OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill.—Johnny Cash led a turbulent and fascinating life, but the musical “Ring of Fire” isn’t a complete biography of his life. That’s because Richard Maltby Jr. (“Ain’t Misbehavin,” 1978, and “Fosse,” 1999), the creator and producer of the jukebox musical, which opened on Broadway in 2006, believed that presenting the life story of Johnny Cash wouldn’t do justice to the country icon. He believed that Cash’s voice and his persona couldn’t be duplicated in a theatrical setting and that a dramatization would work better in film. It did in “Walk the Line,” the 2005 movie that traced the legendary singer’s early life.
Instead, Mr. Maltby thought there was a story about Cash that could be presented in a concert-style arena. Cash’s life was a quintessential American story about a man who grew up in poverty, left home to sing his songs, went looking for success, searched for love, and finally returned home to find faith and redemption. It is really a tale about a man searching for his soul, and Mr. Maltby believed the story could be told through “The Man-in-Black’s” songbook.
