Review: ELVIS: A MUSICAL REVOLUTION at Broadway Palm

Elvis has entered the building at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre.

Elvis: A Musical Revolution covers only the early part of Elvis’s life story. What’s included is how he revolted against his longtime manager Colonel Parker to make a televised comeback after a string of lackluster movies. This is the leather-clad Elvis, not the jump-suited one. To get to this point in his life, the show flashes back and forth between an eleven-year-old Elvis and how what he experienced as a boy shaped the man he became.

Of all the influences that informed him, his mother surely had the greatest impact. Carrie Wagner lovingly plays Gladys, whose gift of a guitar put his career in motion. The placement of her funeral as a production number at the end of the first act further demonstrates how big a part she played.

As the man himself, William Draper gyrates his heart out. He also believably portrays Elvis’s frustration at being under Parker’s thumb, not to mention having a wife, baby, and a whole lot of others dependent on him. And Gavin Wylie as young Elvis bravely carries a lot of the show on his slight shoulders.

Fans of Elvis will get a hearty dose of rock and roll. Although Draper falls a bit short on the lip curl, his resonant voice does credit to Elvis’s many hits. And we get some of the gospel music that was the foundation of Elvis’s style. James Major Burns is fiery as the Reverend exhorting his congregation as young Elvis soaks it all up.

For a nostalgic throwback to the fifties, break out your blue suede shoes and get yourself to Broadway Palm before February 17. For tickets, call 239.278.4422.

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