good reason to go see the musical, Frozen, which runs through July 2nd at The Orpheum.

It’s great.

For some reason, I knew nothing about Frozen except the name and the image of “Elsa,” the main character. And that’s thanks to my great-niece, who has gotten Elsa dolls and, I guess, anything else associated with Frozen, for years as birthday and Christmas presents.

Whenever I confessed my ignorance about Frozen to anybody, I was greeted with, “You haven’t seen the MOVIE?”

They were referring to the Disney animated movie and, I guess, the sequel, Frozen II.

No, I never saw the movies. Again, my mind was frozen as far as learning anything about the musical. This time I just wanted to experience something I knew absolutely nothing about. I closed my ears to spoilers.

I wasn’t disappointed that I waited until I saw it opening night June 22nd.

The musical with its perfect cast at The Orpheum is wonderful. Caroline Bowman is, to me, the embodiment of “Elsa,” which I only previously knew from drawings and dolls. And, speaking of dolls, I still remember the giant Elsa doll I didn’t buy one Christmas for my great-niece. She had no idea I was thinking about buying it for her. I’ll tell her when she reaches her 30th birthday.

I felt better about not buying that doll after her mother bought her Elsa and Anna (Elsa’s sister) dolls, which are on sale during the performances. My great nephew is getting an Olaf doll. That’s the snowman in Frozen.

Elsa and Anna dolls are on sale at Frozen at the Orpheum. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

I asked Orpheum president/CEO Brett Batterson to give me some background on this fabulous show.

“It’s doing very well,” he says. And, for those who don’t have tickets, he says, “We have some tickets left for next weekend ’cause it’s the Fourth of July weekend. Best ticket availability is this weekend.”

Brett Batterson at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

If you think you’ve seen Frozen previously at the Orpheum, you’re wrong. “This is the first time we’ve had Frozen. It’s the last of the current Disney programs to make an appearance at the Orpheum. Everything Disney has out touring right now we have presented at least once. So, we hope that Disney creates some new shows. And we’ll keep bringing back the old faithfuls like Lion King and Aladdin.”

I had to ask Batterson what percentage of little girls were showing up dressed as Elsa at Orpheum performances. I saw lots of them, including my great-nice, in their flowing, diaphanous gowns gliding through the theater.

“Probably 60 or 70 percent,” Batterson says. “But there’s been a lot of them.”

Libby King, Millie King, Cecile Pacello, Colette Pacello, and Olivia Wilmot at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Tesharri and Nayah Gooch at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
BACK ROW: Liz Smith, Hadley Miller, Meade Carlisle; FRONT ROW: Genevieve Miller, Lottie Smith, Caroline Carlisle at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Three generations: Alice Kerley, Annie Kerley, and Kathy McLallen at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)

By the way, I did notice a movie also called Frozen came out in 2010. A Rotten Tomatoes synopsis I found on Google says, “As a winter storm approaches, three people become stranded on a chairlift high above the ground after a ski resort closes for the night.”

Elsa, apparently, doesn’t have anything to do with this movie. But it does sound like another beat-the-heat movie I might want to check out.

Moth Moth Moth at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Connor Trahan and Abigail Morici at Frozen at the Orpheum (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I ran into my old pal, John Beifuss, at Frozen at the Orpheum
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We Recommend We Saw You

Raiford’s is Everywhere, Bishop guest chef dinner, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”

I didn’t get to every party in 2019, but one event I wish I would have attended was the wedding of Lauren and Alex Solomito.

Their wedding had a semi-Paula & Raiford’s Disco theme.

“We had the light-up dance floor at the wedding,” says Lauren, 27. “And my bridesmaids and I got ready with custom shirts that had the Raiford’s Disco logo on the front. On the back it says, ‘I know Paula Raiford.’”

Lauren says she worked with Paula Raiford, owner of the club, over a month “to get the right colors and sizes. I went down to Raiford’s in the daytime a few times.”

She and her bridesmaids wore the T-shirts before they donned their wedding attire.

