Last Saturday night we joined a packed house at the Mentone RSL to see the first performance of the musical King of Sun, the story of Sun Studios and its founder Sam Phillips.
Sun was a small recording studio founded in 1950 and closing in 1960. During that time it was responsible for discovering and launching the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, BB King, Howling Wolfe, Ike Turner and many more. It also tells the storey of Billie Lee Riley possibly the most talented Sun recording star never to have made it big.
Although much of the cast are young their experience showed as they performed songs made famous by Sun records such as Blue Suede Shoes, Whole Lotta Shaken, Great Balls of Fire, Falsom Prison Blues, Walk the Line, That's All Right Mama and many others with polished professionalism.
The performances of the young Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis were excellent but for me the standout performer on the night was young Clinton Baker who played Billey Lee Riley. The wild enthusiasm of his performance along with that of young Luigi Lucentre as Gerry Lee Lewis helped give us all an insight into what it must have been like at Sun Studios in the 50's.
You just don't see these songs performed in dance halls today with such electrifying vibrancy as we witnessed on Saturday night.
This is certainly a show well worth seeing so don't miss the chance when it comes to a venue near you.
Below are photos taken at a prior rehearsal. The first is Clinton Baker - Billey Lee Riley then Daniel Shumann as Johnny Cash, Joel Sherwell as Elvis, Luigi Lucentre as Gerry Lee Lewis
This was a good night and the singing performances were memorable. There was talk on the night that perhaps Clinton Baker (Billey Lee Riley) and a couple of the others will be doing a guest appearance at a rock n roll gig somewhere. Any idea if this is true?
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