Interview: Scott Moreau of JOHNNY & JUNE at New Theatre Restaurant

"Johnny & June" at New Theatre Restaurant is an outstanding, original, tribute concert reminiscent of what TV audiences might have enjoyed at home between the premiere of the "Johnny Cash TV Show" in 1969 and the final "Johnny Cash Christmas Special" in 1985.

This New Theatre Restaurant original features Scott Moreau as Johnny Cash, Ashley Pankow, as June Carter Cash, and Cathy Burnett as Country Comedian, Minnie Pearl.

Broadway World was fortunate to spend a little time with Johnny Cash actor Scott Moreau and learn a bit more about the original Man in Black and the dedicated young actor who summons him back from the great beyond for Kansas City audiences.

Scott Moreau is a large, friendly gentleman who stands about 6'2" tall with a deep baritone voice. He hails originally from Litchfield, Maine with an earned musical theater degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.

Scott is a pleasure to spend a little time with as I did on the telephone last week. He does the historical Johnny Cash credit in his performances. I had the pleasure of seeing him and the rest of this excellent cast along with a five piece band during the opening week.

It happens that I crossed paths with the real Johnny Cash a couple of times during a long newspaper career and (from a little distance) Scott can easily pass as Cash.

Broadway World: How does a guy get into the business of becoming a Johnny Cash tribute artist?

Scott Moreau: Well, I was a huge Johnny Cash fan early on. Mostly, I found myself listening to Johnny Cash music and playing it on my guitar not as any kind of a career move, but because I really connected. I found myself playing his music more and more.

About that same time, the Academy Award winning movie "I Walk the Line" about the Cashes played in theaters and a regional production of a short lived Broadway musical called "Ring of Fire" toured.

Broadway World: I've read that a much more successful juke box musical called "Million Dollar Quartet" documented an actual 1956 jam session featuring Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins at Sun Records in Memphis. And you were a member of the first touring cast of "MDQ?"

Scott Moreau: I understudied Johnny and played Fin Phillips in that first touring company of "Million Dollar Quartet" for two years in 2010 and 2011. In the third year and fourth year, I took over the role full time in the Union (Actors' Equity) tour. I became more involved in his music and was seeing as many shows as I could. The rest is sort of history. You finally get to be Johnny Cash after a lot of hard work.

Broadway World: Do you have a direct relationship with the Cash family?

Scott Moreau: I never did meet the Cashes. They died within months of each other in 2003. I met Johnny's brother, Tommy. I met his little sister Joanne and his daughter, Cindy. I do not have a direct connection with the Cash estate, but I have friendships and connections I have built up during the years.

Over the years, I have sought out people and made connections with some coming to see "Million Dollar Quartet."

I have met Bill Miller and his wife Shannon who are the owners of the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville. They also own the Patsy Cline Museum and the Johnny Cash Bar and Grill. Bill and Shannon have been instrumental in helping me to learn who he was and have been very kind and gracious.

For the "Johnny Cash Tribute Shows" that I have done, I have compiled a lot of information to put into them. For the most part, the stories and anecdotes are pulled from Johnny's autobiography.

Broadway World: You first came to New Theatre Restaurant in 2017 as part of their production of "Million Dollar Quartet."

Scott Moreau: I have known Dennis Hennessy and Richard Carrothers, the owners of the New Theater Restaurant for about five years. The level of technical expertise at New Theatre is in the upper echelon of dinner theaters I have seen around the country. I think it is because New Theatre is able to do so many things with lights and projections that other theaters are not capable of doing. It is atypical of other places where I have worked. Overland Park is very lucky to have a place like New Theatre.

Broadway World: Is "Johnny & June" a totally new show put together for these audiences?

Scott Moreau: Yes, this is a new show that we put together for this production only. I had constructed a "Johnny & June Tribute" that I had done in Arizona a few times in the winter. Ashley Pankow, our June Carter Cash was also in the 2017 production of "Million Dollar Quartet"

Ashley has been fearless in her portrayal of June. She goes out there and gives everything she has got both physically and vocally. I think Ashley brings out June at face value.

Our Director, Joe Fox, asked me to incorporate the Minnie Pearl character into the show to bring something new to the Tribute Concert. Our Minnie, Cathy Barnett, does a great job in the role.

Broadway World: What was your guiding idea along with Director Fox?

We wanted it to appear as if you were watching one of the television "Johnny Cash Shows" or one of the classic "Nights at the Grand Ole Opry" or an episode of "Hee Haw." We wanted to take people back to a concert in the mid-seventies or early eighties when these kind of variety shows were on all of the time.

The New Theatre Restaurant original production of "Johnny & June, A Tribute Concert" continues at the New Theatre in Overland Park through January 30. Tickets are available at www.newtheatre.com or by telephone at 913-649-7469.