On a fateful night in December 1956, four musical giants met where they each got their start, at Sun Records, and recorded the “Million Dollar Quartet” — a seminal moment in rock and roll history.
This is the story behind the story.
The Peterborough Players’ newest show, named for the famous album, “Million Dollar Quartet,” is a musical sensation, with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux and directed by Rachel Sabo-Hedges. The play shows the night of the famous recording, and the interpersonal relationships and drama that come with the ultra-talented trying to make it in the industry.
Producer Sam Phillips, played by Tom Coiner, has an eye for diamonds in the rough, a dream and a former auto-parts-store-turned-recording-studio, and has launched some legendary careers.
He’s looking for the next big hit for rockabilly artist Carl Perkins, played by Jack Supan, and to re-sign one of his biggest talents in Johnny Cash, played by Owen Harrison, while launching the bombastic Jerry Lee Lewis, played by Sebastian Rohn.
What was meant to be a recording session for Perkins, with new talent Lewis filling in as piano accompaniment, becomes an impromptu jam session when Cash and former Sun Records talent Elvis Presley (played by Travis Murad Leland), along with his girlfriend, Dyanne (inspired by the real-life Marilyn Evans, who was dating Presley at the time and attended the actual session), stop by.
Music is the heart and soul of the show. Unlike traditional musicals, the songs aren’t helping to propel the show forward; this is just a show about music.
The show includes the musical greats from each artist, performed live on stage, with real instrumentals. Rohn throws himself into the performance of Lewis, using Lewis’ legendary manic performances to inject energy and humor into the show, with wholehearted renditions of “Real Wild Child” and “Great Balls of Fire.”
Harrison, with a resounding bass, carries off Cash’s gravity and restraint in “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line.” Supan as Perkins gets “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Matchbox,” and Leland as Presley gets “That’s All Right” and “Long Tall Sally.”
None of the actors are caricatures of their respective real-life figures, but each is clearly recognizable. Rather than doing impersonations, the performances take a more subtle approach — more embodiment than one-to-one imitation. The music is live and the performances infectious, giving an electric quality to the overall performance.
While many of the events referenced in the play do happen, for the sake of drama, many events surrounding the artists in the years around the recording session come to a head that fateful night. But the heart of the drama lies with Coiner as Phillips. Despite the musical being almost entirely musical performances, which Coiner doesn’t generally join even as accompaniment, it is he who is the heart of the show. He gave launch to their careers, but his small outfit isn’t really able to keep up with the stardom they’ve attained.
The story has a sort of bittersweet ending. People are moving on, the stars Phillips launched are shooting out of his reach, but new stars are coming into his orbit. A night of great music doesn’t magically fix everything, but it doesn’t have to.
“Million Dollar Quartet” is produced in two acts with a 15-minute intermission. The show will run through July 26. Special events include an after-hours bar after the show on July 16, July 18, July 23 and July 25. There will be a pre-show presentation on July 17 at 6:30 p.m. and a talkback after the show on July 19.