BWW Interviews: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET'S Kelly Lamont

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET features the music of legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. The four came together for one night only at Sun Records in Memphis, TN on December 4, 1956, and the show gives audiences an inside look on what could be considered the greatest "jam session" of all time. Audiences can expect to hear popular hits such as 'Blue Suede Shoes,' 'Hound Dog,' and 'I Walk the Line' along with 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'Fever,' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.' Below, Kelly Lamont, who plays Elvis' girlfriend Dyanne, speaks in depth about the story, the characters, the music, and her experiences with MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.

I have a pretty limited understanding of this show. I've seen a couple of previews and read online about it, and I understand that it's about four musical legends that come together for one night in a studio to make music. Can you give me a synopsis of the show and tell me how these four men came together?
Sure. So you have Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, and they came together on December 4, 1956 for a real jam session that actually happened. So the scenario was, it was actually Carl Perkins' session. And, people are not as familiar with Carl Perkins, but he's actually the original writer of 'Blue Suede Shoes,' and that is a little bit of the drama or conflict that enters in our story. So he was at Sun Studios in Memphis playing his own session, and Jerry Lee Lewis was an unknown piano player at the time, but was hired to play for Carl Perkins. In the meantime, Johnny Cash decided to come by, and then someone called and said Elvis is in town so we should invite him too. It kind of became this jam session. Well, you know, we know them as four icons, but at the time in 1956, the only person that was actually really well known was Elvis. To them, it was just four guys playing music that were friends coming together to hang out. They brought in some photographers and decided to kind of make something of the fact that these four guys were all together, and the next day in the newspaper they coined it the 'million dollar quartet,' and that's where it got that name.

So this was before they were really famous with the exception of Elvis.Did they all know each other, or did someone else prompt this gathering?
The three of them did know each other, Carl, Elvis, and Johnny, but Jerry Lee was the newcomer. There is an actual recording from that day that came out I think ten years ago. Someone had recorded, and they were just kind of messing around in the studio, and you can tell that Jerry Lee Lewis really wants to get in with the guys. It's pretty though because when you hear him play anything you know it's Jerry Lee Lewis playing. You know by the way he plays. So, they had all worked together and they did know each other. So it was kind of like a bunch of guys who were in the same genre, they all played around, and they were all from the south kind of from the same area. And they all got together and decided let's hit record. Johnny Cash was just starting to make it, and all three of them had had some success. It just wasn't the success that we know of today looking back at them.

Well then your character, you play Dyanne, who is Elvis' girlfriend in the show. She was based off of a woman named Marilyn Evans who was in the studio with them that night. What is Dyanne like, and what is her role in this recording session?
The actual girl that was there was a showgirl from Vegas that Elvis had met, and they kind of briefly dated, and he brought her with. So, she really was there, and they have proof. They have a picture, there's this infamous picture of the four of the guys sitting around the piano. Elvis is sitting at the piano and the three guys are behind him, and then they have an extended picture and she's actually sitting on the corner of the piano. So, they know that she was there, and you can kind of hear her talking and stuff in the real recordings from that night. So when they decided to add Dyanne into MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET the musical, they changed her character a little bit. Instead of being a showgirl she's a singer from California, so that the character could sing in the show as well.

One thing I failed to mention, but this is probably the most important thing of the show, is that this is all live music. Everything that you hear is live. Every guy plays their own instruments, and then we have a bass player and a drummer, an upright bass and a drummer. So everyone plays their own instruments, and everyone obviously sings. And that is what adds, I think, something special to the show because not only are you getting a play, a musical, but you're also getting a live concert. It's like 23 songs in 90 minutes, so it's a lot of live rock and roll.

Is there an orchestra that backs up this music, or does the cast play everything?
No, the only people on stage are the 8 of us, and that's all the music you hear. That's everything. So Carl Perkins plays the electric guitar, Johnny and Elvis play the acoustic guitar, Jerry Lee Lewis plays the piano, and then we have the upright bass player and the drummer. I sing, I play tambourine in the end of the show, and I play maracas a little bit during the show. And then the character of Sam Phillips, who founded those four guys, he plays the narrator. So all the music you hear is live, and coming from on stage.

