Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Noel Coward Theatre Million Dollar Quartet

By Charlotte Capel


A runaway success on Broadway and in Chicago, the Tony Award-winning MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET tells the particular thrilling account about the evening ELVIS PRESLEY, JOHNNY CASH, CARL PERKINS and JERRY LEE LEWIS came together to make music, and found themselves generating history. Million Dollar Quartet will be at The Noel Coward Theatre during 2011 from 8th February, 2011.

Bill Ward as Sam Phillips: Ben Goddard, Derek Hagen, Robert Britton Lyons and Michael Malarkey will play renowned music stars Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. Marilyn Evans, Presley's girlfriend in 1956, will in addition feature within the story and is to be played by Francesca Jackson.

Inspired by the actual occasion, that took place upon 4th December 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, this happy and absorbing musical is a tale of celebrity, friendship, discovery, divided loyalties, professional envy and extraordinary music and songs as 4 of the music industry's most remarkable talents, all in their creative prime, created music collectively for the very first and only time in their particular careers.

The legendary meeting had been masterminded by Sun Records' founder Sam Phillips, who uncovered all four of the musicians, and ushered Elvis Presley (and his then sweetheart) back to the recording studio which launched him to fame. Together with Sun Records' fast-rising new superstar Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, who had been still pursuing his next big success after writing and also recording Blue Suede Shoes, the 4th person in this particular unplanned 'quartet' was Phillips' latest signing, Jerry Lee Lewis.

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET features over 20 classic hits from a golden era of music including: Blue Suede Shoes, Folsom Prison Blues, Fever, Memories Are Made Of This, That's All Right, Down By the Riverside, Sixteen Tons, (There Will Be) Peace During the Valley, I Walk The Line, I Hear You Knocking, Great Balls Off Fire, Hound Dog, Riders Within the Sky, See You Later Alligator and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.

Noel Coward Theatre: Initially referred to as New Theatre, then The Albery, The Noel Coward Theatre had been built by Sir Charles and Mary Wyndham and opened up on 12th March 1903. In 1915 Dion Boucicault provided a Christmas revival of J M Barrie's Peter Pan, which, due to its popularity was repeated each year right until 1919. In addition , it staged a number of successful productions by other distinguished writers including Somerset Maugham, A A Milne, Noel Coward, Bernard Shaw, Dylan Thomas, T S Eliot and Tennessee Williams. The sixties were dominated by Lionel Bart's Oliver! which ran for 2618 performances.

A host of famous names have made an appearance on-stage at the theatre including Sir John Gielgud, Sybil Thorndike, Sir Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft and many more. In 1973 the New Theatre was renamed the Albery in tribute to the late Sir Bronson Albery who had presided over its fortunes for quite some time. The Noel Coward Theatre has witnessed productions as diverse as Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife, Children of a Lesser God by Mark Medoff, Tom Stoppard's Travesties and Willy Russell's Blood Brothers. During 2011 Million Dollar Quartet will be on the stage.




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