I walk the line, debating whether Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is really bad … or really, really bad.
The show’s cast, four men and one woman, sing Johnny’s songs and aren’t supposed to imitate him. But they often do. Performer Nicole Stefonek also imitates Cash’s wife, June Carter — a tough stretch since Stefonek looks too much like a young, carrot-topped Bette Midler and sings in a high frilly voice.
The show was created by Richard Maltby Jr. and conceived by William Meade. But it covers ground that anyone familiar with even a cursory biography of Cash will already know: He was raised poor; his 14-year-old brother, Jack, died in a freak accident; he was a drug addict because he thought the red, orange, green and black pills made him a better performer; and he fell in love with June at first sight at the Grand Ole Opry.
Writing in the show’s program, Van Kaplan, the CLO’s executive producer, cashes in and spends his first three lengthy paragraphs on Cash’s career … facts and quotes that should be in the show, not on a page no one reads. (Except me.)
Maltby and Meade knew the show was in trouble; it was a hit in Buffalo but a bomb on Broadway, and was renamed several times. So much work was done that Kaplan admits, “Maltby Jr. and Meade continued to make a great idea greater.”
Director and choreographer Guy Stroman gives the show little fluidity between the awkward blackouts; any creative moves are impossible on Tony Ferrieri’s stage, which is as big as two Johnny Cash postage stamps issued last year.
What the hell is going on here? Where are the spark and soul and rousing energy?
The good news: The men — Jay Hitt, Paul Koudouris, Mitch Marois, Jon Rohlf — have great voices, especially Hitt, long a popular local acoustic performer.
Cash’s mother once told him that overcoming adversity means putting faith in the Lord. I agree.
I also have decided that if I am ever forced to waste two hours on such nonsense again, I will become a boy named Sue who heads to Actors Equity to sue.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2014.
What and asshole. Petrucelli should find a new calling.
Yet another snark-filled article that reaffirms CP’s distain for Pittsburgh.
Its a great show. Highly disagree with this unnecessary harshness.
Bizarre useless nasty review dramatically at odds with actual performance. Why does this paper allow such trash to be published?
In the performance I saw- the banjo player was yawning, the woman was incredibly off pitch and hard to listen to, and there was very little energy. Only one or two of them truly captured the Cash essence. The female tried to embody June Carter and just couldn’t pull it off. It should have been advertised as a concert. Very disappointed.
This review is definitely harsher than it needs to be but, still, the production ain’t great. The version of the script I am familiar with tells much more of Cash’s story while this version tells a bare minimum. If you’re going to perform an evening of Cash’s music, imitation-style or not, you need to have at least one male voice with some weight to it. These guys, while fine singers, had light, tenors. There were even times when beautiful, well-executed harmony sections were lacking bottom end. The cast was not helped by the anemic sound design. I understand the desire to keep the volume at a pleasant level for theatre-goers but some instruments, particularly the electric guitar, were barley audible (and I won’t even get into the lack of tone on that Strat). On top of all that, there were many moments when performers looked unengaged or even bored, particularly the two younger guys. Guess what, fellas…just cuz you ain’t singin’ lead doesn’t mean no one sees your dead eyes while you think about your grocery list.