Broadway series review: 'Million Dollar Quartet' rocks the nostalgia ...

Nostalgia is not an idea, it's a feeling. That bears remembering with the arrival in town of the musical "Million Dollar Quartet," which opened on Tuesday at the Keller Auditorium for a six-night run. Inspired ? if that's the word ? by the impromptu jam session in December, 1956 that featured four of rock 'n' roll's greatest early stars, this is a show that doesn't just cater to nostalgia, it serves it up like one of Elvis Presley's beloved peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches.

"Million Dollar Quartet" presents a quasi-historical account of the session at Sun Records' Memphis studio in which Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins played together for the only time. With such a summit meeting of seminal figures, the session is understandably legendary. And this show plays like a fan's fantasy of what might have been, with the four Hall of Famers singing their hits, enaging in friendly rivalries, and flashing lots of distinctive, larger-than-life personality.

If that doesn't quite sound like the makings of a play, well, it isn't. But as a gussied up cover-band concert, "Million Dollar Quartet" has it down.

Cody Slaughter's Elvis has the hip flip of dark hair over one eye, the half-curled lip, the "aw, shucks" demeanor and the live-wire physicality. Lee Ferris' Perkins is the electric-guitar-slinging rock 'n' roll heart of the session. Derek Keeling occasionally overplays the basso-profundity of Cash's voice, but gives him an appealing earnestness and relative humility, while Martin Kaye plays up Lewis' irrepressible ego to the point of bantam rooster cliche, but pounds the piano keys with enough authority to back up the bragging. All four sing with power and charisma; clearly these are long-practiced impersonations, but they retain just enough roughness to feel right ? or at least real.

"Million Dollar Quartet"

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.

As a straightforwardly flashy jukebox-musical tribute to the early rock era, then, "Million Dollar Quartet" is plenty likable. Though there are nods toward various hurts and disappointments ? Presley's regret at the commercial restrictions of his new superstardom, Perkins' bitterness about the elusiveness of sustained success, Sun Records honcho Sam Phillips' wounded pride at his stars leaving him for major labels ? the lights might as well spell out "feel-good musical!"

But reality clearly wasn't high on the agenda when this show was put together, and neither were ideas. If you like a show that doesn't demand much of its viewers, this one's for you. But demand more than song and dance from it, and things start to fall apart.

Granted, historical accuracy probably is the wrong thing to expect (or maybe even to want) from such a show. There are lots of fun little tidbits sprinkled around here (when RCA bought Presley's contract, Phillips used some of the money to buy stock in Holiday Inn ? who knew?). But the song selection bears only a tiny resemblance to the actual session, which was heavy on country and gospel tunes, not on the stars' hits. And the show's dubious central conceit ? that Phillips masterminded the session as a night of historic music making and career decisions ? is oversold at every turn.

What's less excusable, though, is how sloppy the show is in its mythmaking. The dialogue is often clumsy and schematic. The jokes are stock corn pone. There are pointless logical inconsistencies (such as Perkins complaining about others high-jacking what originally was his recording session, even though the songs others have just sung were supposed to be taking place as flashbacks in Phillips memory).

And most notably, what little dramatic tension the story manages to drum up centers on Phillips trying to hold the line for spirited creativity against the onslaught of the corporate entertainment machine. Yet, as the unabashedly glittering fantasy sequence that ends the shows demonstrates, this "Million Dollar Quartet" has climbed aboard the machine and is happily riding shotgun.

-- Marty Hughley

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