Johnny Cash did not have an easy life.
His brother died after he had been pulled into a head saw while at work at a mill.
As a young boy, cotton picking was the way his poor family survived.
He battled drugs. Got arrested. Nearly died of an overdose.
But oh, could the man make music.
His life and much of that music is what Arizona Theatre Company’s next offering, “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash.”
This isn’t a stage version of the popular movie about his life.
Rather, it’s his life told through his music.
“It’s a thumbnail sketch of his life propelled by the songs,” says director Randal Myler.
“It’s his career ups and downs, from meeting June Carter, his demons, his jail time, and his redemption. You kind of come and go in his life.”
Myler wasn’t suppose to direct this production; that job belonged to his friend Jason Edwards, who was in the cast of the original Broadway production in 2006. The show opened and closed quickly, but Edwards — who played Woody Guthrie in ATC’s “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” in 2010 — knew and loved Cash’s music. He got permission to rework the play, then he directed it and performed in it, taking it to regional theaters. He was to mount it at ATC, but Edwards died in November, two days after the play ended a successful run at the Riverside Theatre, in Vero Beach, Florida.
Much of the Riverside cast will recreate their roles at ATC, and the show is dedicated to Edwards.
Myler considered Edwards one of his best friends, and when ATC’s artistic director David Ira Goldstein asked him to take over as the director, Myler quickly agreed.
He knows the company: Myler has directed such ATC shows as “Love, Janis,” “Woody Guthrie” and “Hank Williams: Lost Highway.” He wanted to direct “Ring of Fire” in memory of his friend.
In fact, most of the cast — nearly all performed that last show in Florida — wanted to do it in memory of Edwards.
“This will be the first time they are all together since Jason’s passing,” said Myler.
“It’s a tremendous group of people performing. The audience will be in store for a good show with very good singers and really good musicians. Jason knows how to pick them. And we all want to do it for Jason.”
