This past weekend, record-breaking rainfall caused severe flooding across Greater Milwaukee, impacting many individuals and businesses—including Milwaukee Rep.
Our new 30,000-square-foot production facility in Wauwatosa suffered extensive damage, with floodwaters reaching up to four feet and forceful enough to blow out several loading dock doors. We estimate the damage at nearly $5 million. The facility housed essential tools for building sets and props, significant lighting and sound equipment, costume storage, and numerous other items.
Thankfully, the Associated Bank Theater Center—scheduled to open in just nine weeks—was unaffected by the flooding. Our teams have already identified potential locations for a temporary production shop so we can build sets for upcoming shows and launch the 2025/26 Season without delay.
Many of you have reached out after seeing news items to ask “how can I help.” Truly the best way to help Milwaukee Rep in this moment is to join us as an audience member in our upcoming season. Buying a ticket today helps us turn this challenging moment into a season of celebration for our whole community while directly supporting our artists and staff. Learn more about the 2025/26 Season here.
Thank you for your continued support.
With deep gratitude,
Chad Bauman Ellen & Joe Checota Executive Director
On December 4, 1956, Sam Phillips hosted a jam session in his Sun Records recording studios featuring four stars of the early rock and roll genre. All four had hits with Sun Records: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and of course, Elvis Presley. There are a number of recordings available that document the songs they performed that day including a bit of studio banter but they don’t tell the whole story.
The cast of Million Dollar Quartet. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Playwrights Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux further imagine events of the day in their musical, Million Dollar Quartet. And they weave a very dramatic story around twenty two hits from these four artists. And they go beyond just banter in a studio during a jam session to also flesh out a story that gives us the history of Sun Records and Sam Phillips and some of the dynamics of the burgeoning recording industry in post-war America.
Before I get further into the performances, I want to compliment Daniel Conway on the truly amazing set design he developed for the Sun recording studio. It seems to hit all of the notes that we see from period photos of recording studios while feeling open and friendly to the audience experience and certainly gives the performers the space needed to rock on!
And I have a question for director Laura Braza: how do you prepare to cast a play like this when the four main characters are well known and well loved personalities with clear and discernible traits and performing styles? I was a but dubious at first but once Million Dollar Quartet got underway, those doubts were erased. Braza has assembled an incredible ensemble here who get the story and the history and they music!
Seth K Hale and Aja Alcazar. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Although not an actual member of the quartet, Sun Records owner, Sam Phillips is a principle character here. Seth K Hale is a dynamic and enthusiastic Sam Phillips. Hale’s Phillips is not only fully invested in the music, he is fully committed to his boys and Sun Records, and Hale clearly plays to that role. But he also has to switch up a bit as Escott and Mutrux have given him a second role: Phillips also speaks directly to the audience at times, separate from the interactions on stage, giving us the history of Sun Records, his relationship to the artists, and his plans for the future…and a bit of back fill and back story so we too are in the know. He’s the glue that pulls the overall story together.
Blake Burgess. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Blake Burgess is Johnny Cash. Tall and somber at times as the man in black, he also knows how to have a good times with his friends. Burgess throws himself into the songs and hits some low notes that I am not sure even Cash managed on stage. But Burgess is a sure presence here!
Carl Perkins is played by Armando Gutierrez with a ton of vigor and exudes Perkins enthusiasm for his own music. And Gutierrez’s singing and guitar playing are so so suited to the genre. But Perkins can be a little direct and aggressive in protecting his own music, taking a dim view of Phillips introduction of Jerry Lee on piano for the sessions for a new Perkins single. And he clearly takes umbrage at both Phillips and particularly Elvis for recording Blue Suede Shoes, a song Perkins wrote, immediately after his own release of the song. Of course Elvis had a bigger hit with it (which should have put songwriter royalties in his pocket but maybe not given the era). But Gutierrez can bring that feisty to bear here too, befitting that subplot in the story.
JP Coletta. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
And Jerry Lee Lewis! The flamboyant, over the top, piano player and singer! How do you bring that to life? Well Braza found her man in JP Coletta…who can play any style from the gospel tunes to country licks to straight ahead rock and roll…standing up, sitting down, standing on the piano, reaching over the piano backward, and all without missing a beat or a lyric. But he’s always his own best front man and promoter and ends up being the subject of a few very funny and very clever jokes. But really, Coletta is a consummate piano player and feels Jerry Lee to his very core.
Patrick Morrow, Joe Hebel and Armando Gutierrez. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
And here’s Elvis! Elvis is probably a hard role given that the whole world saw him on television and movies throughout his career. But Joe Hebel gives us the young and rebellious and yet a bit unsure star performer here. Never missing a vocal hiccup or physical tic or any other familiar bits and pieces of the Presley swagger, almost to the point of parody, and I think in 2025 that is the point. But Hebel brings it all to life.
And then there’s Dyanne, a singer in her own right that tags along as Elvis’ girlfriend. Although not part of the quartet they all encourage her to join in and Aja Alcazar’s Dyanne does with a flawless voice and amazing range. Alcazar gives us a Dyanne that holds her own here with the boys and proves to be a star on her own. And she played off of Jerry Lee’s advances just right!
