ST. LOUIS — Memphis Tennessee. December the 4th, 1956. The king of rockabilly, Carl Perkins, had a recording session scheduled at Sun Records.
"He was going to lay down Matchbox and it's going to be Carl Session and Jerry. Jerry Lee was just playing on it." When Sun Records music producer, Sam Phillips, heard Elvis was in town he gave the Memphis icon a call.
"He knew Elvis was going to be here. He was like, well, I better not miss this chance. I'll get Johnny Cash over here, too, and have just four amazing talents in the studio. And that led to know one of the most famous pictures ever with the four of them - kind of leaning over the piano and, you know, hence the Million Dollar Quartet," said Brady Wease.
Wease plays Jerry Lee Lewis in the the latest production from STAGES St. Louis: Million Dollar Quartet. "He's kind of young and scrappy, hungry, and just wants to be seen and respected as well as these guys are respected," Wease said.
Johnny Cash is portrayed by Scott Moreau, and let’s just say he is no stranger than the bass-baritone icon. "It'll be 1200 at the end of the month. Well, October 1st will be my 12 hundredth performance," Moreau said.
You heard that right! While this is each member of the foursomes STAGES Debut, they are Million Dollar Quartet veterans. Between the four, combined, they have done the show an estimated 2000 times!
"With any real person that you play, first and foremost, what you're looking for is truth and accuracy. My job isn't just to come out here and be a guy who sings low and bring myself to the role. I bring a little bit of myself to a role, but my job really is to pay tribute in homage to Johnny, but to really bring his his spirit to the stage and be as accurate with everything as I possibly can," Moreau explained.
Which means watching countless hours of interviews, tours, concerts videos, reading books, listening to recordings. And Scott, well he’s been diving into the life of Johnny for over 25 years!
"I was working in a record store in my native state of Maine, and a buddy of mine that I was working with was like, Well, I'm going to play you something and I think you'll enjoy it. And I was like, Okay, what is it? He said, Johnny Cash. And I said, I don't really like country music, so I don't think I'm going to dig it. So, he put on he put on American, too, is what the album is called, Unchained and. We listen to it in the store. I fell in love with it. I bought it when I left that day." Which sparked an obsession for Scott, and he’s been transforming into Johnny ever since.
"The musicianship is off the charts. The guys in this, I mean, we all work as a band. And so, you know, we've all been doing this a long time. We bring all of our strengths together and create this band and play," Moreau said.
Don’t miss out on your chance to go back in time with the Million Dollar Quartet!
"By the end of the show, you'll be up on your feet dancing, screaming, shouting, you know, just having a grand old time, and that's that's what we want," Wease said.
You can catch Million Dollar Quartet at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center until October, 8.
For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit stagesstlouis.org.
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THIS ARTICLE INVOLVES COMMERCIAL CONTENT SPONSORED BY STAGES ST. LOUIS. THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FEATURED APPEAR AS PAID ADVERTISING. FOR MORE INFORMATION, EMAIL US AT SMSL@KSDK.COM.
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