Million Dollar Quartet is the newest show staged at the Noel Coward theatre in London.
The musical tells the true story of how Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together and made history in music.
Due to an impromptu jam session back in December 1956, the name ‘million dollar quartet’ was given as these 4 biggest music industry talents got together to record in The Sun Record Studios in Memphis Tennessee. They made music together for the first time and only time in their careers. Elvis Presley and his then girlfriend, Marilyn Evans, took a detour through Memphis, to take a drive past Sun Records Studios. He saw a jam session was taking place, and boss of the label Sam Phillips let Elvis in to join the other 3 friends whom Sam had discovered.
With each of the stars singing and playing whatever entered their heads, a new super group was created.
They went on to produce some of the world’s most classic rock n roll hits 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 In The Valley, I Walk The Line, I Hear You Knocking, Great Balls Off Fire, Honey Don't, Hound Dog, Riders In The Sky, See You Later Alligator and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.
The stage musical was a huge success in the USA. It first premiered in Florida and then in Seattle in 2007 and it broke box office records. The Goodman Theatre in Chicago saw the production run for 1 month in 2008, and was then transferred in October 2008 to Apollo Theater in Chicago. After a great success in USA including Broadway, the stage musical opened in London’s west end in February 2011, where it is still running at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Million Dollar Quartet has received positive reviews since its opening in February, with ‘must see’ comments given from newspapers and London theatre guides.
Current cast members include Bill Ward as Sam Phillips, Ben Goddard as Jerry Lee Lewis and Michael Malarkey as Elvis Presley. If you want to visit the show, the Noel Coward theatre is centrally located with closest tube station being Leicester Square, right in the heart of the west end.
With glitzy sparkling jackets, and those blue suede shoes, Million Dollar Quartet is a rock n roll hit that should not be missed..

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