Million Dollar Quartet
It’s a genius premise: take a real-life Big Moment — the one time that King of Rock and Roll Elivs Presley, Man in Black Johnny Cash, Father of Rockabilly Carl Perkins and The Killer Jerry Lee Lewis met and played together at Sam Phillips’ famed Sun Records recording studio in Memphis —and weave a story around it that can serve as a showcase for the music. The odds are pretty good that you know the songs, which include Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire,” Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” and yes, Presley’s “Hound Dog.” It’s better than going to see a cover band, because the actors aren’t just imitating the real-deal pop-culture giants (the outfits, the hair, the dancing, and oh yes, the music) they’re portraying them. And it’s better than a biopic, because you get that live-music thrill — doubly so, because it’s played in the context of when it was shaking the foundations of society. It’s not remember when, it’s you are there. The thing isbrilliantly designed to feel good, and it does, which is all the more remarkable considering just how sad the story is. (As narrator and protagonist Phillips puts it, “I wish those boys had had a little more happiness in their lives.” And he’s in for a rough night of his own.) Such is the power of the musical Muse; we clap and cheer at stuff born from poverty and pain. (Phillips again: “I ain’t never heard a rich man make a good record,” and dead brothers abound among our stars —for starters.) Ben Van Diepen’s Lewis seems designed to steal the show, and he obliges in acrobatic fashion, but Lance Arthur Smith’s Phillips grounds the proceedings and keeps it from becoming a Greatest Hits album.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, June 26, 2022
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm-4pm |
| Wednesdays, 2pm-4pm & 7pm-9pm |
| Thursdays, 7pm-9pm |
| Fridays, 7pm-9pm |
| Saturdays, 4pm-6pm & 8pm-10pm |