There’s a good chance you’re familiar with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s upcoming production “Million Dollar Quartet,” but if you’re not, you definitely know the characters. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins take the stage bringing to life a night at Sun Records studio in 1956 that brought all four musical greats into one place and resulted in a pure rock ‘n’ roll magic.
Ahead of opening night, we sat down with the show’s stars to learn about this incredible night in music history and why attendees should come prepared with their dancing shoes.
Opening night for “Million Dollar Quartet” is Wednesday, Sept. 4. For tickets and more information, click here.
How would you describe this show to someone who maybe doesn’t know the premise?
Bill Scott Sheets: I play Johnny Cash. They say it’s a jukebox musical, but it’s more of a rock ‘n’ roll play. It’s a play with music. You have all the early rock ‘n’ rollers making music and we’re a band on a stage and we’re our own orchestra and that kind of stuff. So a play with music.
Skye Scott: I play Carl Perkins. We like to fondly refer to it as a band with lines. The play itself is about a true event that happened on Dec. 4 in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins were all in Sun Studios for a brief amount of time that night. Sam Phillips, who owned the company and was the producer for Sun, decided to hit record, call the press and take a photo that kind of captured this historical event on tape. So that album actually exists and we tell the mostly true story — the timeline is slightly out of context — but we go through the events of that night. And we get to know about these guys and their journey. It’s basically the story of Sam Phillips. He’s kind of the hero of our play.
What drew you guys to this show?
Brandyn Day: I play Jerry Lee Lewis. What drew me to the show was kind of the ability to play my instrument and also be a musical theater actor. I went to a musical theater school, that’s what my degree is in, and all four years of college I was always being the piano player for all my friends who needed to rehearse. So I started doing these cabaret gigs where I accompanied myself and also sang. At that time, the show was just right in the middle of its Broadway run. And it was on my radar. But I’ll be honest, I didn’t really seek out this show in a “That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life” thing. It kind of just fell into my lap and I’m super grateful and lucky for that to have happened.
Trent Rowland: I play Elvis Presley. I could kind of say the same thing. It kind of fell into my lap, too. I just sent in a tape for this one day and then by some miracle they decided to cast me. I was like ‘Oh, wow. Elvis in a musical? That’ll probably be fun.’ Then it wasn’t really until I got into rehearsals for the first one that I realized the depth that was involved and really getting involved in the family that is this production of this show. It’s been a joy. It really has.
BSS: The first time I saw it was back in 2015. Skye was actually doing the tour through Tulsa. So I thought that and said, ‘Wait a minute, I can be Johnny Cash in a musical?’ I’d been listening to him my whole life. It just kind of worked out. I auditioned for it and nailed it.
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SS: They show is kind of unique because there are very few shows where people and playing and singing just rock ‘n’ roll and everything you see on stage is being created in that moment. I was in New York at the time and I was seeing posters and billboards for the show. And I looked like one of the guys. All my friends were like ‘Hey man, you play. You should audition for that.’ It is interesting how the industry draws you to certain projects and you end up having a journey with them for many, many years. I think the music is kind of what brought all of us to this show because we all play everything live.
BSS: It’s like being in a band rather than a musical.
SS: And I like to say often that there’s no safety net. If you happen to be in the audience when there’s a piano key breaks or guitar strings break, you’ll witness all of how we handle that live.
Tell me a little about your character in this production and what you love about getting to play them on stage?
SS: The play takes place back to the story line. It was a Carl Perkins recording session that Jerry Lee was the pianist that Sam had hired to play with Carl. Carl played in a three-piece band and Sam was looking for a different sound for him. So Jerry Lee is there. That energy kind of starts the play. It’s fun for me, because the whole story — although all these guys walk in — it’s kind of Carl’s journey. I’m like can we get back to this record I’m trying to make? And one of the best parts is that I get to play all the best guitar licks I’ve ever gotten to play on stage, off stage, any gig. I get to play all the famous solos from all of these records, which is pretty neat. But I also get to wear the blue suede shoes.
BSS: As far as Cash goes, this is really the beginning of his career. He came to Sam in the very first of ‘55 and only had a couple of tunes throughout this year. This was right after “Walk The Line” was a big smash success so Johnny is just starting to find his way being a performer and thinking about where he’s going to go from Sun. I’ll just leave it at that. He’s at the start of his career before he becomes the Man in Black.
