On a cold December night in 1956, Memphis’ Sun Records hosted the recording session of the century in its storefront studio. Four young and extraordinarily talented musicians, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, gathered together for a jam session. Still in their early 20s at the time, they would each go on to change the course of musical history, helping to usher in the dawn of rock and roll. The story of this legendary night is the inspiration for the Tony-Award wining musical, The Million Dollar Quartet (MDQ).
At the time of the session, all four musicians were signed to Sun Records, the label owned and operated by fabled producer and talent scout, Sam Phillips. Known as “the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Phillips launched the careers of Presley, Cash and Howlin’ Wolf, as well as many other influential R&B artists of the time. While many of the exact details of the actual recording session are lost to time, that once-in-a-lifetime musical gathering was the perfect springboard for MDQ book co-authors, Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. MDQ reimagines that magical night, weaving a poignant, entertaining and often funny tale with a world-class songbook featuring iconic tunes like “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Great Balls of Fire”, “Hound Dog” and “Walk the Line”.
MDQ premiered at Seaside Music Theatre in Daytona Beach in 2006 before breaking box office records at the Village Theater in Seattle the following year. It has been performed on Broadway and London’s West End, and the musical continues to sell out shows in Chicago, where it opened in 2008.
Rockabilly artist Chuck Mead is the creative force behind MDQ’s musical arrangements. While this was Mead’s first foray into the world of musical theater, as a singer, songwriter and producer, Mead is no stranger to the music business. Co-founder and frontman of the three-time Grammy-nominated and Country Music Association Award-winning alt-country band BR-549, Mead brought the perfect combination of talent and experience to the task. Mead crafted the musical arrangements for the first MDQ productions and supervised the musical performances for the 2008 Chicago opening. He also created new material for the shows Broadway, London and Las Vegas productions.
A random phone call from Mead’s friend Escott resulted in the musician’s jump from honky tonk touring to musical theater. Although Mead didn’t have any experience with musicals at that time, he was very familiar with the music. “I just acted like a record producer,” he recalls. “I can do that. I can put these guys together and make them a band.”
All of the music in MDQ is performed live. “All the music is made right there on stage,” Mead explains. “There’s nobody behind the scenes; there are no tracks or anything anybody is playing to. It’s all music that is actually happening.” Because of this, no two performances are exactly the same. “We capture the sprit of what’s happening…If we played it the exact same way every night, it would suck the rock and roll right out of it. This thing is alive and breathing, and I think that’s a big appeal of it all, too.”
For Mead, working with the MDQ cast was like rehearsing with his own band. “I felt like it was natural. It was just putting it into a context of a longer narrative, and putting in songs to underscore and help move the plot along.” Mead even helped with some of the casting. “Because I have to work with these guys to be able to make them play in the rockabilly vernacular,” Mead laughs. “It’s basically rockabilly 101.”
Choosing which songs to include was a challenge. “Well, you know we really needed the iconic songs,” Mead explains. While some of the songs in MDQ weren’t actually performed during that 1956 session, the musical includes many that were. “We play a lot of the songs they did, ‘Peace in the Valley’ and ‘Down by the Riverside,’” Mead notes. “’Blue Suede Shoes’ is sort of the catalyst for all of it. I mean that was the million-seller for Carl Perkins.”
Mead believes audiences are drawn to the music and the story alike. “This music is the inception of rock and roll, really,” he comments. “Down there in Memphis where you’ve got the blues influence, the country influence, the show tunes and the traveling minstrel shows, it all kind of coagulated right there, and it was an explosion. It was very forward thinking, very progressive.”
Mead has thoroughly enjoyed his time working on MDQ. “It’s a great job to have, and I hope I get to do more theater,” he comments. He’s grateful for the opportunity. “It’s tremendous. I couldn’t be more thankful. I’ve met a lot of really great people, and I’ve learned a whole lot. That’s pretty much what life’s all about, isn’t it,” Mead concludes.
Reprinted with permission from Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Intermission Magazine.
