SARASOTA, Fla. — A new musical called Knoxville is expected to premiere in spring 2020 with the creative team of Ragtime behind it, a news release from Asolo Repertory Theatre said.
The musical will be based on James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel A Death in the Family and in part on the play All The Way Home by Tad Mosel.
"Knoxville is a quintessentially American coming-of-age story about family, faith and love, and the boy who will grow up to write it," the release said.
The musical will take place in Knoxville in 1915.
Casting and production dates have not yet been announced. The world premiere will be held at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida.
"This moving and innovative musical will feature lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty and will be adapted and directed by Frank Galati, reuniting the dynamic Tony Award-winning creative team behind Ragtime, one of the most beloved musicals of all time," the release said.
The musical was announced on Feb. 6 at a media and donor event that had a sneak peek performance with Claybourne Elder.
“Knoxville is a love story, inspired by James Agee’s perfectly crafted prose, animated by Lynn Ahren’s vivid poetry and borne aloft by Stephen Flaherty’s gorgeous new music,” said Adapter and Director Frank Galati said in the release. “Like James Joyce, James Agee created ‘a portrait of the artist as a young man’ in his novel. But in this story the artist is an American and his story goes to the core of the American soul, that’s where faith abides as well as doubt.”
That team is one that has collectively won many industry awards for their work.
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for their work, and have also been nominated for two Academy Awards and Golden Globes, and four Grammy Awards, according to the release. The pair was the musical team behind Ragtime, Anastasia, Seussical, and Once On This Island-- which received the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival-- and they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2015.
Galati is also well-known, having received two Tony Awards for his direction and adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath and a nomination for a Tony as the director of the original Broadway production of Ragtime, the release said.