BD: The thing about Jerry Lee in this production specifically, is that he’s truly a nobody in this story. Like Skye said, he’s just a hired hand for Sam Phillips in this show. Because of the drama and the creative license that we have, we go from one night — Jerry Lee’s like third night at Sun Records — to oh, he wrote this song “Great Balls of Fire” in one night when really it was more like 18 months. Jerry Lee is kind of the unrefined one of these four guys. None of them are truly established at all. Elvis kind of has some celebrity, but he’s not a mega, mega-star yet. But Jerry Lee is truly, truly no one. And I think that’s what’s really cool about this show. You see everybody before they were stars.
TR: At the start of the show, Elvis is starting to become kind of famous. But he’s still only 21 years old. There’s kind of this longing for the way things used to be because his life has kind of whisked him away into a certain direction that although it’s exciting, it’s unfamiliar and it’s scary. He’s still a pretty young kid. There’s a tendency to play Elvis like a tribute artist, but I would rather play Elvis really as an actor and really play the character. I still want to hit some of the physicality and some of the voice that people are familiar with and love, but I also want to tell the truth of where he was at the moment.
What’s it like getting into character for some of these musical greats?
TR: The hair is key.
BSS: A fifth of whiskey.
TR: Honestly, once you get that pomp up and you have your costume on, it’s really easy to get going with this show because we start out with a bang right at the top. And the music really takes ya. The music really does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. You find yourself really snappin’ back into it as soon as you start playing. Especially because we’re playing ourselves.
BD: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say, too. I don’t really have to get into character much anymore. Opening night will be my 316th show. And all of these guys have done it at least over 100 times. So we’re pretty seasoned in this. And that’s rare, I think, especially in musical theater when you’re doing it regionally if you’re not doing a tour or you’re not on Broadway that you’re doing a show that many times. Like sometimes you’ll get hired to do six weeks of “Sweeney Todd” and then you don’t do that again in your life. “Million Dollar Quartet” is like the exception to the rule.
SS: Not that we’re typecast, but a member of the production crew fondly says, “There’s a little bit of these guys in all of these guys.” Aside from playing the instruments and semi-resembling these icons, I think some of our personality traits link up with the personality traits of these individuals in some capacity. But you can’t just show up to the show and play the show. Generally, we’ll show up early and kind of jam as a band and get into the headspace of the show before whether we’re thinking about that or not. And we’re in Sun studios on the set. We’re just there.
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What do you think attendees are going to love about the show?
In unison: The music.
BSS: They’ll get to relive when they watched it the first time if they’re old enough to see it or if they grew up listening to it like I did. I wasn’t around when these guys were playin’ but I think they’ll really just get to experience it all over again, which is what we hope to do.
TR: I think people will be surprised by how effective the narrative of the drama can be, as well. I mean the music is the big thing that everyone loves the most. But I think that’s another part of the show that as time has gone on, it’s gotten stronger with each production. The tightness of it.
Is there a moment in the show that kind of resonates with you guys personally?
TR: Yes, I have one right off the top of my head. There’s a line that Sam Phillips says toward the end where he’s speaking about these rock ‘n’ roll recordings where he says, “This is where the soul of a man never dies.” I always really like that because it’s like fossilizing a piece of their soul in these recordings.
BD: I second that. That’s a really good one.
What is your favorite song in the show and why?
TR: My favorite song in the show is actually a Johnny Cash song. It’s “Ghost Riders In the Sky.” It’s probably one of the most different songs in the show. There are some cool kind of theatrical moments in the song. The song’s like very epic in a way that none of the others songs are. It’s got a neat vibe. I also really like “Peace in the Valley.” That’s probably my favorite that I do.
BD: I’d say my favorite one is “Down by the Riverside.” It’s one of the acappella songs and we’re all just kind of standing around the microphone doing it all with our bodies and our voice.
BSS: Well my favorite is obviously my own songs. No, I love “I Hear Ya Knocking.” It’s just a great, great tune and Alyssa Gardner does an incredible job singing it.
SS: I get to play this bo diddley version of this song called “Who Do You Love.” It’s very different and difficult to describe. It’s almost like rap? It’s a jungle groove. It’s very cool and it has a neat guitar effect. It’s a cool guitar part to play.
BD: The last five minutes of the show are pretty awesome. If you ask me… If you ask everybody.
TR: There’s a lot of shaking going on.
BSS: The last four songs are a legends concert basically. So it’s just a concert. It’s pretty cool. We hope it gets you out of your seats. Please let people know to come rowdy and bring their dancing shoes. There’s a bar here.