Million Dollar Quartet
There was no plan for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins to record together on December 4, 1956, but as fate would have it, they did and left behind a historic and mind-blowing album.
Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. Original Concept and Direction by Floyd Mutrux. Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
There was no plan for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins to record together on December 4, 1956, but as fate would have it, they did and left behind a historic and mind-blowing album. Million Dollar Quartet tells that story, with all the raw energy and monumental talent you’ve come to expect from these music giants.
It all begins in the Sun Records recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Up and comer Jerry Lee Lewis is recording songs with rockabilly king Carl Perkins when already iconic Elvis Presley stops by the studio with his girlfriend. The not-quite-yet-a-guitar-god Johnny Cash is there to pay a visit to music manager Sam Phillips. Throw them all together and you have one of the most unexpected, unprecedented and unforgettable musical moments in history. It was the first and only time they played together and, through their musical genius, created an explosive album that has yet to be matched.
Nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical and a win for Best Supporting Actor, Million Dollar Quartet features some of the biggest and best songs of all time, including “Peace in the Valley,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” “Hound Dog” and “Great Balls of Fire.” This is the show that ran in Chicago from 2008 to 2016 and spanned more than 2,500 performances. Critics called it “the most exuberant theatrical event,” “dazzling from first beat to last” and “the best live rock ‘n’ roll show I have ever seen.” It is the third longest-running show in Chicago theatre history and the Paramount is about to do its production of it. Be there.
Opening Night
Behind the Scenes
Meet the Team
Jim Corti ‡
Director
Paramount Theatre’s Artistic Director and 8-time Jeff Award winner
Cast
Adam Wesley Brown *
Carl Perkins
making Paramount Theatre debut
Kavan Hashemian *
Elvis Presley
making Paramount Theatre debut
Gavin Rohrer *
Jerry Lee Lewis
making Paramount Theatre debut
Bill Scott Sheets *
Johnny Cash
making Paramount Theatre debut
Courtney Mack *
Dyanne
previously in Mamma Mia!
Zach Lentino *
Brother Jay
making Paramount Theatre debut
Scott Simon *
Fluke
making Paramount Theatre debut
Nicholas Harazin *
Sam Phillips
making Paramount Theatre debut
Ethan Deppe
u/s Fluke
Michael Kurowski *
u/s Jerry Lewis
previously in Once and understudy in Million Dollar Quartet
Kent M. Lewis *
u/s Johnny Cash, u/s Sam Phillips
making Paramount Theatre debut
Doug Pawlik *
u/s Elvis Presley
previous understudy in Million Dollar Quartet and in Route 66 at the Copley Theatre
Jessie Pinnick
u/s Dyanne
making Paramount Theatre debut
Jake Saleh *
u/s Brother Jay
making Paramount Theatre debut
Zachary Stevenson *
u/s Carl Perkins
making Paramount Theatre debut
* indicates member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)
† indicates member of United Scenic Artists (USA)
‡ indicates member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)
Paramount Theatre wins 2 Jeff Awards
We are honored and humbled to have won 2 Jeff Awards at this year’s ceremony for the 2017/2018 Season. Each year is an amazing ride, and we’re so grateful we get to produce live theater for a living. To see it rewarded like this is always the cherry on top of the sundae. We’d like to congratulate not only our Paramount Family members that were nominated and that received Jeffs, but those from fellow theaters. The arts are important. They always have been. They broaden horizons. They foster empathy. They uncover the humanity in all of us. They are truly the ties that bind. Finally, we’d like to say thank you to you. Theater is nothing without an audience. Through the years your cheers, standing ovations, criticism and compliments have helped us become the theater we are today. We couldn’t have done it without you. THANK YOU!
AND THE WINNERS ARE…
Million Dollar Quartet
Performer in a Supporting Role — Musical: Gavin Rohrer
Elf
Projection Design — Joseph A. Burke
Written by Paramount Artistic Director Jim Corti
Welcome to Paramount! Let’s blast off into Season Seven of our Broadway Series with the one, the only, Million Dollar Quartet! It’s not often you get to see a show based on an actual event and certainly not like this. On the night of December 4, 1956, in their early 20’s, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley made Rock ‘n’ Roll history. Sam Phillips, record producer, talent scout and founder of Sun Records, owned and operated Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, and with these born-poor, southern, country boys, created a new music that took hold of America and hasn’t let go since. You are about to see a behind-the-scenes, insider’s look at the business, hardships, egos and vulnerabilities that connected them to each other and the music that made their fortunes.
You’ll experience a spectacular, full-on jam session of their individual genius and their chart-topping sound, influenced by rockabilly, gospel, African-American spirituals and rhythm and blues.
This wild, exuberant blast-from-the-past holds poignancy and power as we take a look back at these young artists at the very start of their meteoric careers. In this depiction of the first and only time Sam and his boys were all together, Sam muses, “Then the guys go home, and I’m here by myself. I spin the tapes back and listen…and I think, ‘My god, this is where the soul of a man never dies.’” Rock on!
