'Million Dollar Quartet' one year old -- and still rock solid

Who knows what really happened on that legendary December afternoon in 1956 when Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley all happened to show up at producer Sam Phillips' Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee?

Sure, we have the iconic photo that shows the four guys grouped around a piano. And for the past year we've had "Million Dollar Quartet," the rollicking juke box musical by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrix that has done boffo business at the Apollo Theatre and is slated to open on Broadway in April (with casting still to be announced).

But did these four big personalities clash in quite the ways suggested in the show's slimmer-than-slim book? And did they actually jam on the close to two dozen hit songs on this show's playlist?

It matters not. "Quartet" is musically dazzling from first beat to last -- from "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." And the performances, by stellar musicians who also can act, are good enough to make you a true believer.

It is Lewis, the hungry upstart -- a Louisiana firecracker played by the miraculous singer-pianist Levi Kreis -- who is showiest. But the chemistry between Kreis and the other original cast members -- Rob Lyons as the bitter Perkins, Lance Guest as the dark-tinged Cash and Eddie Clendening as the sad-eyed Presley -- could not be more ideal.

It will be tricky to maintain the intimacy of this show on a Broadway stage. But it might just turn into the hottest concert ticket around -- a breakneck hour and 45 minutes of early rock 'n' roll heaven.

Gov. Quinn stopped by after Thursday's one-year anniversary performance and sad he'd invite Bill Clinton to see the show when he's in town on Nov. 11. Sounds like the makings of another landmark photo op.