John Cullum, the Tony-winning musical theatre star, returns to his hometown of Knoxville, TN, to appear with his son, JD, in the revival. Cullum will play the work's vain British stage trouper, known as Sir, to JD Cullum's long-suffering dresser.
The production, possibly New York bound, also features Bonnie Gould, Alecia White, J.T. Waite, Robin Chadwick, Anthony Marotta and David Brian Alley. Carol Mayo Jenkins co-stars as Milady, the wife of Sir. Gerald Freedman directs.
The show may have New York prospects after its Knoxville run.
"We’ve been in touch with several New York producers," said Blake Robison, CBTC's artistic director. "There is great interest in seeing John play this role at this point in his career."
The show will run through Sept. 11. The Clarence Brown Theatre Company is a 30-year-old enterprise. It was founded in 1974 with famed British actor Anthony Quayle, its first artistic director. It has a small history of sending shows to New York; Zoe Caldwell's production of Medea started there.
Cullum returned in triumph to Broadway a few seasons back as the evil Caldwell B. Cladwell in the musical Urinetown. He went from there to two less-successful Off-Broadway premieres, the musical Wilder and the troubled Neil Simon play Rose's Dilemma. He won his Tony Awards for Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century before finding fame on the small screen in "Northern Exposure."
JD Cullum has acted in such films as "Reversal of Fortune," "Forever Young" and "61*." He recently appeared in Mark Taper Forum's Stones in His Pockets and in the series "Frasier," "24" and "Judging Amy." He is also a playwright and a member of The Antaeus Company of Los Angeles.