Friends kept telling Felicia Boswell a character in the new Broadway musical “Memphis” was perfect for the aspiring singer. So Boswell watched the musical during its New York City run.

“I was so enamored by this show,” Boswell says from a hotel room in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And, she was scared at how real the connections to the character onstage were. One of the show’s two leads, Felicia Farrell - yes, of course her name is Felicia - is an aspiring singer from the South. But a relationship with a man outside of her race, a disc jockey and male lead Huey Calhoun, complicates her career. An interracial relationship was something that could get you killed back in the 1950s, when “Memphis” takes place, Boswell says.

Now, compare that fictional character with Boswell, an aspiring singer who grew up in the South - Montgomery, Ala., the home of the civil rights movement, to be exact.

Boswell has a white boyfriend. That’s unlikely to get her killed now, but she does see questioning glances when they hold hands on the sidewalk or her boyfriend tries to kiss her in public.

“She’s just an extension of me.

I don’t feel like I’m acting,” says Boswell while on a national tour with “Memphis.” The tour visits the Walton Arts Center beginning Tuesday for an eight-show run.

Boswell was far from the only person wowed by “Memphis.” During its Broadway run, it earned four Tony Awards, including Best Musical in 2010. As Boswell watched the show on Broadway in December 2010, original Broadway cast member Montego Glover had an understudy for her role as Felicia, but that cast member was going to take a break. The producers of “Memphis” needed a three-month stand-in for the role of Felicia. About a month after first seeing the show, Boswell was added to the cast as that replacement.

The connections did not stop there.

The day Boswell watched the show on Broadway, an understudy, Bryannot because of their feelings for each other, Boswell says, but because of the era they lived in and the public’s reaction.

Boswell says she is proud that “Memphis” teaches a history lesson among its catchy songs. Audience members often tell Boswell how important that is.

“I’ve literally watched people break down and cry. They lived that day and time, and they tell me how unfair it was at that time. I’ve had people tell me, ‘That story is my story.’”

Of course, it’s Boswell’s story, too. In the end, Felicia gets her turn as a big star. And there’s another Felicia that wants the same success.

Fenkart, was playing the role of Huey.

“‘How awesome would it be to work with this guy,’” Boswell remembers telling herself. It would later come true when both were cast as leads in the touring musical.

In the story, written by Joe DiPietro with music by Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan, Huey gets a job as a disc jockey then earns a following when he begins playing rock ’n’ roll songs by black musicians.

Among those he promises air time is Felicia, a singer he met at Delray’s, an underground rock ’n’ roll bar operated by Felicia’s brother Delray.

The couple’s relationship complicates both Huey’s and Felicia’s careers -

Whats Up, Pages 19 on 02/01/2013