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'Knoxville' musical takes off at Clarence Brown Theatre

The cast of Knoxville perform at the Clarence Brown Theatre. The show, which adapts James Agee’s A Death in the Family, will run from Sep. 4 – 22.
Ella Marston
/
The Clarence Brown Theatre
The cast of Knoxville perform at the Clarence Brown Theatre. The show, which adapts James Agee’s A Death in the Family, will run from Sep. 4 – 22.

A new musical has hit the stage of the Clarence Brown Theatre, fittingly titled Knoxville. The 90-minute production is an adaptation of late Knoxville author James Agee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, and features the music, writing and talent of some of Broadway’s biggest names.

The story follows an adult James Agee living in 1940s New York City, as he relives his six-year-old childhood memories surrounding the 1915 death of his father in a car accident. Agee used pseudonyms for the names of his family in the novel, which are carried over for the musical. Rufus, Jay and Mary Follett stand-in for Agee, his father and his mother, respectively.

Josh Rhodes is the director and choreographer for Knoxville, and has previously worked on several productions on Broadway and London’s West End. He says that he is drawn to the emotional complexity, themes of loss and musicality of the story.

“I don't think our memories are necessarily controlled that easily,” Rhodes said. “I think one memory can trigger another, or a smell can trigger something … sometimes, if you visit a city, you go, ‘that's right, I was here’ or, ‘oh my gosh, I remember. I remember that painful moment in my childhood’.”

In both the novel and the musical, there exists a sense of uncertainty over Jay Follett’s death. It was late at night and there were no witnesses, and Jay was known to be prone to drinking heavily at times. Agee, and consequently Rufus, struggles to determine whether his father was drunk at the wheel, or simply got into an unlucky accident.

“I think the author is posing the question of, ‘am I like you, or am I not?’,” Rhodes said. “Because I think especially with alcoholism in the family, I think sometimes you have to wonder whether you're destined to be your father, or not.”

Paul Brown, the author of Rufus: James Agee in Tennessee, says that although Agee and his father led very different lifestyles, their mannerisms linked them inextricably.

“Violent temper, Agee said, was one of the ways that he was a lot like his father, and maybe, you know, propensity to drink and things like that,” Brown said. “The father character was someone that young Rufus looked up to immensely and wanted to please.”

Agee’s story reflects intently on what it’s like for a son to lose a father, and for a wife to lose her husband. This theme is retained as the central focus of Knoxville, which uses various forms of comedic relief throughout the show to assist with the audience’s – and Rufus’ – digestion of the heavy subject.

11-year-old New Jersey actor Nick Barrington auditioned for the role of young Rufus Follett earlier this year, in New York.

“I was very nervous, but I just did it,” Barrington said. “I just had a feeling that this was going to be a very good play.”

His previous parts include Ralphie in a play production of A Christmas Story: The Play, along with Michael Darling and Michael Banks in local productions of Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, respectively. Barrington loves that in Knoxville, he can still manage to make the audience laugh, despite the darker tones of this story.

“There's a lot of funny moments, but it's very deep and really has a great message, and it's really a good play,” Barrington said.

Jason Danieley and Nick Barrington perform as The Author and Rufus Follett, respectively, at the Clarence Brown Theatre. Knoxville is the 11-year-old Barrington’s first professional musical, and helps fuel his dreams of one day becoming a Broadway actor.
Ella Marston
/
The Clarence Brown Theatre
Jason Danieley and Nick Barrington perform as The Author and Rufus Follett, respectively, at the Clarence Brown Theatre. Knoxville is the 11-year-old Barrington’s first professional musical, and helps fuel his dreams of one day becoming a Broadway actor.

It’s never explicitly revealed to the audience whether Jay was intoxicated behind the wheel or not. But Rhodes says the uncertainty of the events leading up to his death has a clear effect on Agee, and the audience.

“When you lose your parent at six, you have to fill in the rest yourself,” Rhodes said. “You have to try to figure out who he was, because at six, you didn't catch that. But if you grow older and have to go back, what an interesting sort of detective work that you must have to do, and it would probably carry with you forever.”

The adaptation was conceived largely by veteran writer and director Frank Galati, who had previously worked on several award-winning Broadway shows such as The Grapes of Wrath and Ragtime. Longtime collaborators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, whose previous works include Anastasia, Ragtime and Once on this Island, provided the score and lyrics for the production.

“Frank loved James Agee’s novel,” Rhodes said. “He sort of had an obsession with this book … and so he went to Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and said, ‘I believe there’s music in this’.”

Knoxville debuted two years ago at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, with Galati as director and Rhodes as choreographer. Galati passed away last year, but not before charging Rhodes with continuing its run.

“Here I am trying to keep Frank's legacy going, and with joy and happiness that I get to be a part of it,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes says that there’s something special about performing Knoxville for an audience of East Tennesseans:

“I have to say, in the audience, it does feel like there's a little bit of pride.”

WME Agency, which represents Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, granted WUOT permission to use recordings from Knoxville (World Premiere Recording) for this story. The Clarence Brown Theatre is a financial supporter of WUOT. The WUOT News team is an editorially-independent group of reporters who are devoted to journalism excellence.

Jacqui was born and raised in Pittsburgh. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2021 with a bachelor’s in communications. Outside of work, she likes to go to baseball games, walk dogs at her local animal shelter, and hike.
Pierce is a Knoxville native and an undergraduate student studying Journalism in the University of Tennessee’s College of Communication and Information. He first came to WUOT as an intern in the Spring of 2024, before transitioning into a part-time role over the Summer. In his free time, Pierce enjoys reading, photography and getting lost in the Great Smoky Mountains.