MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, the new Broadway musical sensation, celebrates its 100th performance on Broadway tonight during the evening performance at the Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street).
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET opened in April to cheers from critics with The New York Times calling the show, "a buoyant new musical that whips the crowd into a frenzy," and New York Magazine saying "Million Dollar Quartet is a dazzling raucous spectacle that sounds like a million bucks!"
The show won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Levi Kreis) and received a Tony nomination for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical (Colin Escott & Floyd Mutrux). In addition, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET received an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Levi Kreis), a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Musical Revue and three Drama League Nominations including Distinguished Production of a Musical and Distinguished Performance (Lance Guest & Levi Kreis).
The Broadway cast includes Eddie Clendening (Elvis Presley), Lance Guest (Johnny Cash), Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Levi Kreis (Jerry Lee Lewis), Robert Britton Lyons (Carl Perkins), Tony nominee Hunter Foster (Sam Phillips) and Elizabeth Stanley (Dyanne).
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is directed by Eric Schaeffer and features a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. The design team for Broadway includes: Derek McLane (scenic design), Howell Binkley (lighting design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Kai Harada (sound design) and Chuck Mead (musical arrangements and supervision).
On December 4, 1956, an auspicious twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley together. The place was Sun Records' storefront studio in Memphis. The man who made it happen was Sam Phillips, the "Father of Rock and Roll," who discovered them all. The four young musicians united for the only time in their careers for an impromptu recording that has come to be known as one of the greatest rock jam sessions of all time.
Inspired by the actual event, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET features a treasure trove of the greatest rock and roll, gospel, R&B and country hits from these musicians, including such iconic songs as "Blue Suede Shoes," "Fever," "Sixteen Tons," "Who Do You Love?," "Great Balls of Fire," "Riders in the Sky," "I Walk the Line," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET captures the infectious spirit, freewheeling excitement and thrilling sounds of a singular moment when four of the music industry's most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, came together for one of the most memorable nights in music history.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is produced by Relevant Theatricals, John Cossette Productions, American Pop Anthology, Broadway Across America, and James L. Nederlander.
