Million Dollar Quartet

The new musical Million Dollar Quartet in London tells the electrifying story of the night in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together to make music and ended up making history.

"A buoyant new musical that whips the crowd into a frenzy with blast after blast of explosive vitality" The New York Times

The musical Million Dollar Quartet is inspired by the actual event that took place on 4 December 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions - ever. The session was organised by Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips who brought together four musicians he had discovered over the previous few years. Million Dollar Quartet is the story of that jam session - it's a story of fame, friendship, discovery, divided loyalties, professional jealousy and incredible music as four of the music industry's most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, made music together for the first and only time in their careers.

"A dazzling, raucous spectacle that sounds like a million buck!" New York Magazine

Featuring over 20 classic hit songs including Blue Suede Shoes, I Walk The Line, Hound Dog and Great Balls of Fire (final song list subject to clearance).

"If you've seen Jersey Boys or Buddy, you'll know the score. Million Dollar Quartet is another jolly jukebox musical that charts one legendary afternoon in December 1956 when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley gathered in a recording studio in Memphis and made music - and rock 'n' roll history... In the high-voltage encore, the boys don spangled tuxedos and the audience parties, dancing to later numbers including Hound Dog, Riders In the Sky and See You Later Alligator. Formulaic but fun if you like that sort of thing." The Mail on Sunday

"Wildly entertaining!" Hollywood Reporter

Million Dollar Quartet, with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, will be staged in London's West End by the original New York Broadway creative team including director Eric Schaeffer, with scenic designs by Derek McLane, costume designs by Jane Greenwood, lighting by Howell Binkley and sound by Kai Harada. Million Dollar Quartet was originally directed and conceived by Floyd Mutrux.

Born in East Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) was 13 years old when he and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After his high school graduation, Elvis took odd jobs working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver for Crown Electric Company. A demo with the Memphis Recording Service helped to propel Presley to stardom, developing a fan following as one of the nation’s first rockabilly performers. While his roots were country, Presley was equally versatile in other genres with songs that reflected gospel, blues, ballad and pop styles.

Johnny Cash (1932 - 2003) was one of the most popular country and western singers of the 20th century with a career spanning over fifty years and a repertoire of songs that included folk, gospel, blues, rockabilly, rock and roll and alternative rock. His compassion for the down trodden, the criminal, 'the ones who are held back' was reflected in his tales of crime, persecution, and redemption which he delivered in a deep, gravelly voice filled with conviction.

Carl Lee Perkins (1932 - 1998) was born in Tiptonville, Tennessee, as the son of a poor tenant farmer. Influenced by the southern gospel music that surrounded him, Perkins was playing a guitar his father made from a cigar box, broomstick and baling wire by the time he was seven years of age. Sixteen years later he would convince Sam Phillips of Sun Records to sign him. In 1956, a desperately poor and struggling Perkins wrote the song 'Blue Suede Shoes' on an old potato sack. Produced by Sam Phillips, the record was a massive hit in both the United States and England making it the first record by a Sun label artist to sell a million copies.

Born in 1935, Jerry Lee Lewis was a child prodigy on the piano and played his first nightclub engagement at the age of 13. Lewis approached all of the Nashville record companies hoping for a recording contract without luck. Nashville studios told him they could only sign him if he were to play guitar instead of the piano. After hearing about the small independent studio in Memphis that had launched the career of Elvis Presley, Lewis made the trek to Sun Records. Within a year, Lewis also known by his self-dubbed title 'The Killer', had sold more records than any artist in Sun Records history, including Elvis Presley.

In 1986, Carl Perkins returned to Sun Studios in Memphis, joining Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison on the album 'Class of '55.' The record was a tribute to their early years at Sun and, specifically, the Million Dollar Quartet jam session involving Perkins, Presley, Cash, and Lewis on 4 December 1956.

Million Dollar Quartet in London at the Noel Coward Theatre previewed from 8 February 2011 and opened on 28 February 2011 and closes on 14 January 2012.