Elvis did not leave the building after all at the end of Million Dollar Quartet, the jukebox musical about the gathering on December 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. This impromptu jam session was the first and only time Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins played together.

Million Dollar Quartet Christmas begins where the earlier show ends—just as Sun Records’ founder, Sam Phillips, is organizing the famous photograph that documents the event.

The sequel is mellower than its predecessor, which deals with the history of Sun Records and the artists Phillips discovered and nurtured. Because the conflicts among the characters are resolved in the earlier show, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas focuses a celebration among friends. The sequel has an irresistible score that includes songs of the holiday season and favorites from the artists’ repertories.

The wonderful staging at the Loretto-Hilton Theatre is a joyous holiday gift to St. Louis from both the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Stages St. Louis. Stages had a hit with Million Dollar Quartet in 2023, but the company’s late-spring-to-early-autumn season does not lend itself to presenting the sequel. Together, Stages and The Rep have a theater in December, both companies’ audiences to draw from, and a stellar production to build on.

The entire design team and all but one cast member have returned from the original Stages production. Three of the understudies are also the same. Production stage manager Monica Dickhens and assistant stage manager Sarah Luedloff are back, too

Director Keith Andrews and musical director Dave Sonneborn exhibit the same mastery as before. One terrific musical number follows another, performed as they would have been by the four legends of American music.

The cast is splendid. Scott Moreau’s vocal and physical resemblance to Cash is as striking and satisfying as before. Brady Wease captures Lewis’s irrepressible flamboyance and plays a mean piano. Jeremy Sevelovitz’s Perkins is a good old boy with a huge personality. The one new member of the cast, Sean Buckley, is not new to the part. He impressively channels both the sound and the personality of the young Elvis.

Shelby Ringdahl’s sultry performance of “Santa Baby” proves that Dyanne, Elvis’s date for the evening, belongs in the quartet’s company. So do the crack musicians who were hired for the recording session in the earlier play and stay for the party. Chuck Zayas is Jay Perkins (Carl’s brother) and Dave Sonneborn is W.S. “Fluke” Holland. Jeff Cummings’ Phillips exudes the wisdom and experience that made him a seminal figure in American music.

Once again, an ideal environment for the show is created by Adam Koch’s scenic design, Brad Musgrove’s costumes, Sean M. Savoie’s lighting, and Beef Gratz’s sound. A new credit in The Rep’s program acknowledges wig designer Dennis Milam Bensie.

The smashing success of this collaboration is a tribute to the leadership of both companies. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Kate Bergstrom, The Rep’s Augustin Family Artistic Director
• Andrew Kuhlman, Stages’ Mosbacher Family Executive Producer
• Gayle Holsman Seay, Stages’ Artistic Director
• Danny Williams, The Rep’s Managing Director

They deserve the highest praise for recognizing that everyone benefits when theater companies work together.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Jon Gitchoff
Front row from the left: Brady Wease (Jerry Lee Lewis), Sean Buckley (Elvis Presley), and Shelby Ringdahl (Dyanne)
Back row from the left: Scott Moreau (Johnny Cash), Jeremy Sevelovitz (Carl Perkins), and Chuck Zayas (Jay Perkins)