Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Celebrates 'The Devil's Music'

Ogunquit Playhouse's revival this season of last year's popular success, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, continues to add luster to this thoroughly enjoyable juke box musical about the historic meeting at Sun Records of four of rock n' roll legends, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The show using music by these icons of pop music with a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux ensnares its audience in what the Jerry Lee Lewis character aptly terms the "devil's music" - capturing the full revolutionary force of early Rock and the originality of these musicians.

As juke box musicals go, the book here is better than most, vividly depicting the four different characters, the tension among them, and their relationships to Sun Records' visionary founder Sam Philipps. Directed by Hunter Foster, the narrative develops with clarity and coherence. The appeal, of course, is the music - one hit after another from the late fifties magnificently performed by the Ogunquit cast. What this musical demonstrates, in addition to showcasing these glorious old hits, is the richness of musical threads which came together to shape American Rock- from honky tonk to gospel to country to blues -all of which coalesced in the voices of these four greats to become a completely original movement with far reaching reverberations.

Ogunquit's production is vividly realized in every respect. The stunning set based on the Broadway conception of Derek McLane, adapted by Adam Koch, is an evocative period reproduction of Memphis' Sun Records' studio, lit strikingly by Richard Latta (plenty of atmosphere and special effects) with spot-on costumes by Molly Walz. Justin Stasiw and Kevin Heard's sound design is compelling- capturing and balancing at once the round, intimate sound of the small studio with the huge reverb sound of a Rock concert.

The eight-person cast are all excellent musicians and singing actors, who evoke the quirky geniuses they portray. James Barry is a wiry, volatile, moving Carl Perkins. Beau Cassidy makes a vulnerable, disarmingly sweet young Elvis Presley, who turns into a tiger when he begins to perform. Scott Moreau makes a rich-voiced bass-baritone Johnny Cash with a gravitas that befits this complex country legend. And Nat Zegree almost steals the show with his electric, impulsive, flamboyant, outrageously wild Louisiana Bayou musician Jerry Lee Lewis. Zegree is an acrobat, a pianist of incomparable skill and a singing actor who lights up the house with "great balls of fire."

In the supporting cast, Bligh Voth gives spice and vocal piquancy to Dyanne, Elvis' love interest and singer of remarkable means. Jason Loughlin is the dramatic anchor of the work, giving Sam Phillips a complexity and emotional depth that go a long way to making this show a drama and not a concert only. The remaining two musicians, Nathan Yates Douglass as Brother Jay on bass and David Sonneborn as Fluke on percussion, demonstrate not only their proficiency on their instruments but also their colorful assumption of their characters.

Million Dollar Quartet follows a recipe for successful juke box musicals recalljng the sounds and feelings of an era. But in Ogunquit Playhouse's production, it does a great deal more. It proves to be excellent musical theatre in every respect and a welcome reminder of some of America's most innovative contributions to musical history.

Photos courtesy of Ogunquit Playhouse

Million Dollar Quartet runs from October 5 - Novemember 6, 2016 at the Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main St., Ogunquit, ME 207-646-5511 www.ogunquitplayhouse.org

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