On Dec. 4, 1956 four brilliant young men on the verge of realizing their dreams of soaring into the heights of the music business met at the ramshackle Sun Studio in Memphis for a relaxed jam session.
They are called together by their producer/manager, Sun Studio owner Sam Phillips, who narrates this story about the lives, loves, sentiments and music of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. All are brought to the forefront and their lives are divulged between musical numbers.
Directed by Eric Schaeffer, with the book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, and outstanding music arranged by Chuck Mead, this package of the beginning of the rock ‘n’ roll era will infect the viewer with nostalgia, and will inform and move.
The four actors who play the budding stars are musicians first and then actors; they handle the memorable parts well in both areas and keep the theatre jumping with renditions of “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Walk The Line”, “Great Balls Of Fire” and “Hound Dog” just to name a few. When they join and harmonize on spirituals like “Peace in the Valley” and “Down By the Riverside” they touch the soul. Music explodes and shakes the theatre throughout this wild exhibition of amazing compositions that will have some remember and others wonder where it all came from – and where it went.
If you are or have been a rock ‘n’ roll aficionado, “Million Dollar Quartet” is definitely for you. If rock ‘n’ roll is not your cup of tea, “Million Dollar Quartet” could be a serendipitous adventure.
Where: Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose
Through: May 13
Tickets: $40-$87
Details: (866) 395-2929 or www.broadwaysanjose.com
