Elvis Blazes to Life in Entertaining New Jukebox Musical at Rock Island’s Circa ’21
Elvis Presley has been dead now longer than he was alive, which is hard to believe.
Nearly 48 years after the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s passing at 42, his revolutionary career has again been brought to blazing, passionate life in the area debut of the tribute jukebox musical, “Heartbreak Hotel” at Rock Island’s Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse.
Packed with 28 scenes and 47 songs (not all made famous by Elvis), the vastly entertaining show premiered in 2017, kind of a biopic in stage form, covering highlights of the years 1943 to 1968, though not in chronological order — often leaping forward and backward in time.
Based on a concept by Floyd Mutrux, the book often focuses on Elvis as a young boy in Tupelo, Miss. (played here alternately by Fulton Young and Jax Huntley) and his relationship with his beloved mama Gladys (played with solidity and compassion by Circa vet Shelley Walljasper). A particularly moving scene is late in the first act in 1958, when Elvis returns from the Army to visit Gladys in the hospital, and the funeral following her death at 46 (heart failure caused by hepatitis). An ensemble clad in black starts an a cappella “Peace in the Valley,” and it builds to a big emotional finish (echoing some appropriate “Heartbreak Hotel” lyrics) to close Act 1.
Director Scott Moreau makes his Circa ’21 directorial debut, and he has a natural affinity and resume for the nostalgic, heart-tugging material. A music theatre alum of Illinois Wesleyan University, Moreau has previously helmed “Ring of Fire” and “Million Dollar Quartet,” both of which have been hits at Circa and the latter immortalized the famous 1956 recording of Elvis with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins at Sun Studios. Moreau has performed as Cash in the first national Broadway tour of “Quartet” and reprised the role over 1,200 times in regional productions across the country.
He was the creator/star of Circa’s New Year’s Eve smash “Walkin’ the Line: A Tribute to Johnny Cash.”
“Heartbreak Hotel” star Corey McKinney, a graduate of Florida School of the Arts, also is a veteran of playing Elvis in “Million Dollar Quartet” productions. To say he’s a magnetic, stunning presence is an understatement.
McKinney expertly captures the King’s look, voice and mannerisms (down to his gyrating hips and rapidly shaking legs). As the 19-year-old phenom at the Louisiana Hayride in 1954, clad in a pink suit, McKinney reveals Elvis’s insecurity, but in the show’s title song, he lets loose by bringing the mic down to the floor and sizzling on his back, driving the girls wild.
In the very next scene, in a 1955 Milton Berle show, McKinney nails the singer’s swagger and confidence in “Hound Dog.” In the midst of a conservative, clean-cut America, Elvis caused controversy by giving voice and physicality to young people’s animal instincts, desires, and dreams – and the musical shows bits from a 1957 Congressional hearing on juvenile delinquency, with Bobby Becher’s Frank Sinatra calling Elvis’s style an “ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression.”
Soon after, early in Act 2, Becher and McKinney pair up in 1960 in a Sinatra TV show as tuxedo-ed establishment giants, paying tribute to each other in a delightful, swinging mashup of “Love Me Tender” and “Witchcraft” – Frank doing the Elvis hit and vice versa.
True to dramatic stage works, there’s a good amount of drama and tension in “Heartbreak Hotel” as well.
Elvis is upset with his father remarrying after his mom’s death; we see explosive fights between Elvis and his band in the studio, with his wife Priscilla (whom he divorced after less than six years of marriage), and his manager Col. Tom Parker.
There’s no reference in the show to the fact that Priscilla was just 14 when she met the 24-year-old Elvis, but we get the lovely scene of him serenading his baby Lisa Marie in 1968 with the tender, music-box inflected “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
You’d also never know by the show that Elvis didn’t write several of his hits, including that one and “You’re the Boss,” the sprightly duet in 1964 Hollywood with the blonde bombshell Ann-Margret (here played by Alondra Shuck).
Circa’s deep bench of local talent fills many key roles – in addition to Shelley Walljasper, Bobby Becher as Sinatra, we have Tristan Tapscott as record producer Sam Phillips, Rachel Winter as Priscilla, and Tom Walljasper is perfectly cast as Tom Parker.
The bulging catalog of unforgettable songs includes “That’s All Right,” “All Shook Up,” “Burning Love,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight” and “Blue Suede Shoes.”
The fiery, dazzling finale features “Jailhouse Rock” and McKinney shakes, rattles and rolls to the show’s climax with renewed energy and intensity. He keeps up the enthusiasm in the exhilarating bows with “Suspicious Minds.”
The great dance numbers were choreographed by Andrea Moore and music director is Ron May. Director Moreau makes extensive use of a rear screen to project still and moving pictures (including exterior and interior of Presley’s Graceland home) that accentuate key parts of the plot.
“Heartbreak Hotel” will be presented at Circa ’21 (1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island) through May 3, with performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday matinées at 1:15 p.m. Pre-show entertainment (with a clever collection of songs inspired by Elvis) featuring the theatre’s waitstaff, the Bootleggers, also will precede all performances.
Ticket prices are $68 for the Friday through Sunday performances and $61 for all Wednesday performances. For tickets and more information, visit Circa21.com or call 309-786-7733, ext. 2.