The light-up dance floor, which they rented, was similar to the one at Raiford’s. “It was some company Lauren found in Memphis,” says Alex, 28. The dance floor “did not just light up, but changed colors.”

Raiford’s is where Lauren and Alex rekindled their relationship after many years.

“We’ve known each other since third grade,” Lauren says. “And I liked him and he didn’t like me all through school. Then we kind of separated after middle school. He went to ECS (Evangelical Christian School) and I transferred to ECS. We were boyfriend-girlfriend in eighth grade and we went to church together. And then we were best friends in high school. We tried to date in high school. Seven years after high school we lost touch. We ran back into each other at Raiford’s on January, 2017 and started dating again. Then we got engaged in June of 2018.”

Raiford’s had to be a part of the wedding. “Raiford’s was my favorite place,” Lauren says.

“I absolutely love Raiford’s,” Alex says. “I’ve probably not been there as many times as her. Raiford’s is different from any other dance club in Memphis. It’s fun. Everybody is there. It’s solely just to have fun.”

And, he says, “Of all places to run back into her, it would be Raiford’s.”

Alex’s attire also had a nod to Raiford’s. “I even ordered light-up shoes. So, the soles of the shoes flashed different colors to make it more exciting. At one point I got out of my tux shoes and put on some light-up shoes. You constantly change colors like the dance floor did.”

His socks had a special meaning, too. “They were socks with corn dogs on them. We both are obsessed with Pronto Pups. And we actually had a Pronto Pup stand at our wedding. You know how people have light-night Krystal burgers or Taco Bell tacos? Something really simple. We decided to do Pronto Pups.”

They held the wedding September 21st 2019 at the Children’s Museum of Memphis complete with the carousel.

The Soul Shockers performed. The band performs “music like they play at Raiford’s,” Lauren says.
  

She set the date on September 21st because her favorite song, Do You Remember by Earth, Wind & Fire, includes the line, “Do you remember the 21st night of September?”

She wanted to hold her wedding whenever the 21st of September fell on a Saturday. “I planned my wedding five years before this wedding happened,” she says. “I wanted it to be on that date because of that song.”

Lauren didn’t know at that time who the groom was going to be, but, she says, “I thought, ‘Surely, I’ll find someone by then.’”

The song also is special to Alex. “It happened to be one of my favorite songs,” he says.

Paula Raiford says others have used Raiford’s in some form at their wedding event.

One wedding reception had an entertainer dressed like her father, the late Robert Raiford, “with the hair, suit, and glitter,” she says.

She’s had several wedding proposals at Raiford’s “Two or three of those.”

And people take wedding photos at Raiford’s before their wedding. “They do an outside inside photo shoot.”

Kelly Ginn Photography

Alex Solomito gets down – literally – on the Raiford’s style dance floor at his and Lauren Solomito’s (standing) wedding reception.

Kelly Ginn Photography

Lauren Solomito and her bridesmaids wore Paula Raiford T-shirts before they dressed in their attire for Lauren and Alex Solomito’s wedding.

Kelly Ginn Photography

Michael Donahue

Stephen Stryjewski guest chef dinner at Bishop

Stephen Stryjewski was the first guest chef at Bishop, the Andrew Ticer/Michael Hudman restaurant at Central Station Hotel. Bishop is the chef/owner duo’s newest restaurant. The dinner, a benefit for The Madonna Learning Center, was held on January 6th.

Stryjewski is chef/partner of New Orleans award-winning restaurants, including Cochon, Cochon Butcher, and Pêche Seafood Grill.

He joined Ticer and Hudman in the kitchen to prepare the five-course dinner, which included crab au Gratin with chili oyster crackers and sauteed speckled trout with fried squash and crushed herbs.

Dessert was individual king cakes from La Boulangerie bakery and cafe, another Stryjewski establishment.


MIchael Donahue

Stephen Stryjewski guest chef dinner at Bishop

Michael Donahue

Stephen Stryjewski guest chef dinner at Bishop

Michael Donahue

Ashley Calhoun and Marty Brooks at the ‘Charlile and the Chocolate Factory’ Memphis premier at The Orpheum.

