Whole lotta shakin' going on in Saguaro City's 'Million Dollar Quartet'
Elvis has entered the building.
OK, not that Elvis.
But 23-year-old Colton Sims sure struck a pretty convincing pose as the iconic King of Rock 'N' Roll in Saguaro City Music Theatre 's production of the jukebox musical "Million Dollar Quartet."
At the opening performance Friday, Oct. 4, at Berger Performing Arts Center, Sims showed us the Elvis most in the audience had only seen in grainy black and white archival footage.
Sims plays young Elvis, a half-life away from his Vegas jumpsuit days. He was suave, but not cocky, and that voice and those dance moves — the little knee jerk that once upon a rock fantasy made young girls faint and TV censors nervous; Sims owned that like it was part of his DNA.
That's what made Saguaro City's production so much fun. The cast director Drew Humphrey assembled convincingly took us into that hallowed December night in 1956 when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins found themselves jamming at Sam Phillips' Sun Records in Memphis.
Throughout 22 iconic songs — "Who Do You Love," "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Hear You Knocking," "Hound Dog" and so many more — those characters came to life.
Tucsonan Tyler Wright's wheel-and-deal hitmaker Phillips, desperately betting on a scrappy kid from Louisiana to save his musical fortunes, was the perfect balance of sympathetic and pathetic. We felt for him that his boys were abandoning him for RCA and Columbia, but we also could see that for Phillips, it was about proving he knew more than those big-money-label guys.
We could see the Man in Black in Michael D. Potter's Johnny Cash, from his soulful baritone and Arkansas drawl to the way he played his guitar, one arm higher and near rigid as he strode, posture perfect, across the stage. When he announced, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" in that deep, whiskey-smooth voice, it was as if the man himself was standing on the Berger stage.
Tarif Pappus's Perkins had the perfect balance of youthful optimism and resentment as he struggled to recover from Elvis stealing his one hit "Blue Suede Shoes," while Lewis (Wyatt Andrew Brownell) knocked him at every turn.
Brownell brought out the good, bad and distasteful from his character, who turned early rock music on its head. He was borderline annoying as he and Perkins traded insults, channeling everything we loved and hated about the controversial yet consequential Lewis. He banged on the piano with the same intensity as Lewis and summoned his trademark ecstatic vocal performance.
The big mystery in the room was Dyanne (Tucsonan Crystal Stark), Elvis's Vegas showgirl girlfriend. Stark, whose powerhouse voice we have come to know and love over the years, delivered the perfect balance of sex appeal and small-town girl next door. We got to see glimpses of Dyanne, but we never really figure out who she was or where she was headed.
"Million Dollar Quartet" continues Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 20, at the Berger, 1200 W. Speedway, on the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind campus. For tickets, visit saguarocity.org .
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at . On Twitter
Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community.
Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
