JOHNNY Cash – or ‘the man in black’ as he was known – may have died 23 years ago, but his music still very much lives on today.
This was confirmed by the enthusiasm of his fans at the press night for ‘The Ballad of Johnny and June’ at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre.
Cash earned his ’man in black’ handle not just because of his black attire, but because his songs tended to be mostly dark outpourings about sorrow, misdoings and seeking redemption.
Picture by Pamela Raith Photography. s
He was born into and brought up in a strict Bible Belt community where he married his first wife Vivian Liberto with whom he had two daughters. The love of his life though, was country singer June Carter, with whom he spent 25 turbulent years after splitting with Vivian.
Tragically, the only other love of his life were drugs and alcohol which often took him beyond despair and into another shade of blackness.
Des McAnuff (who directed the show and co-wrote the book along with Robert Gray) tells the story in almost too much detail as, despite some interesting staging, it gets a tad monotonous.
Picture by Pamela Raith Photography. s
Were it not for the smart idea of using Cash and June’s son John Carter Cash as the narrator it might have been plain dreary, but happily this addition brings in much needed moments of banter to lighten the mood.
Ryan O’Donnell puts in an excellent performance as John Carter Cash – as does Christina Bianco as June Carter, who besides walking the walk, has a country singing voice so rich it’s intoxicating.
Christopher Ryan Grant is remarkable as Johnny Cash – rephrase that – he IS johnny Cash – every movement, gesture and word – both spoken and sung – jumps off the stage right at you.
The rest of the talented company all work hard with much multi-tasking of roles and the band too are all excellent musicians – but despite all these positives, like Johnny Cash’s life itself, the show reaches a few peaks but never quite goes over the top as we all want it to.
Picture by Pamela Raith Photography. s
It’s like waiting for the party kick off but it never quite does.
The times for the audience to clap along are too sparse – Cash did write some great songs but not many happy ones – if only he had written Sweet Caroline, we could have all gone home smiling rather than going down, down, down in a burning ring of fire.
The Ballad of Johnny and June runs at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre until Saturday, April 25. Click here for times, tickets and more information.
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Review by Euan Rose
For Euan Rose Reviews
