J. Bernard Calloway: Broadway's Memphis Man

By Joshua Jezioro, Broadway Magazine

Unlike many actors who've had marquee lights in their eyes since their earliest memories, J. Bernard Calloway, now starring as night club owner Delray in the new musical Memphis, had no intention of working on the stage growing up. In fact, he started his undergraduate studies at Alabama State on an athletic scholarship.

"I had always been musically inclined," he said, "and I was singing with a group on campus and this show called Gospel At Colonus was going on."

Broadway Show: Memphis: A New Musical

Despite the fact that he never been involved with theater before that, Calloway, an accounting major at the time, was asked to audition and got a lead role.

From then on, he knew he wanted to be an actor. "My dad was a little upset I changed majors," he joked.

His first professional gig was in a touring production of To Kill A Mockingbird, and since then has been involved with several regional, off-Broadway, and television productions. He has played the role of Delray since the show got off the ground seven years ago, including stints at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Seattle 5th Ave. Theatre.

"I didn't realize what, you know, I was going to be a part of. How big it was going to be," Calloway said of Memphis, which marks his Broadway Debut. "It's so much fun."

Calloway loves being a part of Memphis not just because he's having a blast, but also because of the messages the musical sends about race relations, which Calloway believes are just as relevant today as they were in the 1950s when Memphis takes place.

"It's such a great message, the music is so great and the chemistry, which most important to me, is so great," observes the actor.

Memphis opened at the Shubert Theater this past October. David Bryan, of Bon Jovi fame, wrote the new original score and Joe DiPietro wrote the book. The production is directed by Christopher Ashley.

Watch the entire video interview with J. Bernard Calloway of Memphis right here on Broadway.tv.