Brady Wease* as Jerry Lee Lewis, Kurt Jenkins* as Carl Perkins, Gregg Hammer* as Johnny Cash, and Nick Voss* as Elvis Presley in Million Dollar Quartet (Photo by Brennen Russell)
“The only thing predictable about Elvis is that he’s unpredictable. Yesterday Carl (Blue Suede Shoes) Perkins was cutting some new records at Sam Phillips’ Sun Record studio on Union at Marshall. Elvis dropped in. So did Johnny Cash. Jerry Lee Lewis was already there. Elvis headed for the piano, and an old-fashioned barrelhouse session with barbershop harmony resulted.”- Robert Johnson, entertainment reporter for the Memphis-Press Scimitar.
On December 4th, 1956, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were the only musicians scheduled to be at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee; fate had other plans. Johnny Cash dropped by when he heard Carl Perkins was there to lay down some new tracks. Then a cohort gathered in the recording booth, including Perkins, Cash, Perkins’ brothers Jay (rhythm guitar) and Clayton (bass), drummer W.S. Holland, and owner of Sun Records Sam Phillips.
Suddenly, Elvis Presley strolled by, along with girlfriend Marilyn Evans, to visit his friends at his former studio. Presley was curious to see what his fellow musicians had been doing since he made the switch to his RCA Studios contract. After Presley arrived, the mood became playful, joyful, and raucous- the stage was set, the players ready- now all they had to do was perform.
The Night It All Happened
Presley, Cash, Perkins, and Lewis performed 46 songs that night as a quartet. They ran the gamut of genres, from country, to gospel, to the brand-new sounds of rock-and-roll. They riffed on fresh-off-the-press songs by Chuck Berry and Little Richard. They sang gospel classics like “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” and “I Shall Not Be Moved.” They warmed up with “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas,” appropriate for the bitter cold on that December Memphis afternoon.
These weren’t pristine, studio-quality recordings with a clear cut between each song- these were four singers who were enjoying the camaraderie of fellow artists.
As Kit Rachlis of the Boston Phoenix wrote upon reviewing the tapes, “This was an impromptu session, which exactly how feels– young men swapping songs, showing off, having fun… Songs stop and start in the middle, depending on whether anyone can remember the words.”
If the quality of the recording wasn’t earth-shattering, what makes this jam session so important for the history of music? As is often the case, we don’t realize we’re in a shining moment in history until that moment has passed.
“Sam Phillips, the label’s founder and the discoverer of (if not the father-figure for) these performers, keeps on insisting, no one there thought of it as a historic occasion,” Rachlis wrote.
The Night of Career Crossroads
These four men didn’t realize they themselves were the crossroads of rock music- past, present, and future.
Carl Perkins represented the past, since he had already produced his only national hit, “Blue Suede Shoes.” Johnny Cash, the present, embracing his first national hit with “I Walk the Line.” Presley was a national, soon-to-be-international sensation, fresh off his first movie and carrying seven Top 10 singles under his belt. Jerry Lee Lewis, representing the future, was five months away from his first smash hit with “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On.”
That night, the men shook hands and said their goodbyes, the tape recorders whirred to a stop, and their moment of artistry and camaraderie was locked away to degrade in the vault. The only public record of this fateful quartet was the single article and photo in the Memphis-Press Scimitar.
The Mysteries of Music
With any moment in history, the mythos and mystery that surrounds it can take a moment from interesting tidbit to notorious secret.
Rumors of this legendary night circulated throughout the music world, with rumors and bootlegs swapping across international lines. Accounts of the evening contradict each other- Johnny Cash says he was the first one to arrive, while others claim he only showed for a few minutes in the middle of the day. Another mystery is exactly who witnessed this legendary night. On the tapes, a female voice is heard requesting songs from the quartet- but it isn’t Marilyn Evans, Elvis’ companion for the evening. Evans confirmed in a 2008 interview after the Chicago premiere of “Million Dollar Quartet” that she was present, but wasn’t the one who requests “Farther Along” on the recording. The musical created a new character, Dyanne, as a representative for all the women who were witness to this once-in-a-lifetime event.
The tapes were discovered by sheer coincidence, when Shelby Singleton bought Sun Records in 1969, and took it upon himself to catalogue the more than 10,000 hours of tape he had acquired.
Cash, Perkins, and Lewis, alongside another Sun Records alumnus, Roy Orbinson, would band together and perform multiple times throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, but no official release of the 1956 tape existed.
Finally, after licensing agreements and legal battles, the tapes were first released in Europe in 1981, re-released with additional material in 1987, and at long last got an official United States release in 1990. “Million Dollar Quartet” was finally home, playing on speakers across the country, 36 years after that fateful day in Memphis.
Music fans no longer have to imagine what it would be like to be like to sit at the piano with Presley, Perkins, Cash, and Lewis. Since 2008, “Million Dollar Quartet” the musical has been delighting audiences worldwide. With smash-hit success on Broadway, the West End, and at The Phoenix Theatre Company, audience members flock to turn back the clock to December 4, 1956, and witness music history being made, night after night.
“This show is pure electricity,” said director of The Phoenix Theatre company’s new production, Scott Weinstein, in the press release for the production. “You get to see these four young artists (already stars but not yet legends, and all with a history with each other) together in one room, jamming, laughing, fighting, and harmonizing as they figure out who they are and who they want to be.”
Come see it for yourself and see what you can discover within one legendary night.
Details:
Dates: December 17, 2025 – March 8, 2026
Location: The Phoenix Theatre Company, Hormel Theatre
Tickets: phoenixtheatre.com | (602) 254-2151
ASL/Audio Describe Night is Thursday, January 22, 2026.
Click here to view a behind the scenes video of Million Dollar Quartet.
Click here for a PDF of the full article.
