Book: Des McAnuff and Robert Cary
Music and Lyrics: Johnny Cash and June Carter
Director: Des McAnuff
The Ballad of Johnny and June is a Jukebox Musical that lives up to its title. Told through the eyes of their son, John Carter Cash (born 1970) who links the scenes with his ballad, it is a linear retelling of their life together through acted scenes and the music they created. It spares no blushes in retelling of his turbulent lifestyle accompanied by the often-mournful sounding rockabilly blues songs. When Johnny met June, they were established country stars and both married with children but as told by their son, it was the greatest love story and a fairytale. June Carter (1929-2003) had found success in the American Folk Group The Carter Family and was twice married when they met. Johnny (1932-2003) had been drifting away from his wife, Vivian, and toured perpetually fuelled by amphetamines, alcohol, and adultery. Desperate to escape his life as a door-to-door salesman, he abandons gospel music to secure his first recording in 1955 with Sun Records, “Hey Porter” with its chugging guitar sound.
The Ballad takes us through his hit songs such as “I walk the line” (1957), “Sunday morning coming down (1958), “Ring of Fire” (1963) with its Mariachi horns, “Jackson”(1967), “A boy named Sue” (1969), “I’ve been everywhere” (1996) and “Hurt” (2002). If you know these songs, you are a Johnny Cash fan but if you are not then the narrative fills in the details behind the famous musical name. The show explorers his backing band The Tennessee Three (Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant and WS Hawk), his ABC TV show The Johnny Cash show (1969-1971), his brushes with the law, his free prison concerts, “Folsom Prison Blues” (1952) and his spells in the Betty Ford Clinic.
At its heart, the show is about the enduring legacy of Cash’s music and that love story between him and June and therefore the show’s success depends on its two central stars. Christopher Ryan Grant captures the man’s southern American country voice; dressed in black with a guitar slung over his shoulder, he recreates Cash’s distinctive sound. He conveys the love, anger and alcoholism that drive him without being a caricature or lacking in authenticity. Opposite him the immensely talented Christina Bianco plays June Carter with real heart and a fine voice. We can see she cares about him despite his faults, and how she carefully manoeuvres around him. Ryan O’Donnell plays their son, John Carter Cash, sat on the forestage watching and narrating though his ballad with great charm.
It is a curious choice to present Johnny Cash as a child and John Carter as a young boy by a single white spot centre stage voiced by O’Donnell as it reduces the emotional impact of the critical scene when Johnny’s elder brother, Jack, gets killed in a sawmill accident. However, the overall setting of a barn with sliding doors and the ensemble create the settings and characters in his life well with slick transitions.
This is more than a Johnny Cash music jukebox. It uses his music and his country and western ballad style to tell his story, and the three central performances are excellent with a strong backing sound from the band and actor musicians. Occasionally the fast-paced vocals get lost in the sound mix but overall, even for someone who does not know his back story this is a delightfully engaging story that brings to the stage a musical legend.
UK Tour runs until 19th September.
