Stax Records Goes To Broadway?

Concord Music Group and Grammy award-winning producer Stuart Benjamin have reportedly partnered to produce a Broadway show about the iconic Memphis label Stax Records. The recent success of Motown The Musical may have inspired their decision to begin production on the show, which will be written by Matthew Benjamin. A recent article from Billboard details the focus of the production, which will place a spotlight on the history of the label known for its roster of all-stars and legendary classics:

The Stax Records saga, from its beginning in an old movie theater on East McLemore Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, to its extraordinary rise as an international hit-making machine, marks a historic chapter in American musical history. Amid the civil rights-era racial strife and deep-seated tensions of the late '50’s and '60s, Stax’s integrated artist roster and staff fundamentally shaped American soul music, spawning the careers of recording artists, songwriters and producers such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the MG’s, The Staple Singers, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, David Porter, Steve Cropper, and Rufus and Carla Thomas, among many others.

Concord and Benjamin are planning for to premiere the production on Broadway in 2016. This will be the third musical for Benjamin, who produced Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara and Unchain My Heart…The Ray Charles Musical. Check the footage below to revisit a Stax Records classic. Keep up to date on the progress of the production via concordmusicgroup.com. Stay tuned for more.

Spotted at BB.