‘Million Dollar Quartet’ worth its weight in gold

Musical of fantastic foursome at Sun Studio rocks, rollicks

They hooked us with the opening line: “Well, it’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat, go…“

“Million Dollar Quartet,” the national tour of the Broadway musical (and, in some ways, superior to the Broadway production), rocked the Orpheum on Tuesday like nobody’s business. By the end of the night, the entire audience was on its feet, loosening ties, clapping hands and swelling with Memphis pride.

The feeling in the theater was that of a homecoming for this marvelous production that pays homage to a Memphis landmark.

The show is based on rock-and- roll history’s well-known sidebar that on the night of Dec. 4, 1956, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis met up, for the first and only time together, at Sun Studio. The producer who had discovered them, Sam Phillips, recorded the casual jam session on tape. A picture was taken, and the next day the newspaper dubbed them the “Million Dollar Quartet.”

The script by music historian Colin Escott and film director Floyd Mutrux re -imagines the event as a pivotal moment in the history of rock. Even the set design — padded red walls topped with a Grecian cornice — suggest something out of legend. Reality is a small, white - paneled room in a storefront off Union Avenue.

In this story, the chain-smoking Phillips, played by the gravel-voiced Christopher Ryan Grant, is being pressured to take over Elvis’ new recording career at RCA in New York. He wants to stay in Memphis, however, and re -sign Johnny Cash. Little does he know that Cash has already decided to leave the Sun label and go to Nashville.

While the plot of “Million Dollar Quartet” offers plenty of trivia for local history buffs to eat up (only a Memphis audience truly gets the joke when Phillips says he’s invested money in Holiday Inn), this primer on how rock and roll got its start is cleverly packaged inside an amazing rock concert.

The actors, who generally look and sound like the icons they are

portraying (with the exception of Cody Slaughter, the spitting image of Elvis Presley), also play their own instruments. They, along with Chuck Zayas on upright bass and Billy Shaffer on drums, are seriously good.

Give Lee Ferris credit for slightly modernizing the sound of rockabilly great Carl Perkins. Adding a bit of crunch to his lead guitar makes tunes like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “See You Later Alligator” sound newly minted.

Derek Keeling has Cash’s melancholy stillness and his great bass vocals. His “I Walk the Line” is a tender, beautifully wrought piece of work. As Elvis, Slaughter has that winning combination of magnetism and humility. His singing is spot- on.

Martin Kaye’s Jerry Lee Lewis is the scrawny jester of the group, complete with floppy hair and an enormous ego. One thing that can’t be faked is Lewis’ fiery piano licks, and Kaye is a dead- on mimic.

“Million Dollar Quartet” is a rock-and-roll fantasy come to life, and with such genuine artistry and affection that you almost feel as though this is how it really happened.

The audience went wild on Tuesday when the actors gathered behind the piano to re - enact the famous million dollar quartet photograph. It wasn’t just because it was an accurate depiction, but because it suddenly reminded everyone how much awesomeness came out of this city.

“Million Dollar Quartet” is a sincere, heartfelt and truly exhilarating ode to Memphis history and the spirit of rock and roll. Don’t miss it.