Million-dollar performances in ‘Million Dollar Quartet’

The Sun Records studio gathering on Dec. 4, 1956, with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, when Perkins booked a recording session with producer Sam Phillips, was a historical event. It was a kind of fluke that the four icons of music got together at the same time. Perkins was in a funk that the song he wrote, “Blue Suede Shoes,” had been recorded by Elvis. But the others, made famous by Phillips, somehow all showed up and held an impromptu jam session. It was the inspiration for “Million Dollar Quartet,” the rousing, affectionate musical showcasing their songs and personas.

That show opened Wednesday night, Aug. 4, at The Gateway. The entire cast embodies their characters in voice, musicianship and seamless acting, providing a wow-factor performance along with the hits of the day. They are superb.

Nathan Burke (Carl Perkins), Steven Lasiter (Johnny Cash), Trevor Dorner (Jerry Lee Lewis/Music Captain), Jacob Barton (Elvis Presley) and Sean Casey Flanagan (Sam Cornelius Phillips) have all played in either national tours, North American tours or regional productions of the musical, and arrived at The Gateway on Saturday with just three days of rehearsal time. Ditto for Taylor Kraft (Dyanne), bassist Justin Bendel (Brother Jay) and drummer Mike Lucchetti (Fluke).

Get ready to shake your shoulders, swivel your hips and tap your feet; within minutes of its opening, the company launches into the rousing “Blue Suede Shoes,” after Flanagan, as Phillips, introduces the story at his studio, sometimes on stage, sometimes off stage. Dorner, as Jerry Lee Lewis, is trying to get Phillips to sign him on, pounding the keys at the onset with “Real Wild Child.” He is brilliant, capturing Lewis’s intensity and outlandish-but-talented piano playing, at times with one hand or foot, flipping the mic (yes, there are mics on stage), and charming the audience with his over-the-top quips and confidence.

He calls himself the “Mutha humpinest piano man you’ve ever seen.”

A nearby audience patron confirmed the phrase. “This guy here, Jesus, he can play the piano,” he said.

But he’s not the only standout. They all are.

Burke, as Carl Perkins, navigates amazing riffs on his electric guitar, creating outstanding notes from another universe. Lasiter, as Johnny Cash, gets the legend’s gentlemanly personality and bass-baritone voice, dropping it amazingly low in songs like “Folsom Prison Blues” (watch the fabulous guitar playing as Lasiter and Burke jam on this one) and “I Walk the Line,” just two of his signature hits.

Elvis Presley started his career singing Dean Martin songs. That’s just one of the backstories revealed in the musical. Barton, as Elvis, shakes it up in his famous melodies like “That’s All Right,” with Dyann, getting the voice and the leg moves down pat, as well as Elvis’s humbleness when he started out.

The bonus in this musical is that besides the main characters, the background actor/musicians are an important part of the ensemble, too.

Taylor Kraft plays Dyanne, Elvis’s girlfriend. Her sultry rendition of “Fever,” wearing an aqua 1950s-style dress with her undulating body and amazing voice range, is riveting. (Hear her voice scale jaw-dropping heights on several songs.) Justin Bendel as Brother Jay plays his bass upside down and sideways; Mike Lucchetti as Fluke the drummer elevates the sound with his snares.

They all tear it up with “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”; you just want to jump on stage with them, dancing, singing, whatever. The artistry, woooeee, baby.

It takes skill to bring a story along and Flanagan (Phillips) handles the job well. He’s about to announce Cash’s contract extension, but the singer doesn’t want to continue with the Sun label and admits he’s jumped over to Columbia. It’s the same with Perkins. Presley has also signed on with RCA. They discuss their reasons and also their hardscrabble beginnings. Cash had a brother who dies at age 14. Presley reveals he had an identical twin brother who died at birth. Lewis was from a sharecropper family.

This talented group clearly displays a walloping good time on stage, against a terrific studio set. They embrace the music, considered revolutionary then (it was banned by churches and parents). At the musical’s end, the cast returned for encores with “Hound Dog,” “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” “See You Later Alligator,” and “Shake Baby Shake,” with Dorner doing his wild, electric, man-child version of Lewis.

While the musical played here in 2016, The Gateway nailed it again with this uplifting story, sorely needed right now. It’s playing to Aug. 21. (Masks are now required in the lobby and in the theater.)