"Million" honors an amazing moment in rock

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at Sun Studio on Dec 4, 1956.

Music fans who revere the legacy of Sun (which released hit tunes on the Sun Records label) and its visionary owner, producer Sam Phillips, know that rock 'n' roll was partially invented behind the walls of the small recording facility in Memphis, Tenn. That's where, among other things, the determined Phillips pulled a synthesis of blues, country, rockabilly and gospel out of Elvis Presley for the latter's groundbreaking first releases in 1954.

Two years later, Presley was no longer with Sun. But his December visit in '56, that led to an impromptu jam session with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, was a momentous occasion — and the subject of Village Theatre's exhilarating new musical "Million Dollar Quartet."

A blend of historical fact, wistfulness and love for Phillips' revolutionary contribution to American culture, "Million Dollar Quartet" is the closest thing to wish fulfillment for anyone who has dreamed of witnessing Presley, Perkins, Lewis and Cash blend their disparate influences into an original, albeit brief, sound.

The book by Colin Escott (author of "Good Rockin' Tonight — Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll") and Floyd Mutrux (who directed a very good film about rock's infancy, "American Hot Wax," and co-directed "Quartet," along with Matt Walker) isn't a forced narrative with musical accompaniment. It's a reflection of a moment in time that also coincided with the end of Phillips' peak impact on rock's development.

The action takes place over a few hours in which the primary drama is the music itself. "Quartet" is largely a concert with various ironies unfolding in the background, conflicts no one really wants to speak of lest they spoil the day's bonhomie, but which will be addressed eventually.

"Quartet" opens on a fantasy note with Perkins (Rob Lyons) leading Presley (Dane Stokinger), Lewis (Levi Kreis) and Cash (Lance Guest) through a sizzling "Blue Suede Shoes." It takes about a minute to realize that all four performers are, in fact, playing their own instruments, a rather dazzling detail particularly regarding Lyons and Kreis, who recreate the sensational fullness of their characters' complex sound while capturing, respectively, Perkins' coiled personality and Lewis' shrewd wildness.

Stokinger's Presley isn't so much an impression as an allusion to a great artist who knows, on some level, he's already been compromised and misses the purity of Sun. Guest, who is 47 and plays Cash at 24, brings a lifetime's gravity to the Man in Black.

Matt Wolfe might have the toughest job, finding in the enigmatic and disillusioned Phillips a man who could hear the possibilities in rock 'n' roll before anyone else, but who couldn't hold onto his creation for long.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com