The Arts at Marble Arch – until 6th December 2026
Reviewed by Phil Brown
5*****
Million Dollar Quartet is only the second show to be staged at The Arts at Marble Arch theatre which opened in July 2026 as a temporary 500+ seat venue while the original Arts Theatre undergoes redevelopment. It’s a decent space for audience and performers, but situated in the middle of what is effectively a roundabout, it does suffer occasionally from rorty traffic noise. It’s situated more or less where an ill conceived artificial hill – the Marble Arch Mound – was recently erected. Let’s hope it’s much more successful with the public…
I first tapped my feet along to Million Dollar Quartet back in 2011 when it was staged at the Nöel Coward Theatre following a Broadway debut in 2010, and earlier US productions dating back to 2006.
Although not the first ever Jukebox musical (apparently John Gay’s 1728 The Beggar’s Operais considered the earliest historical ancestor!), Million Dollar Quartet has to be among the earliest, but is especially significant for sampling the work of several high profile performers rather than a single artist, at a key inflexion point in the growth of rock ’n’ roll in the late 1950s.
It reimagines a unique occasion – the only time that four early greats of rock ’n’ roll – Elvis Presley (played by Connor Payne), Johnny Cash (Christopher Erasmus), Carl Perkins (Joey Bradick) and Jerry Lee Lewis (Joe Bence) came together with now legendary studio owner and producer Sam Phillips (Darren Day) at Sun Studios on 4th December 1956.
The complete recordings of the actual event are available on Amazon and amount to 47 tracks (with some repetition). It’s vaguely disappointing to find that only three of those 47 songs feature in the show, but hey, producers need a commercial show and audiences want to hear the hits, and the writers (Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux) have conjured a thoroughly plausible and compelling story to tell with some wonderful dialogue. It’s interesting though that Presley songs seem rather under represented in the programme, and of the 22 songs in the show only four are written by members of the MDQ.
Whilst little, if anything, seems to have changed in the body of the 2026 version of the show, (to coin a phrase popular in the southern US states “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”), it succeeds in elevating performance and production values to new heights. Director Jonathan O’Boyle has polished this production to near perfection, and yet again, I leave the theatre marvelling at the versatility and breadth and depth of performing talent we have in the UK.
The stage set (Libby Watson) is the Sun Studio (formerly the Magic Throttle auto-parts store) and looks suitably of the period with a black and white tiled floor and gold records and photographs of artists on the walls. Instruments and equipment lie scattered around. The main wall is dominated by the control booth window behind which Phillips retires during “recording”. A nice touch is a fan of ceiling mounted strip lighting echoing the sun’s rays feature of the Sun Studio logo. Lighting design (Alex Musgrave) works a treat and movement of people (Joanna Goodwin) and equipment is slickly choreographed without appearing to be so.
In terms of dramatic structure, Darren Day is naturally engaging and charismatic as a front man introducing and narrating the show in a pronounced Alabaman drawl, and amusing with razor sharp reactions to occasional audience interventions. The show intersperses narration and dialogue which usually leads to a song, often paused for brief segments of talk and then restarted or finished off. This technique generates a realistic feeling of being present at a recording session. This feeling is reinforced by the way bass and drums keep noodling away during some of the narration and dialogue exchanges. Dialogue is particularly well written – convincing and equally well performed.
The occasion is meant to be a Carl Perkins recording session, but he’s late and Jerry Lee Lewis is the first to arrive, on spec from Ferriday Louisiana. Followed by Perkins, Johnny Cash and finally Elvis Presley with girlfriend Dyanne (Jenay Naima). Although the four main performers (MDQ) are playing on stage from the very beginning, their character introductions and back stories are revealed one by one as they each take a turn in the spotlight for their signature songs.
The seriously impressive band – the MDQ plus Brother Jay Perkins (Geraint Downing) on upright bass and W S ‘Fluke’ Holland (Jacob Evans) on drums – is tighter than a body builder’s vest with superb sound. In particular Joey Bradick as Perkins on guitar and Joe Bence as Jerry Lee on piano are masterful, with Downing superb on bass plus tricks, and Evans immaculate on drums .
All the performers are very fine singers, but Christopher Erasmus’ baritone as Johnny Cash is probably the truest to his character, with his Sixteen Tons a favourite of the evening for me, whilst the quartet and Dyanne’s harmony work is stellar. Connor Payne’s That’s Alright is almost indistinguishable from Presley, and surely Jerry Lee himself would have admired Bence’s show closing rendition of Whole Lotta Shakin’. Jenay Naima as Dyanne cults through the testosterone with a sultry Fever and hard rocking I Hear You Knocking to great audience reception.
The show’s 2 hours of running time really does pass in a flash and culminates in a spectacular finale with a killer sequence guaranteed to get a primed and pent up audience on their feet to clap and boogie along to Hound Dog, Ghost Riders in the Sky, See You Later Alligator and Whole Lotta Shakin. The audience absolutely loved this show.
Quite simply, Million Dollar Quartet is a superbly realised juke box musical that is not only fun, it will nourish and sustain you. It’s a five star production offering nothing less than five star entertainment.