Reviews 2017
Reviews 2017
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by Floyd Mutrux & Colin Escott, directed by Alex Mustakas
Drayton Entertainment, CAA Theatre, Toronto
December 13, 2017-January 7, 2018
Sam: “If you try to sing like someone else, you’re nothing”
What you get out of the 2006 musical Million Dollar Quartet depends on what you expect. The title comes from the name coined by Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records, when by chance Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley all happened to turn up at his recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 4, 1956, and the tape was left running to record their hour-long jam session together. If you expect the musical to recreate that historic occasion, wipe that idea out of your mind. The programme claims the musical is “Inspired by an actual event”, and “inspired” is the key word. In fact, Million Dollar Quartet is nothing more than a revue by four powerhouse rock star impersonators singing 20 of their namesakes’ greatest hits. The show’s attempts at drama are so rudimentary and bogus, they could just as well be omitted.
The real story of the event is that Carl Perkins, whose most famous song is “Blue Suede Shoes”, came in to Sun Records to record a new version of the blues song “Matchbox”. Sam Phillips thought the song would benefit from the addition of a piano and invited his new discovery Jerry Lee Lewis to play. Elvis later dropped by accompanied by his latest girlfriend Marilyn Evans, renamed “Dyanne” in the musical. Johnny Cash, who wanted to listen in on Perkins, also arrived and the meeting evolved into an impromptu jam session. Philips, realizing the historic nature of the gathering, called the local newspaper about the “Million Dollar Quartet” happening in his studio and the entertainment editor and photographer where immediately sent over to cover the event.
In order to inject drama into what was other wise an chance occasion, book writer Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott portray the gathering as set up by Sam Phillips to celebrate Johnny Cash’s renewal of his three-year contract with Sun records. Elvis had already left Sun records for RCA in 1955, so Mutrux and Escott portray Phillips as anxious to keep Cash as one of his major stars only to be deeply disappointed that Cash had already signed with Columbia Records. In reality, Cash did not sign with Columbia until 1958, so the whole aura of drama Mutrux and Escott try to force on the events of 1956 is pure fabrication.
Another fabrication that animates the entire show is the tension between Perkins, Elvis and Cash and Lewis, who Mutrux and Escott portray as an obnoxious clown. In fact, all three, including Elvis, are known to have been in awe of Lewis’s talent.
The worst fabrication of the show is the list of songs performed. The Complete Million Dollar Session is available online for download, and if one compares the song-list for the real session with the song-list for the musical, one discovers that the two have only three songs in common – “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”, “Down by the Riverside” and “Peace in the Valley”. The four stars did not sing their greatest hits to each other. Why should they? They were taking advantage of the chance to sing with each other and sang old songs, mostly gospel numbers, that they were all familiar with. While in the musical it is great to hear a female voice for a change from “Dyanne”, Elvis’s real girlfriend at the time was a dancer, not a singer, and did not sing during the session.
Thus, what Mutrux and Escott have done is to take the fact that four of the most famous rock ’n’ rollers of the 1950s were once together in the same room in 1956 and use it as an excuse to have them sing 20 of their greatest hits, some of which, like “Real Wild Child” and “Great Balls of Fire”, were written after 1956.
In terms of drama, Mutrux and Escott have Sam Phillips serve as both narrator of the events and as the show’s prime tragic figure as he realizes that the stars he discovered and worked to make famous are leaving his two-man record label for bigger money elsewhere. The repetitive format is to have Phillips introduce a star, have the star play his greatest hit and then have a flashback showing how Phillips discovered the star before returning to the the recording session. A constant annoyance is to have Phillips ask us to applaud the star again after we have already applauded him. Given that the song-list for the musical is completely artificial, Phillips’s way on introducing a new song boils down to asking one star or other, “Hey, why don’t you play your new song?”
Most people have no problem with the idea of rock star impersonators, although one wonders why imitation in all other performing arts is held in low esteem. The show’s writers have Phillips chide Elvis for spending his early career trying to sound like Dean Martin, saying “If you try to sing like someone else, you’re nothing” – a fairly ironic comment in a show dependent on four performers who deliberately do just that.
Nevertheless, what keeps this revue-disguised as a musical afloat are the fantastic performances of the four rock star impersonators. Of the four, the one who is best all round as an actor, singer and instrumentalist is Tyler Check as Carl Perkins. Perkins is likely the the least well-known of the four, in part because the singer had the least distinctive voice of the four and was best known for the complexity of his guitar playing. If you listen to any original Carl Perkins songs on iTunes, you will find that Check, in fact, sounds remarkably like Perkins and as for Check’s electric guitar playing it is just as impressive.
Coming a close second is Aaron Solomon as Johnny Cash. Solomon is a bit stiff on stage and doesn’t come across as the 24-year-old that Cash would have been in 1956. Yet, the earnestness and sincerity of his character shines through and vocally he is an uncanny match for Cash in the depth and grit of his voice and in his habits of singing. The highpoint of his musical offerings is his moody rendition of Cash’s 1948 hit “Ghost Riders”.
Cage’s acting is rather rudimentary but when he sings his voice and delivery style is as close to Elvis’s as one could hope for. It’s then we understand why Cage is one of the world’s most in-demand Elvis impersonators. Everard’s musical performances as Lewis are equally convincing even though he does hit the piano keys with his right heel so often it stops being a surprise. His acting as Lewis, in contrast to the other three impersonators, is cartoonish and his habit of mugging directly to the audience after a joke doesn’t help. As a side note, the writers make a big mistake by having Lewis mention his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin which did not happen until 1957 and effectively ruined his career for a decade.
Though there no female sang at the famous jam session, it is a welcome change to hear a female voice in the show. Laura Mae Nason does fine works with the few key lines she has and gives two musically dazzling performances – one of the 1956 hit “Fever” and the other of the 1955 hit “I Hear You Knockin’” – both written and first recorded by African-American singers.
The Sam Phillips figure, played by J. Sean Elliott, serves more as an M.C. than a rounded character for the first half of the show, introducing and commenting on the four rock ’n’ rollers’ songs. When Mutrux and Escott finally decide to turn Phillips into a real character when faced with the defection of his cherished stars, the whole scene feels forced. Yet, Elliott does his best to give the scene emotional heft.
The other two cast member – Scott Carmichael on drums and Zachary Knowles on bass – must be mentioned because they tirelessly play and sing backup for most of the evening. Both get showcase solos, though Carmichael’s should really be as long as Knowles’s.
The musical talent of the cast is so great that it clearly shows up the flimsiness of the show as either documentary or drama. Yet, even if you go to see Million Dollar Quartet merely as a showcase for top-notch rock star impersonators (plus Nason, Carmichael and Knowles), be aware that you may find it useful to wear earplugs. On opening night, the pre-recorded pre-show music was so loud, I had to push mine in even before the show started. The volume for the live music was even higher and not in line with the lower volume for the dialogue. With more experience in the CAA Theatre (formerly the Panasonic Theatre) and with more complaints, let’s hope the audio operator finds the right balance so that the audience can enjoy the music and live to hear another day.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Gerrad Evereard as Jerry Lee Lewis, Zachary Knowles on bass, Tyler Check as Carl Perkins, Scott Carmichael on drums and Matt Cage as Elvis Presley, ©2017 Drayton Entertainment; Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley at the piano and Marilyn Evans, ©1956 George Pierce for the Memphis Press-Scimitar; Laura Mae Nason as Dyanne, ©2017 Drayton Entertainment.
For tickets, visit www.mirvish.com.
2017-12-15
Million Dollar Quartet