Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The new commercial musical “Million Dollar Quartet” contains virtuosic performances. The kind of jaw-dropping turns that snap your head to the stage and unlock your feet from the floor."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The show comes with a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux (co-director with Eric Schaeffer) that is little more than the standard connect-the-dots, supply-the-back-story string of cliches. But it gets the job done, and who wants to listen to dialogue when the only real story here is the music -- two dozen rock and roots classics performed with rip-roaring virtuosity by sensational performers who (unlike the actors in "Jersey Boys") not only sing but are also ace instrumentalists."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...A combination concert, history lesson and homage to the musicians and their visionary producer, Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, "Million Dollar Quartet" is the most exuberant theatrical event I've experienced all year. A jukebox musical in the best and purest sense of the word, it persuades even those disinclined to the genre (I include myself among them) that in the right hands, this format has merit."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Eddie Clendening and Lance Guest offer credible impersonations of Presley and Cash, but Levi Kreis as Lewis and Rob Lyons as Perkins better convey their characters’ fiery personalities and electrifying artistry. Kelly Lamont shines as Presley’s singer girlfriend, and Brian McCaskill gives the show its emotional center as Phillips, a man caught between competing personal and business pressures."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...At first look, “Million Dollar Quartet” seems like still another of those compilation jukebox musicals that have swamped the Chicagoland theater scene in recent weeks. It just shows that one should never prejudge. “Million Dollar Quartet” turns out to be the best live rock ‘n’ roll show I have ever seen."
Edge - Highly Recommended
"...Brian McCaskill is appropriately and contradictorily dour and enthusiastic in the roll of Sam Phillips. The character’s own "straightness" of personality seems to be the gift-giving element he utilized to help other, similar characters, find their own voices. Phillips lacks his own voice, in a sense, and McCaskill represents this nicely."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Written without much condescending narration—and mostly as a love letter to unsung label founder Sam Phillips, the CEO of cracker soul—Quartet puts its authentic rock music front and center. In this acoustically expert re-creation, the four professional musicians channel their respective forebears with a spiritual medium’s accuracy, especially reckless Kreis’s Jerry Lee Lewis, who’s frankly so dead-on it’s ridiculous."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Million Dollar Quartet has a truthful book as well as outstanding arrangements (Chuck Mead) of early classic rock, country and traditional songs of the 1950’s. The real stars of this show are the dynamic music and the sheer musicianship of the six performers. This exhilarating show is a ‘must see’ event. It is pure energy. I’m betting this show will have a long run in Chicago."