First nighters got the first chance to see Charlie Bucket and his Grandpa Joe visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory in the musical, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which opened January 14th at the Orpheum. The musical, which was adapted from the book of the same name by Roald Dahl, also was made into two movies: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) with Gene Wilder and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with (2005) with Johnny Depp.

I never saw any of the movies or read the book. And everybody I confessed that to before I saw the musical was astonished. I do know how to play The Candy Man on the piano. Anthony Newley and Sammy Davis Jr. made recordings of the song.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” will run through January 19th at The Orpheum.


Michael Donahue

Mason Gast and Katie Upton were at the ‘Charlile and the Chocolate Factory’ Memphis premier at The Orpheum.

Michael Donahue

Landon Fox and Jessie Yelvington were at the ‘Charlile and the Chocolate Factory’ Memphis premier at The Orpheum.

                                      WE SAW YOU AROUND TOWN

Michael Donahue

James Alexander and Alice Henry, founders of Kaleidoscope School of Memphis, at the Little Tea Shop.

MIchael Donahue

Gina Picerno, Brett Healey, Carson Irwin, and Tim Guarino at Strano by Chef Josh.

Michael Donahue

Onie Johns and Betty Winter at Caritas Community Center & Cafe.

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News News Blog

Memphis Ghost Group Helps the Living…and the Dead

CREDIT: Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

A ghost at the Memphis Zoo? Yes, and there’s evidence. Mary, The Orpheum’s most famous spirit? She’s passed over. And The Woodruff-Fontaine House? It’s “filled with spirits.”

All of this is according to Stephen Williams. He is a “veteran, clairsentient, paranormal investigator” and leader of the Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue (MGISR). The group does identify as “ghost hunters,” but they do much more than that.

“We don’t just investigate,” reads the group’s website. “We help them move on.”

Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

In this case, “them” means spirits — ghosts — and Williams tries to help them cross over. MGISR’s motto is “investigate, educate, and rescue.” They investigate the haunting and educate the home or building owner about what it is going on. But they also educate the spirit in hopes to rescue them from whatever keeps them glued to this side of existence.

If any of this has you skeptical or scintillated, check out the evidence section of the group’s website. There, you’ll find photos and a collection of electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) of, what MGISR says, are voices of spirits either barely audible to humans or not at all.

Listen for the Halloween-perfect “oooohhh” of a ghost caught on a recorder during a late-night investigation of the Memphis Zoo, where ”paranormal activity had been witnessed multiple times by different people,” according to the group.

But this work is not just some Halloween-time spookfest for Williams and his group. They continue their work year round and never take a dime for it. For them, it’s service work, Williams said.

We talked with Williams about his work, how he educates spirits, and the scariest thing he’s witnessed in his 17 years as a paranormal investigator. — Toby Sells

Memphis Flyer: How did you get started in ghost investigations?

Stephen Williams: I got involved in 2002. I was working here with these two ladies. This is before everything became really popular on TV, like on Ghost Hunters.
In 2002, I was in St. Augustine, Florida on a family vacation and took some photos on our ghost tour. I didn’t know anything about it, and sent those photos to a couple of ladies who had a website here. At the time it was called Ghost Stalkers of West Tennessee.

We exchanged emails and eventually they asked me to start accompanying them. About that time is when we we got invited into people’s homes.  Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

Williams

About 2006, those two ladies retired from it.

I changed the name to Memphis-Midsouth Ghost Hunters I was in charge of that organization. It ran continuously until earlier last year. I took a little break because of some personal things.

Then, I started this new organization. I just renamed it to the current name and found some really gifted mediums to work with. That’s what sets us apart from everybody else.

MF: Did you see something on those St. Augustine photos? What made you send them in to the two original ladies?

SW: It was what looked like an orb, a streaking orb. I didn’t know anything about any of that at that time. So, I got back to the ladies that were running that website.
They said, go in your backyard and find where a spider has spun a little strand from the tree down to the ground. Take a picture. Sure enough, there was that same effect. But it left me intrigued.

