Arts
Derek Hagen plays Johnny Cash (in beige sweater). This is a recreation of a photograph taken of the legandary artists in 1956.
Sudbury actor gets good reviews in London's West End
BY VICKI GILHULA
Spring 2011 |
UPDATE: Million Dollar Quartet has extended its booking period - tickets are now on sale to 27 Oct 2012. The show opened at the Noel Coward Theatre 28 Feb 2011, following previews from 8 Feb, to moderate notices from the popular press. Million Dollar Quartet is inspired by the actual event that took place on 4 December 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together to make music and ended up making history. Features over 20 of the greatest rock ’n’ roll, gospel, R&B and country hits. The musical has book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, originally conceived by Floyd Mutrux. It is directed by Eric Schaeffer, designed by Derek McLane, lighting by Howell Binkley, sound by Kai Harada. Musical arrangements and supervision Chuck Mead Cast includes Bill Ward (Sam Phillips), Michael Malarkey (Elvis Presley), Ben Goddard (Jerry Lee Lewis), Derek Hagen (Johnny Cash), Oliver Seymour-Marsh (Carl Perkins). Produced in London by Relevant Theatricals, John Cossette Productions, American Pop Anthology, John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, James L. Nederlander, Joseph Smith and Michael McCabe. An actor who got his start at the Sudbury Theatre Centre and Theatre Cambrian is currently starring in a hit musical in London's West End. Derek Hagen is getting good reviews for his performance as Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet at the Noel Coward Theatre. Hagen's parents, Odvar and Paulette, attended the premiere Feb. 28. Million Dollar Quartet is the story of Sun Records stars Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. In December 1956 the four fathers of rock, destined to become music legends, jammed together at the Memphis studio. Recordings gathered dust in Sun's archives, and Presley kept the rest. They were discovered in his home in Graceland after his death in 1977. Hagen, who celebrated his 33rd birthday Dec. 29 in Sudbury with his parents, started rehearsals in London Jan. 4, He has received good notices for his spot-on renditions of Cash's hits Riders in the Sky, Folsom Prison Blues, and I Walk the Line. "Derek Hagen is impossibly deep-voiced as Cash" writes Julie Carpenter for Express.co.uk. "Derek Hagen's Johnny Cash makes everyone in the theatre believe the real Mr. Cash is on the stage," says Robert Gould, broadwayworld.com. Hagen fell in love with the theatre at the age of six when his parents took him to see Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown. "He was mesmerized by it, says his father. He never wavered from his desire to sing and act although his parents gave warned him about the uncertainties of an actor's life. Hagen studied theatre arts at Sudbury Secondary School and moved to New York City when he was 18. He attended the Lee Strasberg Institute and was a working observer at the Actor's Studio. He then moved to London to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for three years. He has appeared in several West End productions including Enron, a play based on the Enron scandal. He appeared in the 2008 production of Carousel and understudied for the male lead. He has also done film and television work. In Sudbury, Hagen appeared at the STC in A Christmas Carol when he was 12, remembers his mother, Paulette. Later he appeared in Theatre Cambrian's productions of West Side Story and Grease. He worked at the Killarney Mountain Lodge for several summers, and in the evenings, he and his friends entertained the guests. The Hagens saw Million Dollar Quartet five times while they were in London. "The audience was dancing in the aisles at the Friday show, says Paulette. Million Dollar Quartet will be playing in London until at least October. The smash hit franchise recently had its 1,000th performance in Chicago. The Broadway production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, former Stones member Bill Wyman, musician Jeff Beck and numerous British celebrities attended the London premiere of the musical which features rock 'n' roll classics such as Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On. For more information about Million Dollar Quartet and to see a video of Hagen as Cash visit www.milliondollarquartet.co.uk.
