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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cory Dagg has had the kind of career most actors only dream about. He spent years in Hollywood, appearing in The X‑Files and The Commish, and sharing scenes with Robert De Niro in We’re No Angels. There were other films too — Wrongfully Accused among them — the sort of steady, recognisable work that quietly builds a life in the industry. But here, at the Fringe, he stands alone onstage with nothing more than a slide projector and a story he promised he would “tell, and tell right.”
The show centres on a chance meeting that changed him: an evening spent with Mae Axton, the American songwriter, teacher, publicist and part‑time radio DJ whose fingerprints are all over the early career of Elvis Presley. Cory recalls being introduced to her by her son, Hoyt Axton, and from there the night unfolded into one of those encounters that stays with you. Onstage, he lets Mae speak again — through her words, her work, and the images he projects behind him.
What emerges is a portrait of a woman who was far more than the co‑writer of “Heartbreak Hotel.” Cory explains how Mae and Tommy Durden shaped the song from a bleak newspaper clipping into something sharper, stranger, and unforgettable. He describes how she handed Elvis the demo, how he recorded it, and how it became his first million‑selling RCA single. More importantly, he shows how Mae championed Elvis long before Colonel Parker took over — interviewing him on her radio show, pushing for him, believing in him.
The slides, the voiceover, the quiet pacing — they all serve the same purpose: to honour Mae Axton as the “queen mother of Nashville,” a pioneer who wrote more than 200 songs and worked with Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Mel Tillis, Reba McEntire and so many others. Cory’s pact with her — to tell the story properly — gives the show its heart. It’s respectful, insightful and gently illuminating, the kind of Fringe hour that sends you away wanting to know more.
For anyone curious about the early, fragile years of Elvis Presley, or about the woman who helped steer him towards history, this is a thoughtful and affectionate tribute.
Reviewed by Jacqueline Sharp
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