Typically, when we are introduced to one of them as he enters, the scene freezes and Phillips, our narrator, tells us how their career began and the singer belts out a ditty associated with him. And there are such convincing renditions. When we hear Cash rumbling out "Folsom Prison Blues," we're practically there at that famous prison concert. When Presley softly sings "Memories Are Made of This," we understand how early on he wanted to be a crooner like Dean Martin. When we hear Perkins covering Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" we perceive the difference between musical finesse and the primitive pounding delivery that drove the original up the charts.
As time traveling goes, this is about as good as it gets. You can have your Gettysburg Address or even Sermon on the Mount. I'll settle for closing my eyes and pretending that I'm hearing Johnny Cash sing that Merle Travis workingman short story "Sixteen Tons" for the first time.
Topics:
Theater
, PPAC, Jersey Boys, Million Dollar Quartet
