The Man in Black

Presented by: Folsom Prison Productions

Venue: The Athenaeum Theatre

Date Reviewed: 2nd September 2009

Reviewer: Melissa Trickey - Theatre People Editor

The Man in Black tells the story of Johnny Cash, his life, his loves and his music. It's true that they don't make music stars like they used to. I defy Lady Gaga or the Pussy Cat Dolls to still be recording in 30 years! Johnny Cash touched millions of fans and sold many records... He certainly touched the audience of last week's Opening Night of The Man in Black, because they went nuts!!! You can't help bopping along to that Johnny Cash iconic guitar (pronounced GEE-tar) sound (nang nanga-nang  nanga-nang nanga-nang..... um anyway....) even if you don't consider yourself a die hard fan.

I'm going to start with my only criticism, because it's actually quite major. I didn't quite know what to make of the narration. I understand the idea of the piece was supposed to be like a concert, almost Cabaret type thing, song then talk, song then talk, however, the dialogue was not very well conceived. Yes it probably was necessary to bring in the "Johnny did blah blah on blah blah blah" occasionally. However, information can be presented in a way that doesn't make you want to yawn. It also meant that the acted seemed to be forced when they were actually telling the audience some very sad stories about Johnny Cash's life. The dialogue was often very awkward. The blocking was unimaginative. It seems to be the way that these sorts of Juke Box Musicals that the dialogue isn't treated as important because the whole thing is just an excuse to cram in a million hit songs, however, surely the dialogue, the narrative is an opportunity to make the amazing music a compelling story?! In this case, the story is actually already quite compelling, for instance, Walk the Line was a pretty good movie, and that was the same story. Also, the actors going from American Singing and Quoting to Australian Dialogue added to this problem. It didn't quite work. I realise that the show was to showcase Johnny's music, but it meant that if there was no song, the energy and flow of the piece was stilted. It also meant that the characters were never really defined or different from the actor's personalities. None of this is the fault of the performers, so gripes aside, let's get onto the good stuff!

Tex Perkins walked onto the stage, opened his mouth, and we were all floored.... he sounded exactly Johnny Cash. It was scary. Like really scary, like Tex was possessed by Johnny Cash's spirit or something... And not only with the singing. The black suit, the dark demeanour.... A fantastic and charismatic imitation of the great man in the songs, but we also got to see glimpses of Tex in the dialogue. I must also make mention of the tremendous vocal stamina needed by Tex, he sang 23 songs in 2 hours!!!!  He must have super vocal cords. There were times he did seem a tad unsure of the lyrics, but I think that can be forgiven considering the bulk of material. Highlights were " I Walk The Line" "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)" the whole Folsom Prison Set with the songs Johnny sang at the infamous concert, and in particular, the emotional depth of "Hurt" a Nine Inch Nails Cover. One criticism though, it would have been nice to see him play the guitar and sing at the same time, but apart from that, the man's got charisma!!

Rachael Tidd as the female protagonist / back up singer /June Carter hybrid-type character did a great job, however, I thought she got a pretty raw deal. She was stuck with most of the "Johnny was born blah blah blah" bits. She also had to sit on a chair and watch Tex sing whole songs, and did well to still look in the moment, not that she was particularly having one. She had a lovely voice and a nice presence, and Tex and Rachael had a lovely rapport together. They sang many duets including "If I Were A Carpenter" and of course, the show stopping, toe tapping end to Act 1, "Jackson", the song I walked out of the theatre humming.

The Band were smokin'!!! The Tennessee Four, made up of Peter Luscombe, James Black, Steve Hadley, Ashley Naylor were absolutely fantastic. Great musicality (great memories too!) and they were a great support to Tex as back up singers and story tellers.

Sound and Lighting were both absolutely excellent, no faults there what so ever.

Although it is aimed at a very specific target audience, I recommend anyone who ever thought they were a fan of Johnny Cash to get down there for a thoroughly enjoyable evening!!!

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