If Orpheum president Pat Halloran has his way, a new Broadway-bound musical won't just have the name of our city on a New York marquee, it will also have local dollars invested in the show's future.

Tonight, Halloran has invited nearly 70 potential investors and business leaders to meet the creative team of "Memphis," which begins previews on Broadway in September. Cast members also will attend, and will perform numbers from the show.

Cast members and the creative team from the play "Memphis" will be in town today to make a presentation to potential investors in the Broadway production. Last year, "Memphis" played a limited engagement in La Jolla, Calif., and in Seattle this year.

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"The first reason I'm doing this is an awareness campaign," Halloran said. "We invited the group from the show to come talk about this great new opportunity. But I'm also responsible for raising a quarter of a million dollars."

"Memphis" was created by playwright Joe DiPietro (who also wrote "All Shook Up" and "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change") and David Bryan, keyboard player for the band Bon Jovi.

Set in the 1950s, the plot centers on a white Memphis disc jockey who is among the first to play black music. The character, Huey Calhoun, is loosely modeled after groundbreaking deejays Dewey Phillips of Memphis and Alan Freed of Cleveland.

Executive producer Sue Frost said "Memphis" tells an important story.

"For me, what makes a good show is that an audience gains something from the experience," she said. "It's a story of a critical time in our country's history. A story of an individual who believed passionately in something and helped changed the world."

She added, "It also has huge commercial potential."

Those are seductive words for investors looking to buy into the $12 million to $14 million gamble.

The Orpheum theater has already made a $25,000 investment in the show. It's not the first big musical the theater has helped fund. It also invested in hits such as "The Color Purple," "Spamalot" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

Halloran, who presides over the Independent Presenters Network, a league of 70 theaters such as the Orpheum that host Broadway touring companies, said investing in a show gives the network some routing benefits when a Broadway tour goes on the road. He'd like to see the "Memphis" tour open in its namesake city.

Halloran also said investing is a way to support the industry.

"Helping to produce new product is part of the big picture these days," Halloran said. "Those of us out here in Memphis and Des Moines all get a say-so in how it's done and how much it's going to cost."

Frost said most of the money already has been raised for "Memphis." Despite the economy, she said, Broadway appears to be on the rebound. Still, all producers agree there's a high element of risk.

"We're definitely going to need to raise awareness," she said. "We're going to Broadway without famous names. It's not based on a movie. It's an unknown title. We've got to do everything we can to promote it."