The Mayflower, Southampton from September 8-12

Christina Bianco tells a tale of her home country with The Ballad of Johnny and June.

New Yorker Christina, who moved to the UK five years ago, is loving telling the love story between Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash on a UK tour, with dates including The Mayflower, Southampton from September 8-12.

Christina is June Carter Cash opposite Christopher Ryan Grant as Johnny Cash.

“It is not your typical jukebox musical,” she says. “It is not a jukebox musical at all. We see it as a play with music, and it tells a love story with some grit. It's an in-depth telling of their tumultuous relationship, how they met and how they fell in love and their battles. And as part of the show, we sing some of the greatest country music of all time.”

June Carter Cash was far more famous than Johnny Cash for quite some time.

“We cover their entire lives from when they were both young when Johnny Cash was listening to June Carter on the radio. She was part of the first family of country music, The Carter Family.

“And a beautiful part of the whole thing is that we have got the blessing of their actual son John Carter Cash. He wanted to tell the story. You've seen various movies and TV shows but they were only ever about 65 per cent accurate, he says. John wanted to tell the truth and focus as much on June as on Johnny. We are so grateful to him for opening up his life.”

As for Christina: “I was such an admirer of June Carter. She had such character and such charisma. You think of the icons and you think of Johnny. He was the Man in Black. But June was known as the funny one and she was a beautiful songwriter. She always found her way and she always wanted to have comedy bits in the live show. There are great clips of June on YouTube, these beautiful funny comedic numbers. She played it up and she hammed it up. June was wonderful and so warm and so optimistic.

“People see her as the saviour of Johnny, the person that came in and made everything OK but that's not the case either. She had her own issues and her own struggles. She was married twice before and Johnny proposed to her 30 times. I think for her the thing was the fact of knowing Johnny for so many years prior. She wanted always to keep things as simple as possible. She had her own children and Johnny had his own children but both Johnny and June both had such a great integrity. They were both very grounded and religious people. You think about their love and you think about Johnny's philandering but they were absolutely devoted to each other. And I think that's the interesting thing. They were a couple that wore their imperfections on their sleeve. And I think that's part of the reason why people care so deeply still about them, and I think it’s so beautiful that people do care so much still.”

As for living in the UK, Christina is loving it: “I have had such incredible professional opportunities over here but it's also about the people that I've met. It has been creatively very fulfilling and continues to be.

“The grass is always greener, and I will always be a lifelong New Yorker but I live here and I love it. London is so much calmer than New York. My blood pressure has gone down since I've been here! Everything you get in New York, you've got here but at a slower pace and in a place that is more green.

“In an ideal world I would spend time equally divided between the two places but I think the last few years have taught us that when you make plans, me planning to come here and executing the move, you just never really know what is going to happen!”