Ring of Fire was conceived by William Meade and created and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr.[1] The musical played a "discreet and well-reviewed test run at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in fall 2005".

[1][2] The musical contains 38 of Johnny Cash's songs, such as "Country Boy," "A Thing Called Love," "Five Feet High and Rising," "Daddy Sang Bass," "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line," "I've Been Everywhere," "The Man in Black" and "Hurt.

[6] Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "Though Mr. Cash,...is not himself a character in this latest entry in the jukebox musical sweepstakes of Broadway, his spirit is invoked as a friendly ghost with dimples and a twinkling disposition.

In other words, Ring of Fire, which opened last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, has little to do with the dark, troubled and excitingly dangerous presence that most people remember as Johnny Cash...

Using songs recorded by Mr. Cash between 1955 and 2002 (many of them written by other composers), the show follows a sort of ages-of-man path from green country-boy idealism into the sloughs of a hard-living musician's disillusionment and on up to the mountains of spiritual redemption...