Cullum will play the work's vain British stage trouper to J.D. Cullum's long-suffering dresser. Gerald Freedman will direct the production. The show may have New York prospects after its Knoxville run. 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. Blake Robison is CBTC's current artistic director.

"We’ve been in touch with several New York producers," said Robison. "There is great interest in seeing John play this role at this point in his career."

The show will open Aug. 27 and run through Sept. 11.

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 Shenendoah and On the Twentieth Century before finding fame on the small screen in "Northern Exposure."

J.D. Cullum has acted in such films as "Reversal of Fortune," "Forever Young" and "61*." He is also a playwright and is a member of The Antaeus Company of Los Angeles.