Fire (musical)


Fire is a 1985 Dora Award winning musical by Paul Ledoux and David Young. The musical is based loosely on the story of Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin Jimmy Swaggart and the divergent paths their lives took.
The musical follows the lives of the character "Cale Blackwell", based on real-life story of Jerry Lee Lewis and his brother "Herchel Blackwell" which is based on Lewis' real-life cousin Jimmy Swaggart. Herchel follows in the footsteps of his father, the reverend Blackwell's, as a preacher. Herchel's father is proud of him but does not approve of his son's use of the radio and then television while pioneering televangelism. The Reverend JD Blackwell is almost immediately disappointed with Cale who quickly finds fame as a Boogie-Woogie star and wallows in an accompanying life of rebellion against society and his own upbringing. Both brothers fall in love with their mutual childhood sweetheart "Molly King".
Ultimately neither brother can claim to have led a moral life, and both had succumbed to their own flaws.

Characters

The musical is set in the US south in the middle of the 20th century and on into the latter quarter of the 20th century.

Awards