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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Million Dollar Quartet Christmas
Million Dollar Quartet, the predecessor show, first opened at the Seaside Music Theatre in Florida's Daytona Beach in 2006, and a dozen or so years later Million Dollar Quartet Christmas got its start. This new mounting of the latter show in St. Louis runs two hours and ten minutes (with a 15-minute intermission) under the flyin'-down-the-slalom direction of Keith Andrews. Especially in act two he sustains a transcendental rockabilly intensity and splices-in lots of seasonal warmth in a modest 1950s recording studio in Memphis on a pleasantly realistic set designed by Adam Koch. The excellent musical direction is by Dave Sonneborn, who also works the onstage percussion. The cast largely carries over from last year's Stages version of Million Dollar Quartet at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. Sean Buckley takes over the role of Elvis Presley, twitching with delight and desire in an expertly stylized performance that's also pleasantly self-mocking. Local actor Jeff Cummings reprises his 2023 Stages role as Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, playing host to Elvis and to Johnny Cash (Scott Moreau) and Carl Perkins (Jeremy Sevelovitz) in this reimagining of an historic gathering. At this time in their lives (when all the famed singers were in their 20s), at the end of 1956, the three have abandoned Sun for contracts with much larger record labels. The group is rounded out by baby-faced Brady Wease as the youngest member of the unofficial quartet, Jerry Lee Lewis. He sets the house on fire with his youthful bravado and maniacal banging on the piano. Brainy, elegant Shelby Ringdahl likewise reprises from the Stages production as Dyanne, a former Las Vegas showgirl Elvis brings back as a glamorous trophy from the premier of his first movie. Ms. Ringdahl adds a likable dash of smart, female independence and has several lovely holiday solos of her own including "Santa Baby," which carries with it the ever-so-slightly jarring sense of a woman who knows exactly what she wants. Mr. Moreau (as Cash) is intriguingly subtle throughout, but also has an anachronistic little tribute to Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" once we've slipped the surly bonds of reality in act two. Mr. Sevelovitz, as Carl Perkins, introduces a highly authentic twinge of tragedy over Perkins' relative anonymity and has come under a cloud of gloom after a recent fatal road accident. With strong acting, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas almost always transcends country and western music's occasional shtick and schmaltz, and none of the four have soured on celebrity just yet. Especially not the youngest, Mr. Wease's Jerry Lee Lewis. Tasting the first signs of success, he's more insanely, psychologically articulated than all of the other three combined. The tune-filled show boasts several old country church songs that get brief tribute in this music industry boiler-room. And for best results, throw in a long list of famed hits, along with Christmas classics that become their own sort of church songs–and Elvis, Elvis, Elvis! Mr. Buckley is sterling as "The King." It's the end of 1956, a year in which Elvis Presley had two chart-topping albums released and subsequently appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, when he was only 21. It was the same year in which his first movie came out, Love Me Tender. But Mr. Buckley seems so straightforward that you just can't get out of the way of him playing it all as a sexy joke. And you can easily forgive him for riding high, as his year comes to a close. In any case ladies and gentlemen, but most especially ladies, Elvis has just entered the building. But it's also the story of long, pesky microphone cables constantly being shooed up and out of the way by Mr. Cummings as Sam Phillips, as mic stands are twirled up and down stage in the show's many exciting mid-century rock and roll numbers and in Christmas tunes that are often played as rock and roll. (Great costumes, as always, by Brad Musgrove of Stages.) Chuck Zayas and Dave Sonneborn fill out the session playing bass and drums, and it's interesting to note that Mr. Zayas was a member of the first cast of Million Dollar Quartet. I admire Mr. Cumming's fatherly presence as Sam Phillips; he seems to show a sense of the evanescence of success in this line of work. But I also admire the realism of those long rubber-wrapped cords all over the stage. To me they're part of the much needed background of verisimilitude. And of course it's rude to say, but (with the possible exception of Mr. Wease) the performers on stage all appear to be 10 or 20 or more years too old for their real-life characters at that exact time. Still, it seems irrelevant in the overall effect, so shame on me. In the end it's a great confection of Christmas cheer, a sentimental frosting on a marzipan of nostalgia. Bizarre misunderstandings of the self are artfully scattered throughout, and dry humor intertwines with the occasional moment of ruthless self-assessment. But you should expect at least 25% of it to sound like Elvis. Or maybe more like 33 and a third. In the end, a knockout series of encores will keep you in your seat (or up on your feet, twisting and clapping) for another ten minutes in a swirl of genuine glad tidings. Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, a co-production of Stages St. Louis and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, runs through December 22, 2024, at 130 Edgar Drive, Webster Groves MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.repstl.org or www.stagesstlouis.org. Cast: Additional Cast: Elvis Presley Understudy: Joe Boover* Production Staff: Additional Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association
** Denotes Member, USA-829
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