Theater: Million Dollar Quartet at Chicago’s Apollo Theater
Million Dollar Quartet is a home-grown musical that is a fictionalized account of a December day in 1956. Four would-be legends ended up in Sun Records, the baby of pioneer producer Sam Philips.
Personally, I find awkward the musicals that cobble established songs together into a new storylines. In the case of Million Dollar Quartet, where the characters are performing them straight-up as songs rather than as story elements, I found it additionally odd.
This is a show where a couple lines of dialogue, really—of exposition, are jammed in between the songs. The night jumps from hit to hit to hit.
It’s not bad if that is what you want, but it does make reacting to it a bit difficult. Is it a concert? Is it a play? How should I blend the two?
The up-close seating of Chicago’s Apollo Theater heightens the confusion. The actors can see you, and you can see each other. The loud, brash rock ‘n roll, as well as the narration, definitely go through the fourth wall. The talent of the cast is not in question. They bring the charisma and abilities of the original performers through, and the resulting music is pretty stupendous, but it does bring to the fore an interesting social phenomenon.
Even now, this early rock ‘n roll comes across so raw and powerful. The beats, rhythms, and energy power right into you. But what if those teens who propelled this music into the mainstream the first time are now a little too settled to “shake it, baby, shake it?”
Well, what happens is that the music and attitude come blasting from the stage while the audience may clap along a little bit… sometimes… if some people feel like it.
At least that’s what happened on the night that I went.
It was awkward.
