"Million Dollar Quartet"

On a December day in 1956, musical legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis really did meet in the Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio in Memphis, and really did have a jam session. That session has been fleshed out dramatically for the purposes of creating the musical "Million Dollar Quartet" that Marilyn and I took in at the Benedum Theater last evening.

While the show does tell a story, it is really all about the music, and the four actors who play the leads really do it up right. These guys are not "impersonators" as we have come to know them, but actors playing a part, and they all do it really well. The idea of an "Elvis impersonator" has become a show biz cliche. What this role in MDQ requires is someone playing Elvis (and Cash, Perkins, and Lewis), and the actors in last night's production hit just the right notes. The actor who played Elvis got the hip-shaking moves down right, and while the voice isn't exactly like Elvis, you know that you are seeing the 1956 version of Elvis on stage.

The show confirms that the pre-Army Elvis Presley was and is the "real" Elvis, the Elvis who really was The King. People whose only impression or knowledge of Elvis Presley consists of cheesy movies and a fat guy in a white jump suit on a Vegas stage, really need to learn more about Elvis prior to his 1960 induction.

(Which brings to mind John Lennon's quote when he learned that Presley had died in 1977: "The real Elvis died the day he went into the Army.")

Back to the show, the actor who played Jerry Lee Lewis really stole the show. Pure energy and he played the piano just like the Killer.

The encore to the show was great with each actor performing a signature song of each artist:

Hound Dog by Elvis, Ghostriders in the Sky by Cash, See You Later, Alligator by Perkins, and a rousing finale of Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Lewis. And, of course, when it was over, the announcement was made that "Elvis has just left the building."

Great show!!