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The Ballad of Johnny & June

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh 

Four stars

 

Johnny Cash and June Carter were destined to be together from the moment they met back stage at the Grand Ol’ Opry. The mercurial life the first couple of country music shared until their deaths months apart in 2003 could have been channelled from the sorts of songs that made them both international stars. Those lives are laid bare in Des McAnuff and Robert Cary’s warts and all tribute to Johnny and June in a show that goes beyond a greatest hits affair to get to the emotional heart of two pop cultural legends. 

 

As the title suggests, this is made myth by a ballad, sung and played throughout by Johnny and June’s son and country music star in his own right, John Carter Cash. Played with considerable charm by Ryan O’Donnell, John becomes the show’s narrator, with a supporting cast doubling up as assorted personal and musical foils as well as what is effectively an all crooning Greek chorus. 

 

The story John tells is one of two preternaturally talented artists who fall in love and hit the road inbetween dealing with their personal demons en route. Johnny in particular is a driven pill-popping maniac prone to smashing up hotel rooms as success takes its course in a way that would leave young rock and roll upstarts standing. 

 

As O’Donnell leads the audience from the Grand Ol’ Oprey to Folsom Prison, concert halls and TV studios, an all too familiar tale of self-destructive excess and occasional  redemption unfolds. This is illustrated with considerable power by Christopher Ryan Grant, whose vocal impression of Johnny is as pitch perfect as Christina Bianco’s is as June. The pair may swagger and shimmy through the likes of Ring of Fire during the glory years, but it is a second half rendition of Cash’s devastating late period cover of Nine Inch Nails’ song, Hurt, that leaves a lump in the throat. 

 

First seen in 2024, McAnuff’s production is respectful to its subjects without ever shying away from the difficult stuff. With John Carter Cash as a consultant on the show, it couldn’t be any other way. Of course, the songs help, and Ryan and Grant’s renditions are wrapped up by a live six-piece band led by musical director Connagh Tonkinson. This is fleshed out by the cast playing instruments of their own as part of Ron Melrose’s arrangements. In the end, Johnny and June’s musical legacy is given the weight it deserves in a big show that celebrates their musical genius while being unflinchingly honest about everything that came with it.


The Herald, May 1st 2026

 

ends

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