It must be a pretty difficult show to cast if you not only have to have actors and singers, but you have to have people who can play the instruments. What was the audition process like for this show?
It's not an easy show to cast, because really these guys have to be proficient at their instrument. To me, that's the most important thing about the show, is that the music is authentic. We have an amazing musical director. His name is Chuck Mead, who kind of arranged the arrangements. I mean all these songs we've heard. You know 'Whole Lotta Shakin',' 'Great Balls of Fire,' and stuff. He did the arrangements for them so that the sounded like they did in 1956. So, all the guys have to be able to play their instruments, but in particular Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee. I mean, there's no messing around. And, the bass player and the drummer, I mean all of the guys have to be very proficient. But, they play the bulk of the music, so these guys are no joke. So, when they went about casting this show, they really wanted to cast musicians who could act and sing, because that is the most important thing. They have to sound authentic and they have to be, excuse my French, but bad asses on their instruments, which they all are. For me, it was a little different because I had to be able to sing and act, so my audition process was very different from the guys' audition process. I'm not actually sure if they had to come in and play a song from the show, or if they had to play a song from that genre, but they definitely had to come in with their instrument and be prepared to play and knock their socks off.

I want to get back to your character, Dyanne. Can you talk a little bit about Dyanne and Elvis' relationship and how that plays into this show. Are there any ups and downs that we see?
In this particular show we're pretty even-keeled relationship wise. The kind of reason for Dyanne in the show is one, to bring a little feminine energy to the room, I mean it's all guys and then Dyanne. So one, I think it's kind of important to have a female in the room to kind of break up the monotony of the testosterone. But also, she actually helps tell the story with Sam Phillips. They have a few scenes together that kind of help drive the narration of the story, because there are certain scenes that it just wouldn't make sense for someone else to be talking with Sam Phillips. Like, it wouldn't make sense for Elvis to be over on the side if he's talking about something with Johnny Cash, you know? So she helps narrate the story with Sam Phillips. So her purpose is to be there, obviously singing, adding a little bit of feminine energy, but also to help narrate the story with Sam Phillips.

You get to sing 'Fever' and 'I Hear You Knocking,' correct?
Yes.

What is it like to sing songs that your audience already comes to the show knowing?
I think for me it's a little easier than for some of the guys, because the guys, you know because of their icons, they have a little more pressure put on them. And so I have a little bit more freedom in the way I sing the songs, I guess. I've actually done this show for almost five years. I started in the original cast in Chicago for three years, and then I started doing the tour, and I've been on tour for almost two years now. The songs have definitely evolved from when I first started versus now, but it is really interesting. Because I've been doing the show for so long, to me, it's like I've been singing the same songs but I always have to keep in mind that this is most of the time the audience's first time hearing these songs in maybe a really long time. Especially 'Fever.' Most people know 'Fever,' and it never shocks me when I meet people who are like oh my God I love that song so much I haven't heard it in forever! I mean there are some people who haven't heard it for maybe twenty years, and so I think that's what a beautiful thing about this show is. It's a lot of this music that you don't hear everyday, but are iconic songs that people just love and grew up with. It's really great to have, you know we have older people in the audience, we have younger people in the audience, and it's cool because these are songs and artists that the people living in that time got to experience that. But, then they are listening to it with their kids. And now their kids are listening to it with their kids. And so I feel like this is an era that is never gonna go away, because people have been passing it down to their children. And you see 8-year-olds in the audience dancing to 'Hound Dog' or something, and they don't really know who Elvis is, but they do because grandma loved Elvis. You know what I mean? So it's like they're getting to experience this as well. It's pretty cool to be able to sing these songs and be a part of hearing and watching people enjoy this music.

What are some of the other songs that people will recognize when they see this show?
They'll recognize 'Blue Suede Shoes,' 'Hound Dog,' 'See You Later, Alligator,' 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On,' 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'I Walk the Line,' 'Folsom Prison Blues'... I'm trying to think of what else... I know every song, I'm in the show! 'Long Tall Sally,' 'That's All Right'... Honestly when I first started the show I didn't know all the songs. I knew of them, or pretty much had heard them at least once or twice, but there's a lot of famous ones in there.

