Well, thank goodness for that, yet another musical based on the oeuvre of a contemporary (if late) musician. A musical featuring the songs of the legend that is Johnny Cash has previewed in Buffalo, New York, to favourable reviews, and is expected to transfer to Broadway next year. A reviewer from the Toronto Star said: "There's no cliched stage biography here, nor is there an artificially constructed story trying to string it all together". Crikey. It's a miracle.
The show, 'Ring Of Fire', features around 35 of Cash's songs, but no actor portrays the country star, which is probably a good thing, given the dire reception received by that John Lennon musical in which several different actors played the Beatle at different stages in his life. Explaining why no actor had been cast as Cash, Tony award winning director Richard Maltby said: "The persona, the voice, are unduplicatable, [is that a word?] and the very best we could achieve would be a poor imitation."
Maltby added that Cash had given approval for this project before his death in 2003, having already rejected several other similar projects. A film of Johnny Cash's life 'Walk The Line', starring Joaquin Phoenix, is currently in production.