Johnny Cash’s hit song “Ring of Fire” was actually written by June Carter about her love affair with Cash, a relationship in which she has since been compared to the controlling influence of Yoko Ono over John Lennon.
Regardless, the two were married 29 years; they died within four months of each other in 2003.
The jukebox musical “Ring of Fire,” about the life of Johnny Cash, opened this week at Riverside Theatre.
Cash created 1,500 songs and this show includes about 30 of them. Actors play multiple roles in the musical. It is directed by Jason Edwards, a onetime cast member in the show on Broadway.
Also at Riverside, it’s a Comedy Zone weekend, in full Oktoberfest mode outside (Bob Houston’s Oktoberfest Band on Friday; and Bobby Owen’s golden oldies on Saturday), and in the black box theater, two interesting comics. Jody Kerns, a mother of five who isn’t shy about making their histories a part of her act – and she plays guitar; and Ken Miller, who was runner-up twice in Orlando’s comedy competition for top comic in Central Florida.
It’s been a year since the great film composer James Horner was killed in the crash of his single-engine plane; at age 61 he surely had much music still to write. Next weekend, Space Coast Symphony offers up a concert of his best scores, including “Titanic,” “Braveheart,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Aliens” and “Apollo 13.” Conductor Aaron Collins, who adores movie music, will be screening movie clips as a backdrop, which makes this a great concert for kids, too. (The music from “Avatar” and “Willow” is also on the program.) Concerts take place Saturday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. at Melbourne’s Scott Center for the Performing Arts at Holy Trinity Church, and Sunday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center.
Vero has legions of book clubs, but here’s a niche group that gets you out into nature. For the fifth year, McKee Botanical Gardens is hosting a nature-themed club starting Nov. 17 – so you have time to read the first selection, Marie Winn’s “Red Tails in Love.” Written eight years ago, the book’s subtitle, “A Wildlife Drama in Central Park,” may jog your memory: a Match.com-worthy saga of a male hawk seeking a mate for his Upper East Side pad – the 12th-floor ledge of an apartment building.
Also at the Gardens, back by popular demand they say, another “Nature Connects” Lego exhibition opens Nov. 5 with 13 of artist Sean Kenney’s massive Lego sculptures installed in the gardens through May.
And, by the way, as of Nov. 1, downtown Vero’s Patisserie is taking over the McKee café. No doubt the excellent croissants and sandwiches will yield a steady supply of crumbs for the birds.
It may seem last minute for such a huge star, but there were plenty of seats left at press time for Friday night’s concert of 1970s folk icon Judy Collins at Melbourne’s King Center. At 77, Collins has the stamina of a presidential candidate, keeping up a rigorous concert schedule that has her moving on to an eight-night booking at Café Carlyle in New York in a couple of weeks with four concerts in Illinois in between.
It was after another controversial election 47 years ago that Collins took the witness stand in support of the Chicago 7 and burst into her hit protest song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
Collins supported the Marxist ideals of the Yippie movement and was friends with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, who were charged with inciting violence at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
Still an activist, Collins’ causes are more mainstream today – she campaigns against land mines and supports charities like UNICEF.
“The Witches of Eastwick,” the stage musical wrapping up its run at Melbourne’s Henegar Center, has just the blend of real-world sorcery to get more than the goblins howling on this Halloween weekend.
The appropriately named Damon Dennin plays the demonic Daryl Van Horne, who arrives in a small Rhode Island town and seduces three frustrated single women and, at the same time, shows them their magical powers. When they find he has married their young friend, they plot to kill her off with cancer. Not nice. When she dies, Daryl takes off with her brother. Oh, well. The play is based on the pro-feminist novel of John Updike.
Dennin, currently living in Cape Canaveral, has appeared in several Brevard productions of late, including the Henegar’s “Hand to God” and “Big Fish.” Also starring is Vero Beach’s Beth McKenzie in her Henegar debut, along with Henegar veteran MC Wouters and Sarabeth Dawson.