Because the show producers figured it was a catchier title than Million Dollar Quintet. No, just kidding. It was because originally it was going to be reviewed in the April issue, so it was a trick cover for April Fool's Day and we were just checking to see who was paying attention, to which the answer is: Only you! (Which, not to confuse things even further, was of course was by The Platters, not Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, nor Johnny Cash.)
Okay, just kidding again. The real answer (we promise), is that the "fifth man" on the cover of the March issue of the LVA newsletter is in fact Jay Perkins, Carl's brother, who apparently played bass the night of the famous jam session*. The lineup of actors in the LVA cover image, and the musicians they play in the production is, from L to R:
Martin Kaye as Jerry Lee Lewis Robert Britton Lyons as Carl Perkins Mikey Hachey as Jay Perkins Tyler Hunter as Elvis Presley Benjamin D. Hale as Johnny Cash
*For anyone who isn't familiar with the strange-but-true story upon which this Tony Award-winning musical is based, it centers upon the night in December, 1956, when four legendary music pioneers came together for perhaps the greatest jam session of all time at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
By all accounts, the events of that December 4 seem truly to have been one of those chance happenings, with a post-"Blue Suede Shoes" Perkins and his band, including his brothers Clayton and Jay, having booked the studio to work on some new material aided, at the instigation of label-owner Sam Phillips, by his hotshot new pianist -- the as-yet unknown Jerry Lee Lewis. Johnny Cash recalled in his memoir that he was actually the first of the quartet there, since he'd swung by expressly to catch Perkins' recording session, then an already-famous Elvis just happened to stop by to pay his respects to his former boss. The rest, as they say, is history -- fortunately history that Cowboy Jack Clement, the sound engineer that day who is himself a legend, had the foresight to preserve for posterity. Apparently, he recalls saying to himself, "I think I'd be remiss not to record this," and fortunately, he did.
