SAUGATUCK, Mich.–Million Dollar Quartet is a music and rock-and-roll history lover’s kind of show. This jukebox musical is a celebration of the early days of rock and roll, and one particularly unique and magical day and jam session in which legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together and rocked out under the direction of Sam Phillips in Memphis’s humble ramshackle Sun Studios where they all got their start.

It has just enough storytelling and variation to keep it interesting and to take it beyond a mere hit parade, and as Mason Street Warehouse’s 14th season opener, it makes the place feel like a high-energy stadium show.

The show is a triumph. Director Kurt Stamm brings together a phenomenal cast and crew to recreate a historical moment, while also putting on a live concert from a killer cover band with each performance.

Every actor on stage is a brilliant musician in his own right; they’re not only singing but playing their instruments live while also creating distinct characters effectively reminiscent of the men they portray physically, vocally, and energetically.

Justin Figueroa is a deep, brooding Johnny Cash, with a wonderful bass; Shawn Platzker’s Carl Perkins is righteously indignant and plays some mean rockabilly on the electric guitar; Joe Carroll gets Elvis’s moves and spoken voice especially well; and James Scheider, also responsible for assistant music direction, is a knockout as Jerry Lee Lewis, capturing his cockiness and ebullience with delight while also recreating his spectacularly acrobatic piano playing. His strawberry blond curls bob as he leaps, spins, kicks and otherwise plays his little heart out.

Alex Hamel is a great percussionist as Fluke, and Chris Blissett plays stand-up bass as Brother Jay, and is a terrific presence in addition to providing astounding music direction.

Bryan McElroy is an ideal narrator as a warm, relaxed, utterly southern Sam Phillips. Jillian Slade plays a sultry vivacious Dyanne, and holds her own with sexy renditions of “Fever” and “I Hear You Knockin,” while adding a feminine flair with her dancing and back up singing.

Crucial to making these historical figures convincing are excellent lights, sound, set, and costumes. Jennifer Kules’s lights, mostly in reds and blues, shift with each number and delineate changes between music and action, establishing the impressive rock concert feel. Despite a few opening night mic issues, sound designer Joshia McCammon creates balanced and often enormous sound and impressive effects for Phillips’ voice emerging from behind the glass of the sound booth. Jeremy Barnett’s set makes the audience feel as if they’re in the studio with these guys. And Darlene Veenstra’s costumes are just about perfect. From Elvis’s black and white wing tips and white pleated and cuffed wide-leg trousers that maximize his hip shaking and knee bending to Johnny Cash’s all-black western wear, the clothes, in large part, make each man.

The music includes recognizable hits such as “I Walk the Line,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “That’s Alright Mama,” and “Great Balls of Fire,” as well as beautiful renditions of lesser known country and gospel tunes, notably “Peace in the Valley” with gorgeous harmonies, creating a balanced set of highs and lows that mirror the mood of the background including each character’s humble beginnings, where they’re headed, and the ostensible fate of Sun Studios.

It is to the credit of book authors Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux that the show acknowledges the tensions between these musicians, with a nod to their struggles in life beyond music and the under appreciated role of Sam Phillips in discovering and creating a seismic shift in popular music. The writers also capture a significant layer of the story–the racist underbelly of rock and roll’s roots; that white folks straight-up stole from an African American tradition, and repackaged and repurposed it for white audiences who didn’t yet want to see black performers on stage.

Million Dollar Quartet is really not about righting the wrongs of history. It’s about putting on a thrilling show of feel good music played with tremendous skill and energy. This production gets the audience up and out of their seats moving and grooving. At this musical there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on.

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