This week’s theater openings

Theater returns to Richmond after its holiday slumber.

January 12, 2015; 10:43 AM • by Ross Catrow

The Lyons

5th Wall • 1300 Altamont Avenue
January 15th – February 7th
Buy tickets online

The Lyons starts in a hospital room. As Ben Lyons lies dying, his wife of forty years, Rita, flips through decorating magazines, planning a living room make-over. “I know you won’t actually be there to enjoy it, but I’d like to think you’d like it.” It’s clear Ben and Rita have been at war for many years, and that Ben’s impending demise has brought no relief. When they’re joined by their children, Lisa and Curtis, all efforts at a pleasant visit or a sentimental goodbye to the dying patriarch are soon abandoned. Terrible secrets and vicious accusations replace sentimental memories. In Act Two we follow Curtis. His desperate attempt to make a new connection ends so disastrously that the remaining Lyons are reunited at the hospital. We watch as each of them takes the first tentative steps toward new human connection.

Million Dollar Quartet

Broadyway in Richmond • 6 N. Laurel Street
January 16th – 17th
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MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the smash-hit musical inspired by the famed recording session that brought together rock ‘n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time.

On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians gathered at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, featuring a score of rock hits including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “That’s All Right,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Matchbox,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog” and more.