The cast of Million Dollar Quartet. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
There are 22 songs here. Not the ones actually recorded that day which were often gospel or country standards that all of the artists knew. Instead Escott and Mutrux gave us a tapestry of hit songs from each artist and other hits of the period that they may have covered or admired at the time. So beyond the great solo personalities, the feeling of camaraderie and ensemble prevails for most of the songs. No small task to present a memorable performer set in everyone’s memory but then to stay in character while performing in ensemble is a real accomplishment. And this cast pulls that off in a resounding fashion.
The cast of Million Dollar Quartet. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
This is a remarkable musical written around a number of dramatic events (some that happened but probably not as shown) with songs that live on in our culture and just when you think the play and drama has resolved and you prepare to clap…a rock concert breaks out. What a rousing toe tapping finale! This is the last new show of the season and the Rep left us with a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.
The Milwaukee Rep presents Million Dollar Quartet at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall at the Marcus Performing Arts Center now through May 24, 2025. It runs about two hours without intermission…and you won’t miss that intermission with the music going down, trust me. And listen to the band!
Cast Change Note: Blake Burgess continues as Johnny Cash through May 11th, but Trevor Lindley Craft assumes the role after that.
but brings it all together through a depiction of family dynamics and physical and emotional abuse. This is the type of challenging storytelling that you expect from the Milwaukee Rep’s Stiemke Theater. And you will be challenged as well, as you are thrust into the explorations as an audience experiencing a multi-cultural, multi-class, multi-lingual event(s).
There are only two active characters on stage. Sarah, played by Dylan Brown, is a young privileged white woman from Canada, who is staying at a Cancun all-inclusive resort for her sister’s destination wedding. And Regina Carregha plays Adriana, an in control and serious Mexican woman who is the manager of house keeping at the resort. There are a few other characters and playwright Christine Quintana gives them life and presence in the script. They are the mother and sister of Sarah and the boyfriend, father, mother, aunt, and housekeeping staff in Adriana’s life. We only know them through monologues, narrations, and dialogues from Adriana and Sarah. But they bear heavily on the stories being told here.
Dylan Brown and Regina Carregha. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
So, Dylan Brown. Her Sarah is clearly a self-centered young woman who seems more than a little put out by the demands from her mother surrounding Sarah’s role as bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding. I mean, three rehearsals? Really? And Sarah also has a problem with alcohol. Sarah is aware of it and clearly doesn’t care. And she is also clearly aware of her privilege as she brags that her family and friends are financially able to hold this destination wedding. She also brags that her sister and mother are betting on when she will have her first fuck up. Her first interaction with Adriana is a rather demanding moment around the apparent cleanliness of the bathroom.
And Regina Carregha’s Adriana is clearly in charge and sure of her role until Sarah pushes her on the bathroom. Carregha can sometimes seem a bit officious as Adriana, but clearly has empathy for her staff as she carefully matches her supervision on their strengths and weaknesses. And at first Carregha gives us a woman who seemingly is removed from her family and determined to be herself…until we discover she isn’t necessarily here at the resort of her own volition. And then Carregha gives us a stunning example of someone trying to hold it together on the outside while falling apart on the inside after her aunt calls to relay that her father has passed.
Regina Carregha and Dylan Brown. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
But there is more to the stories behind both of our characters and they unwind (unravel?) as the play progresses. And then their relationship suddenly changes when Sarah witnesses an interaction between Adriana and her boyfriend. Did she see what she saw or was it something else? Despite Adriana’s denial, one is never quite sure. We don’t know if we should believe Sarah or Adriana. But both Brown and Carregha effectively make the pivot from their original personas to a newer one. Brown’s Sarah’s epiphany brings a more stable, more aware, and more emphatic character. Brown exudes a new inner strength here and becomes the in control human being you would expect. Carregha’s Adriana tries to exert her managerial persona but she can’t make it believable anymore.
Dylan Brown in tub and Regina Carregha in foreground. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Quintana throws us a few more loops as she adds scenes that are false starts or dreams or nightmares that present alternative viewpoints. But finally some truths will out and we finally understand the under dramas that have driven our characters to be who they are and appear as they wont.
Director Juliette Carrillo certainly put this together seamlessly despite the various shifts in locale, personae, and moods. And those dreams/nightmares spoke as true magical realism and merged into the story and out again.
Dylan Brown in tub and Regina Carregha to the left. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
An important note. This play is presented in English and Spanish. Sarah speaks English all of the time except for a phrase or two of Spanish. When she is speaking, the Spanish translation appears as super-titles above the stage. And except when Adriana is speaking directly with Sarah in English, she is speaking in Spanish and the English translations appear as super-titles above the stage. Now, I am an English speaker, who like Sarah only knows a few phrases and words in Spanish, so I am glued to reading the super-titles. And this is too bad because Carregha is a fluid and dramatic actor and I missed her actions on stage while I tried to keep up!
The stage here was a simple modest workhorse. A bedroom that served as Sarah’s hotel room, a raised bathtub which was bathtub, beach, and shower, and chairs and tables that depending on the scene were whatever they needed to be. Quite dramatic, very effective, and thank you Luciana Stecconi!
And one more thing about the super-titles. I was there during the previews and I had trouble reading some of them. At times the contrast was too low, particularly when they were on the black back curtain or of there was a haze amplified by the spots or if the spots were too hot on the front of the stage.
Regina Carregha. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
