Munk's RING OF FIRE remarks

Richard Maltby, Jr. is quoted with saying "You know, I hate the term 'jukebox musical' - truly hate it! - because it suggests that you take just a bunch of songs and stick 'em on the stage. No theatregoer wants to pay money just to hear a bunch of songs. That's a concert, no matter what you do with the staging of it."

I guess this man can now be considered the biggest hypocrite in show biz, for his newest musical "Ring of Fire," is simply that.

"Ring of Fire" is probably the worst musical I have ever seen. It's worse than "Good Vibrations." I am astounded that anything could possibly be worse than that show - well, congratulations Mr. Maltby, you're done it.

I fled the Barrymore Theatre like the theatre itself was on fire. I left half-way through Act One. Okay, I might not have the right to judge the entire show, but I couldn't bear it anymore. I just couldn't. If you believe in hell and the devil, they've settled down on 47th Street for the season.

I suppose I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said about this show, but it's just the absolute most abominable thing that I have ever seen in 20 years. It is a disgrace to both Johnny Cash and musical theatre.

You are warned. Do not see this show. It's not even so bad that you can laugh at it's badness (Good Vibrations) - it's so bad that while you're sitting in that theatre, being impaled by a harpoon and left to bleed to death would be funnier, happier, and just down-right better than suffering through his intolerable piece of trash.

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Updated On: 3/10/06 at 02:01 AM

Huh? "Wicked?"

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I was truly in awe of how bad it actually was.

What happened to the big flops being fun - or at least fun to make fun of? Urban Cowboy, Dance of the Vampires, Brooklyn...now the flops are just getting more and more severe.

Shouldn't the art form be progressing, rather than the opposite?

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Yes, IN MY LIFE was a rare exception.

Seriously folks, RING OF FIRE makes BROOKLYN look like a Pulitzer-worthy piece of theatre. It's astounding.

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Does anyone know what kind of advance this show has?

It's not the type of show that people really wait for the reviews to come out before they go see it, so I don't know what kind of impact negative reviews will have on the box office for the tourists who have booked their tickets months ahead.

Hopefully, when the unanimously deplorable reviews come out Sunday night, the show will close within a month.

Ah, well, a boy can hope...

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lol, Munk, you gotta take him literally. He said, he hates the word, he didn't say he'd hate the thing itself

I agree with Munk. And I did something I've never done before -I left at intermission. It's wretched, there's no plot, and it reminded me of the old Hee-Haw TV Show(just not fun).

I'm so glad my friend won tickets to this. I would've been so upset to have shelled out my hard earned money. I stayed through the end mainly to watch Jarrod and Jeb.

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"Seriously folks, RING OF FIRE makes BROOKLYN look like a Pulitzer-worthy piece of theatre."

Yikes! Definitely staying away from this one. Thanks for the review.

>We truly need to free up this theatre and fast!<

Not really. Now that everything is booked for the spring, there's not going to be anything that wants the Barrymore at least until the fall.

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Times They Are A Changin' has the Brooks Atkinson.

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There are always shows waiting for Broadway theatres these days...

Tale of Two Cities is way too large for the Barrymore. But no doubt, some musical houses will be available for it this fall.

And Grey Gardens would be foolish to move to Broadway.

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