If a time machine could transport us back to some bygone time, plenty of music lovers would easily choose Dec. 4, 1956, the day that Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins recorded together at Sun Records studios in Memphis, Tenn.
It's not exactly a time machine, but writers Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott's Million Dollar Quartet is certainly the next best thing, providing a glimpse of that famous real life recording session. The production opened Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at Devos Performance Hall and will play through Sunday, Jan. 22.
Million Dollar Quartet begins inside the recording studio with Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Phillips' most recent addition to Sun Records, banging away on the piano. From minute one actor Martin Kaye brings Lewis's eccentric personality to life and sustains it all the way through.
Carl Perkins, who is set on recording his next big hit, soon joins Phillips and Lewis. The animosity is high between newcomer Lewis and a somewhat disgruntled Perkins. The pair bicker their way through a couple of songs before being joined by a more amicable Johnny Cash.
| Million Dollar Quartet DeVos Performance Hall, Grand Rapids Jan. 17-22, show times at 1, 2, 6:30, 7:30 and 8 p.m. $25-$55 broadwaygrandrapids.com, (616) 235-6285 |
Cash has been steering clear of Sun Records because he recently signed an option with Columbia Records and isn't sure how to tell Phillips.
Elvis Presley arrives with his girlfriend Dyanne and quickly enters into a jovial reunion with Cash and Perkins.
The songs continue as the tension rises. Perkins can't hold back the grudge he feels at Presley performing "Blue Suede Shoes" on the "Ed Sullivan Show," making the song famous and Perkins long forgotten as the song's original writer and performer. Cash finds out that Phillips is planning to ask him to renew his contract that night, and is still trying to figure out how to break his news about Columbia Records. Presley is starting to feel the pressure of stardom, and his girlfriend pressures Phillips to take RCA, Presley's current label, up on their offer to join them.
When it seems like the show is over, it isn't. The audience is transported successfully from the recording studio to the stage, and suddenly it is like being at the concert that never was as Presley, Cash, Perkins and Lewis perform in sequins jackets in front of flickering stage lights. There was definitely "a whole lot of shaking going on" at Devos Performance Hall.
