It hardly needs saying that the hottest theatre ticket of the year in Knoxville is … Knoxville.
The musical Knoxville, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Death in the Family by Knoxville native son James Agee, opens at the Clarence Brown Theatre on September 6 (after two previews on September 4 and 5) and runs through September 22. The premiere of Knoxville came in the spring of 2022 at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, and featured the creative team of composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens, known for Broadway’s Ragtime. The musical’s book was by the late Frank Galati, who conceived the show and directed the original production. The show frames the character of Agee as he remembers the death of his father, an event that affected his life as a boy in Knoxville in the early 20th Century and continued to do so as an adult.
The director and choreographer of Knoxville is Josh Rhodes, who was the original production’s choreographer. Rhodes has directed and choreographed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the MUNY, The Drowsy Chaperone at Pittsburgh CLO, and a directed a film version of Beau-The Musical.
Re-creating roles from the original Asolo Rep production are Jason Danieley as James Agee and Hannah Elless as Mary Follet. CBT audiences will probably recognize some of their favorite regulars: Shinnerrie Jackson, Katy Wolfe, and Laura Beth Wells.
[Photos are from the original production of Knoxville at Asolo Repertory Theatre, 2022]
