the HUB

Most people knew Elvis Presley from a distance. He was on a movie screen, a TV screen, occasionally a concert stage.
But Susan Anton - who co-stars in "All Shook Up" - knew him up close.

That was in the bedroom of Presley's hotel suite.
Don't jump to conclusions, though. "He was a very pure soul," she said.

Anton was a starlet back then. She had grown up in small-town California, where she could ride her horse anywhere. "I loved the little town, but I had to see the rest of the world.

"
And the rest of the world had to see her. Here was a towering (5-foot-11 1/2-inch) blonde, catching instant attention. She starred in Muriel Cigar commercials, then became Miss California of 1959.

Then came show business, singing and dancing in Las Vegas.
"A friend of mine was the opening act for Tom Jones," Anton said. "(Presley) loved Vegas and Vegas loved him.

"
So one night, Presley arrived in mid-show. Soon, he was onstage for an "American Trilogy" duet.
"You had Elvis Presley and Tom Jones, two of the most powerful performers there they were, onstage together," Anton said.

Afterward, everyone partied in Presley's suite. "I just kept telling myself, 'That's Elvis Presley!' "
And then he asked her to go into his bedroom.

Anton wasn't sure how to interpret that.
A moment later, he was reading her a passage from Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," then autographing the book and giving it to her.
In the years since then, Anton has lost the book and found new memories.

She opened for Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, George Burns and more.
Still, she talks fondly of Presley and of one song in particular.

"I've always been a big fan of 'If I Can Dream,'" Anton said. "The lyrics are so pertinent to any era."
In "All Shook Up," ironically, she plays someone who hates the Presley music.

She's the new museum director in a tiny town and she kind of likes Ed the mechanic.
Except that Ed is actually a young woman (played by Jenny Fuller) in disguise. She has a thing for Chad (Mandragona), a new guy with a big motorcycle.

That sort of she-he/he-she plot may seem corny, but it was unapologetically stolen from "Twelfth Night" - which Shakespeare wrote 407 years ago, after stealing it from someone else.
That puts Joe Mandragona on familiar turf. Much of his theater career has been spent doing Shakespeare.

He grew up in Berkeley, Calif., a place sizzling with political passion. His parents didn't follow that trend - his dad was a cop, his mom ran a media center - but he did.

Mandragona also had a motorcycle phase. "It was short-lived," he said. Mostly, the bike broke down.

He got into the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, then did professional theater. That included one small musical, "The Opposite of Sex," and a lot of plays, particularly Shakespeare.
That's when he surprised himself by landing the lead in the "All Shook Up" tour.

"My mother wouldn't believe it," Mandragona recalled. "I said, 'I got the lead.' She said, 'No you didn't.

' I said 'I did.' She said, 'No ..

.' "
He did and found the sheer joy of being a rock star. "It's a blast.

"
The show is filled with high-energy dance, Mandragona said. "I'd call it a '50s style, with a little modern dance thrown in."
And it has so much music that adrenaline overflows.

"I can't get back down afterward. ..

. The show is sort of the start of my day."
Audiences react in many ways.

"In Tucson (Ariz.), they are laughin' and lovin' it," Anton said. "In Boston, it's 'Uh-huh.

' In Milwaukee, it's 'Yeah!' In Houston ..

."
Well, that's up for interpretation. "Every town enjoys it in different ways," Mandragona said.

"Houston enjoyed it very quietly."
After all that glory on stage, Mandragona recedes into obscurity. At 5-foot-10 1/2-inches, he's an inch shorter than Anton, a few feet shorter than the Presley image.

"People don't recognize me at all," he said. "I don't even get recognized at the stage door.

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