The musical Ring of Fire will play its final performance on Sunday, April 30 at 2pm at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The musical — created and directed by Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. and conceived by William Meade — officially opened on March 12, 2006. At the time of its closing, it will have played 37 previews and 57 regular performances.
The musical utilizes 38 songs of country legend Johnny Cash, including such hits as “Country Boy,” “A Thing Called Love,” “Five Feet High and Rising,” “Daddy Sang Bass,” “Ring of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “I’ve Been Everywhere,” “The Man in Black,” and his final hit, “Hurt.”
The cast includes Jeb Brown, Jason Edwards, Tony Award winner Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone, Cass Morgan, two-time Grammy Award winner Lari White, David M. Lutken, Randy Redd, Eric Anthony, Laurie Canaan, Dan Immel, Ron Krasinski, Jeff Lisenby, and Brent Moyer.
In his review of the production for TheaterMania, David Finkle wrote, “It might be easy to dismiss this show as yet another ‘jukebox musical’ […but] the truth is that most of these musicals, no matter what they’re termed, are simply cashing in on the popularity of the material. The only thing that distinguishes Ring of Fire from the rest of the mediocre pack is that it’s literally Cash-ing in.”