This is Elvis/Malvern Theatres

THE poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks who became a star only to be worked to death by an unscrupulous manager… people will be talking about the Presley legend until the end of time.

But for any myth to endure and become indelibly fixed in our minds, there needs to be another element in the mix, a conduit that can further bestow true immortality.

And that, without any shadow of a doubt, comes in the form of Steve Michaels, the greatest tribute to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll we are ever likely to see in this lifetime.

Think of Elvis, and it’s the hip-grinding that perhaps immediately springs to mind, or his Southern boy, quietly spoken deference. But in this Bill Kenwright production we also witness the heart-breaking fragility and self-doubt of a man who has made his 1968 television comeback and now poised to enter the uncharted territory of La Vegas.

Elvis thinks he is going to return to the days of playing country fairs from the back of the flat-bed truck. But manager Colonel Tom Parker has other ideas, not least of which is a six-figure Vegas gambling habit that must somehow have to be paid for.

Michaels is a magnificent performer and is so convincing that at times it really does seem that Elvis is in the building, rather than lying under a cold, marble slab in the grounds of Graceland.

Every move rings true as the potent blend of black rhythm and blues and white Southern church connect with the force of two planets colliding.

And powering the whole thing along are some truly gifted, spot-on accurate musicians, one of whom – Niall Kerrigan – makes a fair fist variously as guitarists Scotty Moore and then James Burton, two men who more than any others defined the roots-drenched magic of the Elvis songbook.

This is Elvis runs at Malvern Theatres until Saturday (April 7). Believe me, it will blow you away.

John Phillpott