Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville is certainly doing its part to turn old movies into new musicals. Battleship Potemkin, adapted by Eric Allaman (music) and Jeffrey Couchman (libretto) from Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 film version of the 1905 Russian Revolution, will have two staged readings at the theatre, Jan. 31-Feb. 2. At the same time, Dennis DeYoung's musicalization of The Hunchback of Notre Dame goes up. Victor Hugo's novel has received previous adaptations from Disney animators, Lon Chaney and Charles Laughton.
Mac Pirkle, artistic director of Tennessee Rep, selected these two musicals to be mounted in a three-week workshop for its annual festival of new musical, the only one of its kind in the United States at a regional theatre.
For more information on DeYoung's Hunchback, please see the Playbill On-Line story, "Dennis DeYoung Writes Hunchback As A Stage Musical."
--By Harry Haun
