Rockabilly musical Million Dollar Quartet is hitting the road, with Derek Keeling as Johnny Cash, Cody Slaughter as Elvis Presley, Martin Kaye as Jerry Lee Lewis and Lee Ferris as Carl Perkins. As previously announced, the tour will kick off at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, OH on October 11.
Rounding out the cast will be Christopher Ryan Grant as Sun Records producer Sam Phillips and Kelly Lamont as Dyanne, along with musicians Billy Shaffer (Fluke), and Chuck Zayas (Jay Perkins).
Ferris, formerly of the musical duo Freedy and Francine, is making his national touring debut in Million Dollar Quartet. Kaye’s theater credits include Sweet Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line and Assassins. Keeling has starred in the Broadway and national tour productions of Grease, as well as on NBC’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want. Slaughter was named Elvis Presley Enterprises’ Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist of 2011, and is also making his theater debut in Million Dollar Quartet.
Inspired by the December 4, 1956, recording session that brought together four rock icons, Million Dollar Quartet recreates the historic day in the Memphis Sun Records studio when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins took part in an impromptu jam session. The show includes some of the actual songs that were performed on the day as well as“Blue Suede Shoes,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.” The show's off-Broadway production, currently running at New World Stages, stars David Abeles, Eddie Clendening, Lance Guest and Robert Britton Lyons.