?`s and ANNEswers

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Million Dollar Quartet

It’s been a busy twenty-four hours: the VP debate between Walz and Vance, an attack on Israel from its neighbor, and incredible devastation from Hurricane Helene. So you might wonder at the title of this blog. It’s about a musical that takes place in the mid-nineteen fifties.

I’m not being frivolous. Other outlets more visible than mine will cover the above issues, but I doubt any will cover the musical another couple, Earl, and I saw this afternoon in Turkeyville, Michigan.

“Million Dollar Quartet” is about the birth of rock and roll and Sam Phillips of Sun Records, its midwife. Phillips had a knack for seeing the future of popular music and signed then unknown performers such as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. They rose to stardom under his guidance and then left him because bigger recording labels offered more in terms of exposure. And possible more perks.

The show was performed adequately, although Earl and I saw it in Chicago years ago and there was no comparison. Still the four of us who attended grew up in that era and enjoyed a replay of its music.

At the end of the show, Sam Phillips has lost three of his star performers. The spotlight zeroes in on him alone on the stage. And he says, (as far as I can remember) “I wished them all the success in the world, but I wish they could have found happiness.”

Isn’t that the truth.

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