Ring of Fire: Stage North celebrates Johnny Cash's legacy
In its second musical of the season, the Stage North Theatre Society brings the work of country music legend Johnny Cash to life at the North Peace Cultural Centre for the next two weekends.
Unlike the biopic Walk the Line, which details Cash’s life, Ring of Fire celebrates and showcases his music, interspersed with snippets of his life. Described as a jukebox musical, Ring of Fire – which gets its title from one of Cash’s biggest hits – debuted on Broadway in 2006.
“The author of the play makes a point of not mimicking, but celebrating Johnny Cash,” director Blair Scott said.
“None of them are Johnny, but all of them are,” he said of the seven actors who make up the cast.
Throughout his long career, which saw Cash’s music evolve from a gospel style to rockabilly, to country and crossing over to pop when he released his version of Ring of Fire in 1963, Cash wrote something like 865 songs. Of these, just 30 have been chosen for the production.
The small cast of seven – Mike Sowers, Skyler Rowsell, Breana Harrison, Christy Stephens, Ben Wheeler, Abi Garner and Michaela Wood – under the direction of both Scott and musical director Dana Pedersen, bring Cash’s music and legacy to life.
Talented musicians and singers all, the cast uses a variety of instruments to recreate Cash’s sound, including mandolin, keyboard, violin, acoustic and bass guitars, tamborine, harmonica and drums. Fort St. John audiences will have seen some of the actors in other Stage North productions including Buddy Holly, Footloose and Patsy Cline.
Ring of Fire opens at the North Peace Cultural Centre on February 29 at 7:30 p.m., and continues March 1-2, 7-9 also at 7:30 p.m., with matinee performances on Saturday, March 2 and 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online at the Cultural Centre or at the Box Office, which is open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and an hour before the start of each performance.