New musical about Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins opens on Broadway in April

November 3, 6:37 PMDC Art Travel ExaminerMarsha Dubrow

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Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash in their famed 1956 jam session.
Courtesy Library of Congress

"Million Dollar Quartet", a new musical about the one and only jam session of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins, will open on Broadway in April, the producers* announced.

The show, and the December 4, 1956 jam session at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, are dubbed "the night rock 'n' roll came alive".

The musical will come alive at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre on March 13 when previews begin in advance of the April opening.

Casting is underway for the musical filled with "Great Balls of Fire", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "Blue Suede Shoes", "That's All Right", "I Walk the Line", and other rock, gospel, R&B, and country hits of the four legendary stars.

It will be directed by DC-area's award-winning Eric Schaeffer, who co-directed "Quartet", a great balls of fire hit in Chicago for one year as of November 6.

Schaeffer told me by e-mail, “I’m thrilled that New York gets to see ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ (MDQ) as it’s a wonderful show that brings the world of rock and roll alive! We’ll continue the company running in Chicago as well. It will be an exciting time on many levels with MDQ, ‘Sweeney Todd’, and our American Musical Voices Project." 

The American Musical Voices Project, funded by a $1 million grant from the Shen Family Foundation, and Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" (February 9-April 4) are at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, where Schaeffer is the artistic director. The Signature, which he co-founded, won the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award.

Schaeffer has directed other plays on Broadway, in London, as well as in the DC area. He has won six Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Director. The Helen Hayes Awards are the Washington area's equivalent of Broadway's Tony Awards.

So is he ready for his second Tony in two years? That question he side-stepped/soft-shoed gracefully with the quote above.

*And the co-producers are: James L. Nederlander, Relevant Theatricals, John Cossette Productions, Northern Lights Inc., and Broadway Across America.