Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson will sit in with Broadway’s Million Dollar Quartet for one night only on January 20. She will join Eddie Clendening (as Elvis Presley), Lance Guest (as Johnny Cash), Levi Kreis (as Jerry Lee Lewis), new cast member Jared Mason (as Carl Perkins), Hunter Foster (as Sun Records’ Sam Phillips) and Elizabeth Stanley (Dyanne) on stage for a special performance during the show’s finale.
Jackson, a pioneer in rockabilly, rock and roll, country and gospel music, is a 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. She first gained national attention with her 1958 recording of “Let’s Have a Party,” a tune she made into a hit of her own even after one-time boyfriend Elvis Presley had released a version of it. Her latest album, The Party Ain’t Over, which she recorded with guitarist-vocalist-White Stripes founder Jack White, will be released January 25.
Inspired by the famed December 4, 1956, recording session that brought together four rock icons, Million Dollar Quartet recreates the historic day in the Memphis Sun Records studio when Presley, Cash, Lewis and Perkins took part in an impromptu jam session. The show includes some of the actual songs that were performed on the day as well as standards for the quartet including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.”