'Million Dollar Quartet' is a rock 'n' roll treasure
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The original Broadway company of "Million Dollar Quartet," playing at the Benedum through Sunday.
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A title like "Million Dollar Quartet" is a lot to live up to, not to mention the audacity of bringing the youthful Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis back to life at a singular moment in their collective histories, and ours.
Well, that's all right, mama, because this show is one in a million, delivering on the big names and rock classics that the name promises.
The national touring company at the Benedum Center stays true to its historic roots while offering a fresh take on a musical and a concert experience. On a set that is a fair re-creation of Sun Studios, a former auto parts store in Memphis, the mood and the performances are electric, transporting us to the real-life, one-time-only jam session on a December day in 1956.
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown.
When: Through Sunday. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.; 8 p.m. Fri.; 2 and 8 p.m. Sat; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sun.
Tickets: $20-$71; pgharts.org or 412-456-6666.
The day holds the promise of reunion of friends and colleagues in rock 'n' roll, but trouble is brewing. Father figure Sam Phillips, the star-making head of Sun, has sold Elvis' contract to RCA to save the financially strapped studio. While Phillips is being courted to join Elvis at RCA, Cash is ready to jump ship for Columbia, Perkins is in desperate need of a follow-up hit to "Blue Suede Shoes" and a new kid in town, Jerry Lee Lewis, has arrived from the back woods of Louisiana to declare himself the next big thing.
Oh, and Elvis -- in the person of look-alike Cody Slaughter -- is about to enter the building, accompanied by a smart and sassy girlfriend, Dyanne (Kelly Lamont). The soon-to-be King is fresh from his first film and the success of "Love Me Tender," which his old friends find easy to parody. Mr. Slaughter not only has the looks and the voice, but he has the hip-swiveling moves that forced Ed Sullivan to film the real Elvis above the waist.
First Published November 3, 2011 12:00 am
