'Million Dollar Quartet' among highlights of Straz Center's 2011-12 Broadways Series

PUBLICITY PHOTO “Million Dollar Quartet”

The current Broadway smash "Million Dollar Quartet," the Tony-winning revival of "La Cage Aux Folles" and 25 Anniversary production of "Les Misérables" are among highlights of 2011-12 Broadway series at Straz Center in Broadway:

The jukebox musical “Million Dollar Quartet” (Jan. 3-8, 2012) opened on Broadway to strong reviews last April and continues to draw large crowds at the Nederlander Theatre. Nominated for a Tony Award in the Best Musical category, it takes place in a single afternoon, Dec. 4, 1956, at the now sanctified Sun Records in Memphis.

Rock aficionados will recognize the date as when, largely by chance, rock and country gods Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley participated in a holy jam session. The Perkins, and then Presley, hit “Blue Suede Shoes,” Cash’s famed “Folsom Prison Blues” and Lewis’ sizzling “Great Balls of Fire” are among the numerous, pioneering popular songs in the production.

“It’s four of the greatest talents in music history getting together and an event that actually happened,” said Straz Center Vice President of Marketing Michael Kilgore. “The people who wrote the book researched this and talked to (Sun owner/record producer) Sam Phillips to get the true story of those four legends interacting.”

Levis Kreis won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical last year for his fiery portrayal of Lewis.

“Jerry Lee Lewis was on his way up and, in my mind, steals the show,” Kilgore continued. “He was the brash newcomer basically telling the others he was going to as big, or bigger, than them.”

Click to read entire piece, running in A&E section of today's Herald.