2008 Woodie Awards
Tribute to "Man in Black" alights stage at Stocker
Chris Kovach
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Arts
The spirit of the "man in black" came around to Lorain County Community College's Stocker Arts Center Tuesday, April 1 as the sights and sounds of Johnny Cash filled the close to full theater.
The off-Broadway musical "Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash" burned for nearly two hours as performers sang and danced to recreations of Cash's somber music.
The show, which consisted of 34 original songs by the man himself, was performed by 16 cast members and musicians, consisting of guitars, mandolins, fiddles, dobros, stand up bass, and keyboards, who romanticized the darker aspect of Cash's music.
Before Cash's death in 2003, producer Bill Meade approached Cash with the idea to put his music on stage. Cash, apprehensive about the idea, eventually agreed and gave the rights to his music to Meade, and "Ring of Fire" was born.
"Ring of Fire" seemed to be a hit with the mostly senior crowd that night.
The show opened with a medley of Johnny Cash's most popular songs followed by another of his familiar opening "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
The male performers played multiple versions of Cash while the women played different characters from June Carter to his mother and sister.
"Ring of Fire's" first set quickly moved through Cash's lighter songs and concentrated mostly on family and his relationship with his future wife June.
The only aspect of the performance that seemed to be missing was Cash's somber "Man in Black" personality.
Meade however, felt Cash's persona was impossible to duplicate and by dramatizing it on stage might take away from the performance. He felt the best impression they could achieve would be a poor imitation.
The show breezed through with monologues introducing each of Cash's songs. A definite highlight of the night came when two June Carters' came out to play the acoustic "Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart." The song generated many laughs through the stoicism of the performers, along with lyrics like "Up the elevator of your dreams, I've been shafted/ I've been washed from the sink of you conscience/ I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart."
The second set did however take on a darker tone as it focused on Cash's drug-related habits.
One Cash introduced "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by telling a story the first time Johnny Cash took a mood-altering drug, as the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" that Cash covered, played faintly in the background.
Songs like "Cocaine Blues" and the closing "I've Been Everywhere" elicited the most clapping and participation from the audience. However, Cash's more popular tunes like the titled "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue" seemed to fall flat.
The Stocker Center crowd heard
The off-Broadway musical "Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash" burned for nearly two hours as performers sang and danced to recreations of Cash's somber music.
The show, which consisted of 34 original songs by the man himself, was performed by 16 cast members and musicians, consisting of guitars, mandolins, fiddles, dobros, stand up bass, and keyboards, who romanticized the darker aspect of Cash's music.
Before Cash's death in 2003, producer Bill Meade approached Cash with the idea to put his music on stage. Cash, apprehensive about the idea, eventually agreed and gave the rights to his music to Meade, and "Ring of Fire" was born.
"Ring of Fire" seemed to be a hit with the mostly senior crowd that night.
The show opened with a medley of Johnny Cash's most popular songs followed by another of his familiar opening "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
The male performers played multiple versions of Cash while the women played different characters from June Carter to his mother and sister.
"Ring of Fire's" first set quickly moved through Cash's lighter songs and concentrated mostly on family and his relationship with his future wife June.
The only aspect of the performance that seemed to be missing was Cash's somber "Man in Black" personality.
Meade however, felt Cash's persona was impossible to duplicate and by dramatizing it on stage might take away from the performance. He felt the best impression they could achieve would be a poor imitation.
The show breezed through with monologues introducing each of Cash's songs. A definite highlight of the night came when two June Carters' came out to play the acoustic "Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart." The song generated many laughs through the stoicism of the performers, along with lyrics like "Up the elevator of your dreams, I've been shafted/ I've been washed from the sink of you conscience/ I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart."
The second set did however take on a darker tone as it focused on Cash's drug-related habits.
One Cash introduced "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by telling a story the first time Johnny Cash took a mood-altering drug, as the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" that Cash covered, played faintly in the background.
Songs like "Cocaine Blues" and the closing "I've Been Everywhere" elicited the most clapping and participation from the audience. However, Cash's more popular tunes like the titled "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue" seemed to fall flat.
The Stocker Center crowd heard
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