UK Theatre Network

Richmond Theatre – Tues 4^th August

Iconic ‘Elvis’ – a name, a face and a brand that will continue to span generations. Tribute shows for Elvis will keep rolling out for years. The latest force to hit Richmond Theatre, Lee ‘Memphis’ King, had the crowd on their feet wanting more at the end of his show.

Memphis has won a few accolades through his career impersonating ‘the King’ and was even ‘Voted best Elvis in Europe’ on BBC1’s Worlds Greatest Elvis. Slipping in and out of character, he happily provided the audience with historical facts about Elvis and his achievements.

While the first half came across as a bit subdued there were still some crowd pleasers in ways of request. ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ was a golden oldie that warmed the crowd up and a familiar set of Hound Dog, Little Sister and That’s’ Alright Mama  wetted the crowds appetite. Also thrown in was Elvis’s first number one hit ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ to the delight of the female contingent.

Memphis played with the audience’s jovial heckling and allowed his own personality to come through with good humour. However, it was the more tender tributes in the likes of ‘Memories’ and ‘Are you Lonesome Tonight (manager Colonel Parker’s favorite) that really showed off Memphis’s soulful vocal range which resonated Elvis to the core.

The second set held the most energy and was a pleasure to watch. Having formally introduced his band ‘The Brass Monkey’s’ and his two talented female back up singers, Memphis belted out a selection of  Elvis ‘Vegas Years’ songs with a booming voice that all Elvis fans would be proud of.  ‘In the Ghetto’ stapled the respect from the younger male audience while ‘The Wonder of you’ had the entire theatre singing along in good spirits.

Memphis nailed Elvis’s moves – not overly accentuated in any way, but approached with a sense of form and style of someone who has studied Elvis for years. He clearly has a passion and there is no doubt that he is blessed with a great vocal range. This is a talented soul with a serious fan base – there were many in the audience who had seen the show many times before.

Elvis has one of the best catalogues of music a tribute show could hope for. ‘There goes my everything’, ‘Love me tender’ and ‘Softly, as I leave you’ were the tear jerkers of the show.  Memphis introduced the latter in spoken word, taking a backseat throughout whilst allowing his back up singer to take lead. This was quite a special and dignified turning point of the show.

Turning up the heat with ‘Burning Love’, the tributes kept coming and just when the disappointment started to creep in that the show had ended, Memphis was back out for an encore of the much loved and demanded ‘Suspicious Minds’.

Overall, an entertaining and somewhat intimate show which would also be great to see on a bigger scale. He plays at London Indigo2 Arena on Sunday August 16^th – good clean fun you can even take your Nan to!

Official website