I started going out to a local cemetery and just sitting there with a recorder and I got a voice. That just kept me going. It was up around Millington.

MF: Any idea what the voice said?

SW: It sounded like a child. I don’t remember exactly. I have recorded so many (electronic voice phenomena — EVP) over the years. I don’t remember exactly what it was. It was like a word or two. But it was definitely there. There was no one there with me. It was totally quiet. There was a voice.
[pullquote-1]
MF: What pushed you into getting more involved in that work?

SW: The people that contacted us were really terrified. They were perplexed. They didn’t understand what was going on. It was affecting their lives.

In the beginning, I didn’t know a whole lot about how to help any spirits that were at a locale that we visited. But I became more acquainted with people, and discovered methods of my own, and learned from others.

When we go into a place, we’re going to communicate with whoever [spirit] is there. We’re going to find out why they’re there, who they are. Then we try to get them moving on to the next phase of their existence.

It helps everybody. It helps those lost souls and helps the people that are having disturbances. All that stops. Their lives go back to normal. So, everybody wins.

MF: So, that’s one of the payoffs. You really do get to help people on both sides of the plane?

SW: Absolutely. We don’t do like the guys on TV. They go in and collect a bunch of evidence and then leave with all the same things going on.
[pullquote-2] Evidence is not a huge part of (the work) for me anymore. Within the first year, I got definitive proof that this is not the end of existence. There is something beyond, OK?

Our focus is on connecting with whoever’s there. I am an intuitive. I can sense their energy. I can tell if it’s male or female. I can tell if they’re what we call earthbound or if they’ve crossed over.

Sometimes it’s the people’s loved ones on the other side that are around. They’ll do things. They’ll leave coins, things like that, to try to get their loved ones’ attention. Usually when that occurs, there’s maybe a family crisis, or the person is having some a crossroads. So, these on the other side that have already transitioned, come in to let them know that they’re supported, to try to get them in touch with people like us.

MF: In your time in doing this work, what was something that either scared you or what was just so unexplainable?

SW: At one point, the group had dwindled down to me and one other person, a guy who is very intuitive. We got called to an apartment Downtown where a person had been murdered.

A guy who moved into the apartment had a really terrifying experience where he looked in the mirror and the spirit was standing behind him and actually was choking him. So, we went down there.
[pullquote-3] The spirit actually spoke out loud, which is called ”direct voice” when you can actually hear it. She was very troubled. At the time, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about how to help spirits cross over.

But during that couple of hours that we were there, the guy who had moved into the apartment became overshadowed, I guess you’d say, by the spirit. He actually passed out. That was quite dramatic.

He passed out. Fell backwards and hit his head on a wooden floor. The only way we could get him back to himself was to get him out of the apartment and down the hallway. He finally started regaining his senses. The (female spirit) basically short circuited; she was so enraged.
[pullquote-4] MF: What are some of the techniques you use now to help spirits cross over?

SW: I work with very gifted mediums. I’ve been blessed to have those people come into my life. They are Jennifer and Kayla. They’ve been able to sense this energy since they were children. They’ve been able to communicate with spirits from a very early age. So, it’s very normal for them.  Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

Kayla

We’re going into a house in a small town in Mississippi tomorrow and then going to another in Jackson, Tennessee on Sunday.

What we do is go in and visit for a little while. I will take a piece of equipment and sometimes they will interact with it. But usually, in my experience, when there are mediums on the location, they they don’t waste their energy with equipment.

The mediums are clairvoyant and clairaudient, meaning they can see the energy and they can hear the thoughts of the spirits. So, they will connect with them and we’ll get an idea of who’s there. Then, we’ll give them an opportunity to tell their story.

If they’re in some traumatic loop, or something like that, we have methods of dealing with that. We also have connections to where we can call on their loved ones on the other side to come in and help them get across.

