LEGENDS ALIVE AGAIN
Actors Greg Gale, Matthew Lawrence, Jefferson McDonald and Edward Murphy share insights into playing Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins
Actors share insights into playing Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins in ‘Million Dollar Quartet’
For actor Greg Gale, it’s challenging to play country music icon Johnny Cash.
People know Cash’s signature songs and trademark moves so that’s why Gale is “constantly” in research mode, soaking up the Man in Black’s character and performance style. He wants to get it right.
“The voice is first and foremost. Next, there’s his way of playing. He would play up the neck (of the guitar) and strum; treating it more like a tool than an instrument. Then, there’s the man, himself, everything about him was the epitome of cool,” says Gale, one of four Canadian actors playing musical legends in “Million Dollar Quartet”, the international hit musical hitting the boards of the Homburg Theatre of the Confederation Centre of the Arts with a preview June 14 at 8 p.m. and the opening June 16 also at 8 p.m.
For Matthew Lawrence, who portrays Elvis Presley, it’s a slightly different story.
“It’s wonderful to play a character that I’m so familiar with,” says Lawrence, a former Elvis tribute artist, who has been poring over the script as well as watching old interviews and videos to capture The King’s essence.
“There’s the way he holds the mike, the way he plays his guitar and his physicality, which is very interesting. So, I’ve picked a few things and blown them up, like the way he stands and the way he moves, while trying to keep as truthful as possible.
“Even the gyrations that people talk about. He wasn’t necessarily choreographing them, but he knew what he was doing. So that’s the thing I try to go for, that schmoozing cool. And, God help me if I actually get it right,” says Lawrence, with a laugh.
Jefferson McDonald, who plays Jerry Lee Lewis, the wild man of rock ‘n’ roll, is well versed in the choreography of his character already. Fresh from another production of “Million Dollar Quartet”, he’s pumped for the Charlottetown Festival.
“I’ve done this twice and every time I’ve been able to take the playing and the character to another level. And this time I’m actually able to finesse the playing to such a degree that musically, across the board, the music sounds authentically like the record. We’re hitting everything,” says McDonald.
Set in a Memphis, the musical is the story of the night that four music stars stepped into the legendary Sun Record Studios under the direction of Sam Phillips and created an evening of musicianship that, by today’s standards, might have taken months to arrange and negotiate. The once-in-alifetime celebration of these four friends features such hits as ‘Hound Dog’, ‘Fever’, ‘Great Balls of Fire’, ‘Walk the Line’, ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and others.
For Edward Murphy, stepping into the shoes of American singer-songwriter Carl Perkins is enjoyable.
“It’s fun because he’s lesser known than the other guys. So I have a lot more room to explore who he might have been, rather than trying to play a real man,” says the actor who also performed in a previous production of “Million Dollar Quartet”.
Gale, a Newfoundland native who has appeared in two previous productions of “Million Dollar Quartet”, is looking forward to stepping into Cash’s cowboy boots again.
“I’m so happy to be presenting him, in a way. That’s because, if I know the east coast I know they like their Johnny Cash. So I’m so happy to do this service, to bring his music to his fans who have heard him before.”