Monday, October 12, 2020

Nashville's The Barn Dinner Theatre/Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre — production history

Primarily using newspapers.com, I researched a production history for The Barn/Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre in Nashville. I'm pretty confident that all the productions on this list actually happened, but there certainly might be things missing that weren't covered in the papers. Comments below are welcome.

I’m so grateful I got back on the Barn stage last year to play Daddy Warbucks in "Annie". My only previous show there was "The 1940s Radio Hour" in 1988, before the vast majority of my "Annie" castmates were born. I'll always treasure riding the stage up last year after the curtain call, watching people wiping tears from their eyes. Isn't that what it's all about?

Here are the 689 shows:

1967
Any Wednesday (opened 3/29)
Blithe Spirit
Mary, Mary
The Hasty Heart
Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath
The Odd Couple
The Tender Trap
Barefoot in the Park
The Paisley Convertible
Boeing-Boeing

1968
The Moon is Blue
The Rainmaker
Period of Adjustment
Ready When You Are, C.B.!
See How They Run
Wedding Night
The Boy Friend
Janus
Private Lives
Bell, Book, and Candle
The Mousetrap
Light Up the Sky
Catch Me If You Can

1969
The Girl in the Freudian Slip
The Star-Spangled Girl
The Drunkard
Tobacco Road
Highlights of Broadway
The Impossible Years
Come Blow Your Horn
You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running
Cactus Flower
Born Yesterday
Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath
Never Too Late
Take My Wife

1970
The Fantasticks
Lovers and Other Strangers
The Owl and the Pussycat
The Marriage-Go-Round
Luv
Send Me No Flowers
Whoops, Someone’s Been Sleeping in My Bed
The Girls in 509
Under the Yum Yum Tree
A Thousand Clowns
Love Out of Town
Lo and Behold!
Pool’s Paradise

1971
The Reluctant Debutante
Charley’s Aunt
The Tunnel of Love
Everybody Loves Opal
Don’t Drink the Water
John Loves Mary
Kiss and Tell
Plaza Suite
Barefoot in the Park
Arsenic and Old Lace
There’s a Girl in My Soup
My Three Angels

1972
The Odd Couple
Play It Again, Sam
Dear Ruth
Curious Savage
Forty Carats
Dollars to Doughnuts
Critic’s Choice
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Time Out for Ginger
Make Mine Mink
Norman, Is That You?
The Man Who Came to Dinner

1973
How the Other Half Loves
The Gazebo
Natalie Needs a Nightie
Gramercy Ghost
Ten Little Indians
Roman Candle
Halfway Up the Tree
Visit to a Small Planet
Black Comedy
Enter Laughing
Saga of Roaring Gulch
See How They Run

1974
Not Now Darling
Catch Me If You Can
No Sex Please, We’re British
I Do! I Do!
Relatively Speaking
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Mousetrap
Once Upon a Mattress
6 Rms Riv Vu
Seven Year Itch
Camelot

1975
A Shot in the Dark
Come Blow Your Horn
Goodbye Charlie
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Beginner’s Luck
The Good Doctor
Kiss Me, Kate
Sunday in New York
Accommodations
Take My Wife
My Daughter’s Rated X
I’ll Get My Man

1976
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
My Fat Friend
The Hasty Heart
The Tender Trap
The Marriage-Go-Round
Twigs
God’s Favorite
Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath
The Sunshine Boys
Lo and Behold!
The Star-Spangled Girl
Busybody

1977
Mr. Roberts
Vibrations
Champagne Complex
Dial M for Murder
The Odd Couple
Damn Yankees
Move Over, Mrs. Markham
See How They Run
We Must Kill Toni
Little Mary Sunshine
It Pays To Be a Lady
Subject to Change

1978
Arsenic and Old Lace
Here Lies Jeremy Troy
Don’t Drink the Water
Time Out for Ginger
Life’s Little Problems
Ten Nights in a Barroom
Angela
Who’s On First
The Captain’s Paradise
No Hard Feelings
Wishful Thinking
The Paisley Convertible

1979
An Almost Perfect Person
A Gentleman and a Scoundrel
The White Sheep of the Family
Boeing-Boeing
Take a Number, Darling
Wait Until Dark
A Gown for His Mistress
There Goes the Bride
Butterflies are Free
Count Dracula
Fiddler on the Roof
Bell, Book, and Candle

1980
The Apple Tree
I Do! I Do!
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Never Too Late
Three Goats and a Blanket
The Second Time Around
A Thurber Carnival
The Rainmaker
The Girls in 509
The Seven Year Itch
Two by Two
Heaven Can Wait

1981
Same Time Next Year
The Robber Bridegroom
The Lady Who Cried Fox
Deathtrap
South Pacific
The Mind with the Dirty Man
Chapter Two
Any Wednesday
Cabaret
Centerfold
Catch Me If You Can
Oklahoma!
Abie’s Irish Rose

1982
The Gin Game
The Fantasticks
The Odd Couple
Fiddler on the Roof
Ten Nights in a Barroom
The Star-Spangled Girl
Hello, Dolly!
Tribute
The Owl and the Pussycat
I Love My Wife
Annie Get Your Gun
Under the Yum Yum Tree
Applause
Dames at Sea
A Tribute to Broadway

