March 1-May 5, 2013 Created by Richard Maltby, Jr. Conceived by William Meade Orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby RING OF FIRE: Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents THE MUSIC OF JOHHNY CASH PLAY GUIDE • Written by Leda Hoffmann Education Coordinator with contributions from Steven Esche Education Intern Created and Directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. Amanda Garrigan Conceived by William Meade Education Intern Orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby March 1- May 5, 2013 • Stackner Cabaret Play Guide edited by Lisa Fulton MARK’S TAKE: Director of Marketing “Prior to coming to America, I’d never paid much attention to country music. But it’s now JC Clementz Literary Assistant become a style that I absolutely love. Johnny Cash is so influential to so many musicians Jenny Kostreva across so many genres, and Ring of Fire treats Education Director us to all of those legendary, great songs, • while giving us a snapshot into his life. It’s a Graphic Design by celebration of his soul-stirring music—really good stuff!” Eric Reda -Mark Clements, Artistic Director TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3 Synopsis Musical Numbers Page 4 Johnny Cash Timeline Tickets: 414-224-9490 www.MilwaukeeRep.com Page 6 Johnny Cash: The Man Page 7 Richard Maltby, Jr. Mark Clements Page 8 Visiting The Rep Artistic Director Milwaukee Repertory Theater 108 E. Wells Street Milwaukee, WI • 53202 SYNOPSIS Ring of Fire is a jukebox musical that celebrates the lives and stories Johnny Cash sang about in his music. A cast of four men and one woman tell his remarkable life story through some of the greatest songs of one of America’s most brilliant singer/ songwriters, Johnny Cash. The story travels from Cash growing up on a farm, to the Grand Ole Opry, to meeting June Carter and falling into a “Ring of Fire.” A mosaic of American experience featuring “Five Feet High and Rising,” “Daddy Sang Bass,” “Ring of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” and “I’ve Been Everywhere,” the show features the music of Johnny Cash at his highs and lows. Eddie Clendening as Johnny Cash. MUSICAL NUMBERS: ACT 1 Let the Train Blow the Whistle Country Boy Straight A’s In Love ACT 2 Highway Underscore I’ve Been Everywhere While I’ve Got It On My Mind Sunday Morning Coming Down Five Feet High All Over Again Sweet Bye and Bye Going to Memphis Daddy Sang Bass Flesh and Blood Delia’s Gone I Was There When it Happened Folsom Prison Blues Cry Cry Cry Man In Black Big River I Walk The Line I Still Miss Someone Far Side Banks Of Jordon Get Rhythm Why Me Lord Egg Suckin’ Dog Oh Come Angel Band Hey Porter Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart A Boy Named Sue If I Were A Carpenter Ring of Fire Jackson Production Photos by Michael Brosilow Trenna Barnes and Jason Edwards with Trenna Barnes and Eddie Clendening with Mark W. Winchester. David Miles Keenan, Mark W. Winchester Mark W. Winchester, David Miles Keenan and and Eddie Clendening in the background. Jason Edwards in the background. www.MilwaukeeRep.com • pg 3 JOHNNY CASH Johnny Cash was born February 26th, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas, the fourth of seven children. At age three, Cash’s father moved the family to Dyess Colony in northeast Arkansas, where they farmed twenty acres of cotton and other seasonal crops. Cash grew up with music as an integral part of his household, and he began to write songs and play guitar at age twelve. His music saw many influences from hymns, his mother’s folk songs, and work songs from nearby railroad yards. By the time Cash entered high school, he performed Some of Johnny frequently on radio station KLCN in Cash’s Hit Songs Blythville, Arkansas. After his graduation “Cry, Cry, Cry” from high school in 1950, Cash moved to “Folsom Prison Blues” Detroit before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. Johnny Cash. “I Walk the Line” He joined the Air Force Security Service in “Don’t Take Your Landsberg, Germany intercepting and translating Soviet morse Guns to Town” code transmissions. Here Cash organized his first band, the “I Got Stripes” Landsberg Barbarians. After discharge from the Air Force in 1954, “Understand Your Man” Cash married Vivian Liberto, whom he met during basic training. “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” The same year he auditioned for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records and “Ring of Fire” with a couple of mechanics, Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins, “Solitary Man” formed a trio known as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. The “Jackson” three friends recorded hit songs such as “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Folsom “Long-Legged Prison Blues,” and “I Walk the Line.” “I Walk the Line” shot to Guitar Pickin’ Man” the Billboards number one position and remained on the record “It Ain’t Me, Babe” charts for 43 weeks, ultimately selling over two million copies. Throughout the late the 1950s and into the 1960s, Cash continued to produce hit records. His songs “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” “I Got Stripes,” “Understand Your Man,” and “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” all hit near the top of the record charts. Cash also produced arguably his most popular song, “Ring of Fire,” at this time; co-written by June Carter. 