You see these people on TV, they go in at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. and they’re there overnight. Gosh, thats’ crazy. We can usually go in within two hours and take care of what needs to be done sometimes a lot less time.
Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

Jennifer

So, the intuitive aspect of it is what really sets us apart from most of the groups. I think there’s a few other groups around here. I’m very complimentary of what they’re doing. They just may not have the firepower to really go and be effective and make a change, a positive change. That’s our goal is to help those spirits cross and to help the people get their lives back to normal.

MF: So, that’s the “spirit rescue” part of what you do, right?

SW: Right.

MF: In all of your years of doing this, about how many cases have you worked on?

SW: I would say over 1,000 or maybe more. I never kept up with it. I have been in hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of homes and public places.

I have been in a lot of the well-known, allegedly haunted places here in town. You have the Orpheum, Earnestine & Hazel’s, and Fontaine House. The Fonataine House is filled with spirits.

I have been in that house with two different mediums who both connected with Elliot. It was one of the family members. He said he stays up on the second floor, a reclusive-type energy. He’s not interested in leaving the place.

You can talk to them. You can counsel them. You can explain that they don’t have to be here, but they have free will. So, they can make the choice.
[pullquote-5]
MF: The most famous Memphis spirit, I guess, is Mary at The Orpheum. What do you make of that one?

SW: I got invited down there one time and I had a very gifted medium with me. We feel like she crossed over because we talked to her. We were able to communicate with her and we feel like she did cross over.

We have not been back there since then to actually do a check. But when we called on her loved ones, some did come. I felt like she did release at that time.

She may come back. In my experience, what happens is when they cross over — even in people’s homes — they’re in a different vibration. They’re at a higher vibration. Sometimes, they’ll just come around as protectors or to just to say thank you or that type of thing.  Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

They don’t usually stay long. So, (Mary) may pop up here and there. But she’s not in that vibration of what we call earthbound.

MF: Finally, I know this is kind of a Halloween topic. But your group does this year round. It’s not just a Halloween thing for you.

SW: Oh, yes. This is year round.

You can go into somewhere — and you don’t have to go during “dead hour” or whatever they say on TV, which is such baloney. Spirits are there 24/7. People have experiences at all times of the day and night.

So, we can go into the home (and have gone into homes) at like at eight or nine o’clock in the morning, because it was the only time we could schedule. And we were able to connect and to do the work that we needed to do.

MF: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
[pullquote-6] SW: Just to emphasize to people that we do not charge. This is service work for us.
In my 17 years, I’ve had people offer me money. I always tell them that I support (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital). If you want to say thank you, make a donation. People normally do that.

Our motto is investigate, educate, and rescue. We’re going to investigate to see what’s going on. Then, we educate not only the homeowner about what is going on and what we can do, but also the spirits.

We’re going to counsel any spirits we find there and explain to them that they don’t have to stay here. It’s really a roadblock for them to stay. That’s the rescue, of course. Our goal is to rescue anyone who’s there and help them move on to better to better existence. Memphis Ghost Investigations and Spirit Rescue

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

’19-’20: The Orpheum Announces a Hit-Packed Broadway Season

The Play That Goes Wrong

The Orpheum’s 2019-2020 subscription is a solid mix of recent Broadway hits, and classics, with naughty crowd pleasers, family favorites, and a nice twist for those among us who occasionally enjoy a non-musical.

Via The Orpheum:

DEAR EVAN HANSEN
October 8-13, 2019

WINNER OF SIX 2017 TONY® AWARDS INCLUDING BEST MUSICAL AND THE 2018 GRAMMY® AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM.

