Fall into the blazing ring of fire that is Johnny Cash’s scorching song catalogue at Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at Drury Lane Theatre. Part biography, part music revue, and all entertainment, Ring of Fire will take you on a nostalgic, country music-filled journey through the life, times, and songs of American treasure Johnny Cash.

The original 2006 Broadway production of Ring of Fire lasted only 47 performances, likely because it was riding the coattails of the popularity of the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line starring Joaquin Phoenix, and the Broadway musical treats the same story and songs more shallowly and lightly. Drury Lane Theatre brings back this production in a new context, in a new decade, maybe when we need and miss the country music icon more than ever.

Erik Hellman, Roy James Brown, Ron E Rains, Elleon Dobias, Michael Potter. Photo by Brett Beiner

The modest hour and 45 minute run time consists mostly of music, impressively played live by the six-person cast and band, which was one of the biggest highlights for me. Ron E. Rains portrays an older Cash, narrating the story and exchanging meaningful glances with the younger Johnny, played by Michael D. Potter, as he goes through life making music, headlines, and mistakes. 

Using Cash’s songs, small costume and set changes, and short bits of dialogue, the show takes you through Johnny Cash’s life, from his childhood growing up on a farm, to hitting it big in the country music scene, to his drug addiction, to meeting his soulmate June Carter. 

Aja Wiltshire, Michael Potter. Photo by Brett Beiner

The only complaint I could see one having about the show – and maybe why it didn’t last long on Broadway – is how briskly it skims over the rich life story of Johnny Cash. It feels more like a musical review than a traditional musical. It’s even reminiscent of a similar musical, Million Dollar Quartet, about a recording session at Sun Studios with Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis that had a home in Chicago for many years in the early 2000s. If you like the music, you’ll be happy. But if you want a more traditional musical with plot and character-driven songs, this may not be the show for you.

Johnny Cash fans will love hearing both hits and deeper cuts from the Cash catalogue, like “Big River”, “Straight As in Love”, “Cry Cry Cry”, “Hey Porter”, “I Still Miss Someone”, “Five Feet High”, “Daddy Sang Bass”, “Get Rhythm”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, and dozens more. Female voices also shine with Aja Wiltshire as a brassy and sassy June Carter and Elleon Dobias as Cash’s heartbroken first wife Viv.

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is playing at Drury Lane Theatre through October 22, 2023. Tickets can be purchased on their website.