1932 1954 1955 1956 1963 1965 The music Cash Kingsland,and CarrieJohnny ArkansasCloveree. CashLiberto born toJohnny Raymarry.in Cash and and “Cry,Tennessee Vivian Cry,first Cry.” Johnnyrecordings Two: “Hey Cash Porter”“Iwith releases Walk theCash the hisreleases Line.” Cash the hit releases single in“Ring hispossession guitar of Fire”.El case.Paso, Police of Texas amphetamines arrest for Cash in for divorce.Vivian Liberto filesCash and Juneinducts CarterCountry marry.Cash. MusicMale Hall GrammyVocal of MyFame Performance. Love forCash, Best to withRose,” Countryat the the wins songcomplications age a Johnny “Giveof 71. surgery Cash withto dies diabetescomplicationsat June thefrom age Carter Best of 73. withCashShortwins heart videoadies Form Grammy due for Video. “Hurt” for TIMELINE Ring of Fire: The Music of Johhny Cash Play Guide • pg 4 Despite Cash’s success on the charts, he struggled in his personal life. Cash moved to California in 1958, where he extensively abused drugs and alcohol. In 1965, custom officials arrested Cash for trying to smuggle amphetamines in his guitar case across the Mexican border. Following this period of Cash’s substance abuse, touring, and womanizing, Vivian Liberto divorced Cash in 1967. Cash moved to Nashville in 1967, and worked with June Carter, who helped Cash overcome his drug addiction. The two went on to marry in 1968. Cash and Carter produced top charting Cash and Carter’s First Album Together. duets, including “Jackson,” “Long-Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man,” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” Although the effects of his drug and alcohol abuse remained a struggle throughout his career, Cash continued to produce hit records. In 1980, at the age of 48, Johnny Cash became one of the youngest inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cash in 1992 as one the few musicians recognized in both organizations. Despite health problems, Cash’s successful career continued, as he earned a Grammy for best contemporary folk album (American Recordings) in 1994, another Grammy for best country album (Unchained) in 1997, and a Grammy for the best male country vocal performance for his cover of Neil Diamonds “Solitary Man” in 2000. In 2003, Cash earned three CMA awards, and his video for “Hurt” won an MTV award and a Grammy. He lost his wife June Carter Cash while she underwent heart valve replacement surgery in May 2003. Johnny Cash suffered complications from diabetes and passed away on September 12, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee. Cash’s rugged simplicity and honesty in his work extended the scope of country music and broadened audiences throughout his career. Johnny Cash and June Carter in 2002. 1966 1968 1980 2002 2003 The music Cash Kingsland,and CarrieJohnny ArkansasCloveree. CashLiberto born toJohnny Raymarry.in Cash and and “Cry,Tennessee Vivian Cry,first Cry.” Johnnyrecordings Two: “Hey Cash Porter”“Iwith releases Walk theCash the hisreleases Line.” Cash the hit releases single in“Ring hispossession guitar of Fire”.El case.Paso, Police of Texas amphetamines arrest for Cash in for divorce.Vivian Liberto filesCash and Juneinducts CarterCountry marry.Cash. MusicMale Hall GrammyVocal of MyFame Performance. Love forCash, Best to withRose,” Countryat the the wins songcomplications age a Johnny “Giveof 71. surgery Cash withto dies diabetescomplicationsat June thefrom age Carter Best of 73. withCashShortwins heart videoadies Form Grammy due for Video. “Hurt” for www.MilwaukeeRep.com • pg 5 THE MAN IN BLACK Johnny Cash’s iconic black clothes started as a practicality. When Cash began touring he did not have many changes of clothes so he wore a black t-shirt in order to look clean even if he had been wearing it for days. Over the years, Cash became known as the “man in black.” In his song “Man in Black,” he sings, “I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because Richard Maltby Jr. he’s a victim of the times.” Yet in an interview with Larry King, Cash reflected on this song as not necessarily his reason for wearing black, but rather it simply coming Cash in His Famous Attire. down to his comfort level in the clothing. His eldest daughter saw her father’s wardrobe as a more of a statement of who he is: “it reflected the sadness, the convulsions, just that mythic dark night of the soul that he went through so many times.” PRISON REFORM Johnny Cash took on prison reform as a political cause, bringing detention center conditions to the attention of politicians and the media.