Interview: Brynne Smith of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS at The Playhouse

Aisle Say has interviewed tens of actors prior to their tour landing at The Playhouse. My chat with Brynne Smith-Jenkins, however, is a first. Never before had I spoken with an actor who had just left rehearsal for a show opening here tomorrow November 17 through the 19th. Not in recent years has a tour originated here. That exciting. And, there will be even more excitement on stage with MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS.

Brynne is a Texas native. She attended Abilene Christian College and majored in (guess what?) musical comedy. Her favorite college role was Mable in PIRATES OF PENZANCE. She did two stints as Dyanne in MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET onboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, so she knew the plot and characters well. Other credits include Swing! The Musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Burn the Floor, and Broadway Unplugged. “The most wonderful thing about this tour is that my husband plays Carl Perkins. We just celebrated our first anniversary”.

Following up on the success of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET with the iconic tunes of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, producers then decided to stage a Christmas spin for the 4 rockers. The audience will hear the quartet sing “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, “Santa Baby”, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” along with 27 other songs.

Johnny will sing “Ring of Fire”, Jerry Lee will attack the keyboards with “Chantilly Lace”, Elvis will croon “Don’t Be Cruel”. There will be some gospel thrown in with “Go Tell It On The Mountain” and “Shall Not Be Moved”.

The story goes that one afternoon in the early 50’s the foursome coincidentally met at Sun Record Studio and started jamming. That may be apocryphal, but we’ll go with it.

The show does not have a lot of dialogue ordrama. Elvis wistfully lamenting about being drafted is about as tense as it gets. It's about the music, the playing, the singing, and the jamming, all with a Christmas flair; and it's here where the show truly delivers.

Beginning in fine rock 'n roll form with Home For The Holidays, for the following ninety minutes, each of the four soon-to-be legends burst into high-energy performance mode, either singing solo or supporting each other with a string of familiar mainstream and seasonal hits of the day, culminating with a grand finale mega-mix of Christmas rock.

There may be discounts. Ask.

The tour ends in Spokane WA on 23 December (good timing)

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS  11/17 -11/19

Playhouse Box Office – 302.888.0200

Million Dollar Quartet Xmas | The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE (thegrandwilmington.org)

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