Sometimes, when you’re reviewing a show, there just aren’t enough positive adjectives to describe it. Take for example, the current offering at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville. You can describe “Million Dollar Quartet” (MDQ) as spectacular, superb, wonderful, fantastic and outstanding. But those words still don’t seem to do justice to this glorious musical celebration. 

MDQ, by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, tells the story of that day – December 4, 1956 – when fate brought together Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Owned and operated by Sam Phillips, Sun Records is sometimes called the “place where Rock ‘n Roll was born.” It was also the first label to record each of the four powerhouse performers listed above. 

That December 4th meeting went down in the record books as one of the greatest jam sessions in the history of music. 

Featured performers in MDQ are Travis Poelle as Carl Perkins, Trevor Lindley Craft as Johnny Cash, Jefferson McDonald as Jerry Lee Lewis, Jackson Mattek as Elvis Presley, Chris Blisset as Carl Perkins’ brother bass fiddle player Jay, Jeffrey T. Kelly as Fluke, Johnny Cash’s drummer, Sean Cullen as Sam Phillips and Claire-Frances Sullivan as Elvis’ girlfriend Dyanne. 

And with 23 songs throughout the show, all the performers get a chance to show off their talent. There are familiar tunes like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Sixteen Tons,” “I Walk the Line,” and “Great Balls of Fire,” and some lesser-known songs as well. 

Every single performer embodies and inhabits their character. Mattek has Presley’s moves and swivel hips down pat, as well as his good looks and smooth voice. Cash’s bass/baritone voice and brooding mood are personified by Craft, and Poelle’s Perkins represents the “King of Rockabilly” to a T. Alternating between ecstasy and disappointment as Phillips, Cullen acts as the glue holding the group together and easily elicits the audience’s sympathy. Sullivan joins in the singing, and her rendition of “Fever” is sultry and electrifying. 

Audience favorite McDonald, playing the wild-eyed and eccentric Jerry Lee Lewis, does an impeccable job in getting the audience revved up and rocking in their seats, and provides much of the show’s humor. And back-up musicians Blisset and Kelly’s seamless transitions between songs kept the show moving and rocking. 

Blisset, who also takes the reigns as Director and Musical Director does an outstanding job – just as he did with the John Denver, Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie tributes at Shadowland before this. He is a gift to music tribute shows as both a director and a performer. 

Costumes by Christina English are period appropriate; Lighting Designer Jeremy Johnson does a great job setting the mood and upping the excitement using some state-of-the-art lighting instruments, Jeff Knapp’s sound design comes across loud and clear, and Peter Johnson’s set for the Sun Records studio is absolute perfection. 

“Million Dollar Quartet” is already sold out for several of performances, so don’t waste time in getting your tickets for this delightful, upbeat and high-energy show playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. through September 10 at Shadowland Stages Main Stage, 157 Canal Street in Ellenville. Call the Box Office at 845-647-5511 or buy tickets online at Shadowland Stages.org.