You mentioned you've been in this show a while. This is a role that you were actually able to originate, correct?
Yes.

And so how has it been different for you to be in shows that you did not get to originate the role, where other people have played the character before, as opposed to being able to make up or create this new person?
This was very different from the beginning, obviously, because I think we all, including the director and the producers when we first started it, they had done two smaller productions but they considered the Chicago cast to be the original cast because we all had kind of started from scratch. It was kind of like ok this is where we're going to start from. I feel like we were all trying to figure out who Dyanne was because it's an interesting role because she was loosely based off of this woman, but they didn't have a lot of information on the woman at the time. So to me, I just kind of read the script, went through it, kind of thought about what I wanted to do. I watched movies, I watched 50s movies. I wanted to be able to walk like this woman, talk like this woman, act like a woman of the 50s. Kind of knowing her background and her place, I know that sounds so terrible saying "knowing her place, but I just started doing my own research of a woman of the 50s and also a woman who would be one with Elvis Presley, even though he was a new star, and also someone he could bring and be able to have hanging with seven other guys, or six other guys in a room in Memphis where she's not from. I kind of thought, what kind of woman would this be? She'd be confident, she'd be able to hold her own, you know she'd be laid back, she'd be fun, and I brought those kind of qualities to the role. So far I guess it's working, and in the meantime they did find her, and it was like some of my suspicions about her came true. She didn't rely on the fact that she was there to make her whole life. She went on. She actually has said she doesn't really remember it, like being there. She remembers it, but it wasn't such a significant moment in her life that it changed everything. You know she didn't write books, she didn't make a movie, she didn't base her life on the fact that she was there that night, which a lot of women might have.

I guess to her she was just going to hang out with the guys.
Exactly. Like hanging out with a group like you would if you were going to a party with some people and they just decided to pull out some guitars and sing and hang out. You'd just be like oh yeah I was totally there, it was fun. You know? And that's kind of been her attitude, which is so interesting to me. I unfortunately have not had the chance to meet her. I would love to meet her. I just thought, what an interesting lady, what a cool lady that she didn't make a big deal of the fact that she was there. And she has stuff at home that no one has see like a napkin that Elvis had written her a note on, and pictures of her with him and other people. I'm sure her family had all seen it and she was like oh yeah when I was with Elvis this once and had this great story, but she didn't make this huge thing about it. And versus other roles it's like you have so many resources to know that you have to play it a certain way, and that usually most musicals the director will come in and they're very specific about it and they want to keep the show the way it has always been, and you just kind of have to fall into that, and you're directed that way, and that's fine and that's how it's always been. But, this was more of a process of learning who this woman was.

So with this show, you've been travelling. You've done the US tour, but you've also travelled internationally. How have audiences differed in their responses to the show?
We've actually only gone to Japan and Canada. In Japan, it was crazy. We played there for three weeks. We played in Tokyo and Osaka, and I'm talking like not only is the show sold out but there are fans waiting for you before the show by the stage door and then after the show almost everyone wants to wait and see you. They would do this thing where, like not every night every character would come out, but they'd bring like three or four people out there every night. They had a little stage in the lobby and a backdrop of just the name of the theater and the show, and you would walk up and literally just wave. People would be snapping... and I'm talking like hundreds of thousands of people waiting just to see you wave... and they would take pictures of you and tell you that they loved you. They were the most generous, kind-hearted people I've ever met in my life. I'm telling you, the audiences here are the same way. The response of this show has been unanimous throughout everywhere we've played. Everyone leaves and they're in a great mood, they're on a high because it's a feel good show. It's got its dramatic moments, but at the end of the day, at the end of the show you leave feeling energized and you want more. Most people say oh I didn't want it to end, or I can't believe that... because we don't have an intermission in the show, so we kind of drive straight through... and people are like oh my god I wanted more, I wanted more! Usually sometimes you're like oh I've got to go to the bathroom, and most people are like... they don't want to leave, which is really great. It's a really great response. So that kind of has been the same, it was magnified a little more in Japan, but here people wait afterwards and want your autograph or they're just thrilled in general. When you see them in the street, or you see them at a restaurant they just come over and they're so excited or they're coming to see the show and they've heard so much about it and they can't wait. So it definitely feels really good to be a part of something like that when people are just so excited and so happy to be able to witness it.

