By Randi Bjornstad
Dust off your best Johnny Cash musical memories, because Actors Cabaret of Eugene has a musical scheduled that celebrates The Man in Black’s career and his contribution to American music in a show called — need anyone ask — Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash.
Auditions for parts will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the theater at 996 Willamette St. in downtown Eugene.
Actors Cabaret describes the cast as a “flexible cast of five women and five men,” all of whom need to be strong singers. Each person should come prepared to sing a short (one minute) of a Broadway-style song and should bring a CD, MP3, or YouTube karaoke track as accompaniment — no a cappella auditions.
Actors Cabaret emphasizes a commitment “to celebrating diversity on our stage and in our audiences. We welcome all ages, genders, races, abilities, orientations, and beliefs — theater is for everyone.”
The show will run from June 13 to July 12, 2025, and it will feature more than 30 of some of Cash’s best-known recorded songs, such as I Walk the Line, A Boy Named Sue, Country Boy, Five Feet High and Rising, and, naturally, Ring of Fire.
Referred to as a “jukebox musical” because most of the songs are familiar and popular, it has been described as “an almost mythic American tale — of growing up in simple, dirt-poor surroundings in the heartland of America, leaving home, traveling on the wings of music, finding love, misadventure, success, faith, redemption, and eventually returning home. It’s about the journey of a man in search of his own soul.”
ACE’s version has been designed and will be directed by Joe Zingo.
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