The Million Dollar Quartet provides a musical history lesson for the ages.

Before their prime, Elvis Presley, Johhny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins met by chance on the night of December 4, 1956. This chance meeting turned into a legendary event making music history. The jam session lasted for about an hour in the studio of Sun Records founder Sam Philips. Sam was instrumental in launching each of these legends careers which makes the story that much more memorable.

Source: YouTube

The impromptu meeting recorded and later released, are known as the “Million Dollar Quartet.” The musical written by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott surrounded this chance meeting. There was tension between Elvis and Perkins over a performance of “Blue Suede Shoes.” They settled their differences as the play caught Elvis earlier in his career. Specifically, the period covers when he was starting to branch out into movies.

The music was epic as the cast sang danced as if they were in the same band for over 20 years. The chemistry amongst the group was evident, and the acting was top notch. Part of what makes this play is the era of the actual event. A musical meeting would never happen again as it would require contracts, publicists approval, not to mention a social media firestorm.

Here is the cast:

James Barry as Carl Perkins
Alex Boniello as Elvis
Jason Loughlin as Sam Philips
Scott Moreau as Johnny Cash
Bligh Voth as Dyanne
Nat Zegree as Jerry Lee Lewis

This show is a must see as we had a blast!

The play us running through April 23rd at the PaperMill Playhouse: www.PaperMill.org