Presented by Folsom Prison Productions
Reviewed Thurs 22nd July 2010
http://www.themaninblack.com.au
Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Grote Street, Adelaide
Season: to Sat 24th July 8pm, Sat 24th July 2pm, Sun 25th July 5pm
Duration: 2hrs 30min incl interval
Tickets: adult $55/conc $50/groups $50
Bookings: BASS 131 241 or http://www.bass.net.au
This is an evening packed with a good many of Johnny Cash’s massive collection of hits, linked by a brief recounting of major events and turning points in his life. Gregory ‘Tex’ Perkins has, of course, a huge following in his own right and so this was a double attraction for fans of Cash’s music. With a great backing band, The Tennessee Four, and the assistance of Rachael Tidd as co-narrator, backing singer, and taking the role of June Carter, Perkins takes on the persona of Johnny Cash in a performance that doesn’t let up for a second.
The narrative takes us from Cash’s childhood in the depression of the 1930s to his death in 2003, only a few months after his second wife, June Carter Cash, had died. Their marriage survived 35 years, until her death separated them. Cash came from a large, poor family of cotton farmers and his early life was tainted by the death of his brother in a hideous sawmill accident and the disapproval of his father, who said that the wrong son had been taken. This stayed with him his entire life. He was a hard drinker, a womaniser and a drug user, yet with a strong Christian belief. This was one of the many dichotomies that defined him. He was also a champion of the underprivileged, disenfranchised and downtrodden.
Perkins has a rich, deep gravel voice that ideally suits the music and conveys Cash well. He gets right inside the songs and makes them his own whilst still maintaining the essence of Johnny Cash. Although he both looks and sounds a lot like Cash, however, there are grins, giggles and whisperings between Perkins and Tidd, often over minor mistakes in their lines, that lighten the mood, rendering it rather less sombre than a Johnny Cash concert.
If you have a favourite Cash song, there is a good chance that you will hear it in this show with Ring of Fire, I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues, A Boy Named Sue, Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down, Get Rhythm, Hey Porter, Don’t Take Your Guns To Town, 25 Minutes To Go, If I Were A Carpenter, How High’s The Water Mama, Hurt (recorded first by Nine Inch Nails) and Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) among the two dozen songs that make up this performance. Be quick to get tickets though, as it only has a short run.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor Glam Adelaide.
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