Theatre Albany opens season with ‘Ring of Fire’
Theatre Albany’s seven-performance run covers two weekends
By Jim Hendricks
ALBANY — The life in song of the late Johnny Cash will play from the stage through his music when the curtain rises Friday night on the 2016-17 season of Theatre Albany with the opening performance of “Ring of Fire.”
But while actors wearing black may be on the Albany stage, the Man in Black won’t be.
The musical, conceived by William Meade and created by Richard Maltby Jr., was performed on Broadway in 2006 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre after a fall 2005 test run at Buffalo’s Studio Arena Theatre.
Reports from that time suggest the hardest task for marketers was describing the play. In some ways, it’s best defined by what it isn’t. It’s not a Cash biography, nor is it a Cash tribute concert. It’s more of how the experiences shared by many Americans — including those in the audience — can be personified through Cash’s music as it progresses through his life.
“It’s basically a concert, songs with a little narration,” Theatre Albany Director Mark Costello said. “It’s about how the songs pertain to his life.”
The cast includes three men — Anthony Johnson, Charlie Meyer and Dalton Dugger — and three women — Lindsey Stewart, Kelly Walton and Delaney Taylor Bourlakov. They’ll perform a collection of Cash classics, including “I Walk the Line,” the namesake “Ring of Fire,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Five Feet High and Rising,” “I’ve Been Everywhere,” “Man in Black,” “If I Were a Carpenter” and others from Cash’s songbook.
None of the cast members is actually portraying Cash or his wife, June Carter Cash, Costello said. Instead, Cash’s songs are used to chronicle experiences.
“It starts off with little snippets, a little narration,” Costello said. “The songs reflect what they (the stage characters) have just gone through.”
Many of those life experiences are shared by those in the audience. For instance, onstage a middle-aged couple trying to keep the fires of romance ablaze sing “When I’ve Got It on My Mind,” while a multigenerational family get-together breaks out into “Daddy Sang Bass.” And most who are familiar with Cash can probably guess what the characters are dealing with when they sing “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Tickets for the show go on sale Tuesday at the Theatre Albany box office, which is open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and an hour before curtain. Tickets are $25, adults; $20, senior citizen; and $10, students. The box office can be reached at (229) 439-7141.
The curtain times for the seven-performance run are 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sept. 22-24, and 2 p.m. for the Sunday matinees on Sept. 18 and 25.
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