A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it. DEAR EVAN HANSEN has struck a remarkable chord with audiences and critics everywhere, including The Washington Post who says DEAR EVAN HANSEN is “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history.” The New York Times calls it “a gut-punching, breathtaking knockout of a musical.” And NBC Nightly News declares the musical “an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond.” DEAR EVAN HANSEN features a book by Tony Award winner Steven Levenson, a score by Grammy®, Tony® and Academy Award® winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, The Greatest Showman), and direction by four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal). The Original Broadway Cast Recording of DEAR EVAN HANSEN, produced by Atlantic Records, made an extraordinary debut at #8 on the Billboard 200– the highest charting debut position for an original cast album since 1961 — and went on to win the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. A Deluxe Album of the Grammy-winning cast recording, with six bonus tracks including “Waving Through a Window” performed by pop star Katy Perry, was released digitally by Atlantic Records on November 2, 2018. A special edition coffee table book authored by Levenson, Pasek and Paul, Dear Evan Hansen: through the window (Grand Central Publishing / Melcher) is now available, offering an in-depth, all-access look at the musical, including never-before-seen production photos and cast portraits, behind-the-scenes stories, and a fully annotated script by the authors.

THE BOOK OF MORMON
November 5-10, 2019
(SEASON OPTION)


The New York Times calls it “the best musical of this century.” The Washington Post says, “It is the kind of evening that restores your faith in musicals.” And Entertainment Weekly says, “Grade A: the funniest musical of all time.” Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show calls it “Genius. Brilliant. Phenomenal.” It’s The Book of Mormon, the nine-time Tony Award®-winning Best Musical. Contains explicit language.

HELLO, DOLLY!
December 17-22, 2019


Winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, HELLO, DOLLY! is the universally acclaimed smash that NPR calls “the best show of the year!” Winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, director Jerry Zaks’ “gorgeous” new production (Vogue) is “making people crazy happy” (The Washington Post) and “a musical comedy dream!” (Rolling Stone).

ROALD DAHL’S CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
January 14-19, 2020


Roald Dahl’s amazing tale is now Memphis’ golden ticket! It’s the perfect recipe for a delectable treat: songs from the original film, including “Pure Imagination,” “The Candy Man,” and “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket,” alongside a toe-tapping and ear-tickling new score from the songwriters of Hairspray. Get ready for Oompa-Loompas, incredible inventions, the great glass elevator, and more, more, more at this everlasting showstopper!

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
February 5-9, 2020
(SEASON OPTION)

What would happen if Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python had an illegitimate Broadway baby? You’d get THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, Broadway & London’s award-winning smash comedy! Called “A GUT-BUSTING HIT” (The New York Times) and “THE FUNNIEST PLAY BROADWAY HAS EVER SEEN” (HuffPost), this classic murder mystery is chock-full of mishaps and madcap mania delivering “A RIOTOUS EXPLOSION OF COMEDY” (Daily Beast) that is “TONS OF FUN FOR ALL AGES” (HuffPost)!

Disney’s ALADDIN
February 26 – March 8, 2020

Discover a whole new world at Disney’s ALADDIN, the hit Broadway musical. From the producer of The Lion King comes the timeless story of ALADDIN, a thrilling new production filled with unforgettable beauty, magic, comedy and breathtaking spectacle. It’s an extraordinary theatrical event where one lamp and three wishes make the possibilities infinite. See why audiences and critics agree, ALADDIN is “Exactly What You Wish For!” (NBC-TV).

A BRONX TALE
April 7 – 12, 2020

Broadway’s hit crowd-pleaser takes you to the stoops of the Bronx in the 1960s- where a young man is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be. Bursting with high-energy dance numbers and original doo-wop tunes from Alan Menken, the songwriter of Beauty and the Beast, A BRONX TALE is an unforgettable story of loyalty and family. Based on Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri’s story, this streetwise musical has The New York Times hailing it as “A Critics’ Pick! The kind of tale that makes you laugh and cry.”

COME FROM AWAY
July 21 – 26


 2020Broadway’s COME FROM AWAY is a Best Musical winner all across North America! This New York Times Critics’ Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships. Don’t miss this breathtaking new musical written by Tony® nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and helmed by this year’s Tony-winning Best Director, Christopher Ashley. Newsweek cheers, “It takes you to a place you never want to leave!” On 9/11, the world stopped. On 9/12, their stories moved us all.

For more information about shows and ticket availability, here’s your link.