Since there is so much music in the show, and there is no intermission, what is the style of the show? Is it more of a concert feel, or does it feel like you're at the theatre?
It's more of a jam session. It's interesting the way it unveils. It unveils the same way that, how I kind of explained to you in the beginning, how it was Carl Perkins' session with Jerry Lee Lewis, so it's like... it starts off with all the guys playing and then as the story unfolds you meet Jerry Lee Lewis, then you meet Carl Perkins, then you meet Johnny Cash, then you meet Elvis and Dyanne, and then the story kind of goes from there. And we all stay in the room. There are very few times that people leave, but it's kind of like telling about these guys and stuff that was going on at the time and music. So it's like there are little side scenes where people are... there's a little bit of drama. There's this conflict over the fact that 'Blue Suede Shoes' was written by Carl, but Elvis ended up doing it and he became more famous doing it. There's some conflict because a couple of the guys are in the midst of starting to become more famous and Sun [Records] was a great starting point for them, but bigger record houses are wanting them. So there's a little of that conflict as well. So it's definitely... there's not really a concert because it's like a scene happens and then it goes into a song. It's kind of hard to explain, actually, because it's not like we talk and say oh let's do this song. It's not like that but, there's a little bit of that sometimes because that's kind of how it would've been. So there's a little bit more of a story being told during the show, and then there's songs that are kind of thrown in to help tell the story. So it's a little mix of both. And in the end there's... at the end end... there's a like an encore, and that is definitely concert style. But that is at the end.

It kind of sounds like the way... and there's not really a way to compare the two shows because they're two different groups of people, and different time periods, and different styles of music... but, it sounds like it's the same sort of way that JERSEY BOYS flows, where they're telling the story and then you get the songs. You see how they developed the song and then they sing it, so you see the situation they were in and what the song is about.
Exactly. Exactly. People say a lot oh this reminds me of JERSEY BOYS or something, and they're both really great shows. They're similar and not similar at the same time. You're exactly right. It's still telling a story and then going oh my god and when we were all out this happened, and then there's a song that happens to go along with that time. And it's sort of like that. I don't know if you've ever seen THE Buddy Holly STORY musical. It's similar in that way, too. They tell the story by like this song happened and that sort of thing. Ours is a little different because it's not going through their chronological time. You know what I mean? It's more like telling about this night or this time period of these guys in one night, and then through song. But, it is very similar.

Are there any major themes or lessons that develop from this show that reflect the time period?
Oh, definitely. That was a time where you were able to take somebody else's song and make it your own. And, not like the way we do now where there's copyright infringement. There wasn't that then. It was like, Carl Perkins put out 'Blue Suede Shoes' and I'm pretty sure it was either "The Colonel" or someone had heard it and wanted Elvis to do it, and he was like oh yeah ok I'll do this song. It was like and now all of a sudden you know that song as Elvis singing that song even though Carl Perkins was the one who wrote it and sang it first. At the time there was a lot of that happening where people were just, not stealing, but taking songs from other people and then making it and then they would become the more popular version. A lot of times that was happening with black artists. Black artists would be putting the songs out first, and then white artists would be taking those songs and doing something different to them and then that would become the version that most people knew. I think more... there's not really a lesson... but you learn a little bit about the history of that time period and music at that time and what was happening. And you just get to learn a little bit about Sun Records and what was going on at Sun, and what Sam Phillips was doing and the way he was recording. You get kind of a lesson in those four guys and Sun Studios.

To wrap this up, I would like you to give me... If you could describe the show in three words, what would those three words be?
Hahahaha. Three words. Hmmm. Electric, mind-blowing, fun.

This electric, mind-blowing, and fun show opens at the Mahalia Jackson Theater on April 16, 2013, and runs through April 21, 2013. For tickets and more information, please visit www.mahaliajacksontheater.com or call the box office at (504) 287-0351.

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