Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at SCR

South Coast Repertory presents the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet at the Mission San Juan Capistrano under the stars as part of its new Outside SCR program, and the quality production recalls the good, old days of Summer Stock. SCR has collected a talented cast and put on an enchanting evening.

Based on a true story, on December 4, 1956, Sam Phillips (Corey Jones), owner of Sun Records, holds a jazz session with his artists, past and present. Some are fresh off the bus, like a spoiled wild child named Jerry Lee Lewis (Billy Rude). Two are breaking away to future stardom - Johnny Cash (Chris Clark) and Carl Perkins (Armando Gutierrez) - and one prodigal son, is just dropping by between star gigs and major motion pictures - Elvis Presley (Rustin Cole Sailors). The Four Singers taunt each other, especially the bratty Jerry Lee, but when harmonizing together, they create a renowned recording for the ages.

It's not surprising that Million Dollar Quartet lasted in Las Vegas for three years at the Harrah's Casino Hotel - the musical is filled with familiar, crowd-pleasing mid-'50s hits and has a barebones script, requiring zero thinking from the audience. The Phillips role is one line of exposition after another. Though the script by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux drums up a bit of drama in the end, most of the story is an excuse to play some of the best rock-n-roll classics of the mid-20th century: "Hound Dog," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Great Balls of Fire," amongst others. With 23 songs, Million Dollar Quartet is wall-to-wall hits.

Most of the actors don't look like their characters, but each has a rich voice and they, along with Michelle Lauto as Elvis's girl, sound amazing together. The play does tip towards one performance - it's no surprise that the original Jerry Lee Lewis, Levi Kreis, won the play's only Tony award for acting - it's a stage-hogging role. Rude commands the stage every moment, whether nimbly leaping on the piano or using his feet and tush to play the 88 keys. He finds that balance between Lewis's bad boy and a dazzling presence. Rude appears to be bursting out of his body, like an unstable atomic bomb ready to explode. His voice is volcanic, and his piano skills are extraordinary. All four actors play their instruments well and portray that undeniable presence that made their characters natural stars.

More of a revue than an actual show, Million Dollar Quartet is a full sojourn to the early days of rock-n-roll, when something as G-rated as Elvis's pelvic rotations would have adults in a tizzy and teenagers fainting in the aisles. The actors return some of the danger to those quaint nostalgic tunes.

Photo by Jenny Graham/SCR.