Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash
With his iconic songs highlighting his life's struggles and triumphs, Johnny Cash, who recorded one thousand five hundred songs during his life music, will forever be a part of the rich historical Country Music genre. He was known as a rebel, a man of faith, who campaigned for prison reform and his songs like Blood, Sweat, and Tears about race in America. With his deep baritone voice combined with the masterful sounds played from his guitar, you could hear the power and emotions of Cash as he detailed his struggles in life, the pain and passion of love, his unwavering faith, and his undying commitment to the common man. Ring of Fire is a musical tribute to Cash's life, legacy, and music.
Drury Lane's Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is a musical illustration of Johnny Cash's life through his music.
Cash grew up poor and settled into a community where his family lived on property set for underprivileged families who had
the opportunity to work the ground with the possibility, through hard work, to one day own the land. Most of Cash's songs were from life experience, and "Five Feet High and Rising" came from when their farm experienced a flood.
Known as "The Man in Black, Cash would wear black clothing for his solidarity with those living in poverty and wrote songs as a protest against the treatment of the poor. The play glances over Cash's struggles with drug addiction, which caused his first marriage to end in divorce, and how his relationship started with his second wife, June Carter Cash, her death — and Cash's soft heart for the poor and working-class due to his struggle with poverty, which inspired many of his songs.
The play talks about Cash's early snippet of Cash's beginnings when he and his group went to Sun Records, a record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee. Sun produced records for Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Cash, hoping to get a recording contract, auditioned for Phillips, singing a gospel song, but Phillips told the group to come back when they could sing something that wasn't gospel, and Cash came up with "Cry Cry Cry," which landed him with Sun Records. His country hit parade. But it was Cash's next record, a country/rockabilly song called Folsom Prison Blues, that landed him on the top country music charts — which later became his signature song after he introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." Phillips is also famously known for recording an impromptu jam session between Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley named Million Dollar Quartet, which was made into a play and hit Broadway in 2006.
Directed by Scott Weinstein, who last directed Rock of Ages, featured a cast of six: Ron E. Rains (Johnny), Michael D. Potter (J.R. the young Johnny Cash), Aja Wiltshire (June), Elleon Dobias (Viv), Erik Hellman (Luther), and Roy James Brown as Marshall—the singing musicians who brought Cash's songs to life on stage. Potter, who played the young Johnny Cash, delighted the crowd, but I would have liked to have seen more of Rains as Cash, allowing this accomplished actor to share some of Cash's trials and tribulations. It was strange to see a young and old Cash played by two actors, but June Cash was only played by Wiltshire. The strength of the play is the cast, who blessed the audience with singing and playing some of Cash's great songs like I Walk The Line, inspired by his first wife Viv, Sunday Morning Coming, A Boy Named Sue, Man in Black, Folsom Prison Blues, and Ring of Fire, and some of his lesser-known songs like, I Still Miss Someone and Country Boy; which is the main reason fans of Johnny Cash will relish about coming to Drury Lane to see this play.
Overall, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, created by Richard Maltby, Jr. and conceived by William Meade, was a delightful night listening to and revisiting the days of hearing Cash's songs. I was looking for more narrative about his life and the legacy of Cash, which would have resonated more with the audience; however, they chose the path of featuring Cash's songs with minimal dialogue. I wanted to see why this play was more music and conversation — and I discovered that the original production, which provided more narrative, wasn't as successful. However, this cut went too deep, leaking the storyline of a great career. The singing and music were fantastic, and the chemistry on stage provided the grand ole opry feel, still the need for dialogue where the cast shared some of Cash's life struggles, his triumphs and legacy, and the later stages of this career, where his songs trended more toward his issues with sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, would have improved this production significantly.
2 ½ Stars
Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash
Drury Lane Theatre
Created by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Conceived by William Meade
Directed by Scott Weinstein
Show runs One Hour, 45 minutes, including one intermission
August 30 - October 22, 2023