1983
I Ought to be in Pictures
Grease
On Golden Pond
Man of La Mancha
Mornings at Seven
God’s Favorite
Will Rogers’ USA
Sweet Charity
Come Blow Your Horn
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
A Gentleman and a Scoundrel

1984
I Do! I Do!
Sunrise on the Mississippi
Barefoot in the Park
No Time for Sergeants
Harvey
The Sunshine Boys
Two By Two
Annie
The Mousetrap
Mary, Mary
Arsenic and Old Lace
Shenandoah
Heaven Can Wait

1985
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Norman, Is That You?
Fools
The Apple Tree
A Thousand Clowns
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (closed in July)

1986
The Odd Couple (opened 8/5/86)
Celebrate Me Home
No Hard Feelings
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
See How They Run

1987
Murder Among Friends
Wally’s Cafe
Squabbles
Sugar Babies
Charley’s Aunt
Come Blow Your Horn
Pajama Tops
A Bad Year for Tomatoes
Little Shop of Horrors
A Talent for Murder
The Foreigner
Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath

1988
Same Time, Next Year
Claptrap
Chicago
Brighton Beach Memoirs
The Nerd
Alone Together
Cheaters
The Second Lady
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Don’t Drink the Water
The 1940s Radio Hour
Love, Sex, and the IRS

1989
Chapter Two
Weekend Comedy
They’re Playing Our Song
God’s Favorite
Sugar Babies
On Golden Pond
The Unexpected Guest
Nunsense
Biloxi Blues
Fiddler on the Roof
Everybody Loves Opal
Wife Begins at Forty

BACKSTAGE:
Thanks for the Memories (opened 4/14)
Southern Exposures — Three Portraits of the South
The All New Avante Garage
Almost A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hooray for Hollywood
I Love NashVegas
Lullaby of Broadway
a gigantic gaggle of gregarious groupies goes ga ga at glorious garage games
Seasoned Greetings 1989

1990
Groucho: A Life in Revue
Twice Around the Park
Godspell
The Housekeeper
Run for Your Wife
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
The Perfect Murder
Little Shop of Horrors
Broadway Bound
The Pinchpenny Phantom of the Opera
Bingo!
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s

BACKSTAGE:
Love Avante Garage Style
The Bop She Bops
The Fancy Show
Whispers, Wigs, and Wenches
Avante Garage Sale
Tomfoolery
Greater Tuna
The Christmas Present

1991
Driving Miss Daisy
Saving Grace
I Do! I Do!
It Runs in the Family
Rumors
Oklahoma!
Bus Stop
Busybody
Steel Magnolias
Sorry! Wrong Chimney!

BACKSTAGE:
The Pasquo Precinct Phollies
One Mo’ Time
Driving Miss Daisy
The All Night Strut!
Greetings!

1992
Barefoot in the Park
I Take This Man
Singin’ in the Rain
Arsenic and Old Lace
There Goes the Bride
The Music Man
Lend Me a Tenor
Born Yesterday
Tootsie’s Vaudeville Revue
My Three Angels

BACKSTAGE:
Wally’s Cafe
Sorry! Wrong Chimney!

1993
Kiss or Make Up
Columbo
Kiss Me, Kate
The Rainmaker
Run For Your Wife
Me and My Girl
Social Security
Lie, Cheat, and Genuflect
Pump Boys and Dinettes
Star on the Door
Santa’s Magical Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
A Gentleman and a Scoundrel

1994
You’ll Love My Wife
Noises Off
Two By Two
Alone Together
The Odd Couple
South Pacific
Here Lies Jeremy Troy
Smoke on the Mountain
Move Over Mrs. Markham
Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath
The Year Santa Almost Forgot Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
Beyond the Fringe
I’ll Be Back Before Midnight
Murder By Misadventure
Butterflies Are Free
Corpse!
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s

1995
The Foreigner
Beau Jest
The Fantasticks
Let’s Murder Marsha
The Sunshine Boys
Camelot
Who’s Under Where?
The Robber Bridegroom
Boeing-Boeing
Love, Sex, and the IRS
Santa’s Christmas Robot

BACKSTAGE:
Murder by the Book
Same Time, Next Year
Cookin’ With Gus
Angel Street
Champagne Complex

1996
Plaza Suite
The Hasty Heart
Forever Plaid
My Giddy Aunt
Roomies
The Will Rogers Follies
Not With My Daughter
Mixed Emotions
Little Me
Playing Doctor
Santa’s Outerspace Adventure

BACKSTAGE:
Marriage is Murder
Hamlet
Who’s On First?
Ded Herring
Take a Number, Darling

1997
Suitehearts
Your Flake or Mine?
Monky Business
The Nerd
Funny Money
Singin’ in the Rain
Take My Wife
Clue: The Musical
A Turn for the Nurse
Oh, Fudge!
Santa’s Christmas Miracle

BACKSTAGE:
Romeo and Juliet
Dial M for Murder
Beside Yourself
Winner Lose All
Look, No Hans!

1998
The Second Time Around
Dead Funny
Tintypes
Cash on Delivery
Moon Over Buffalo
Guys and Dolls
Par for the Course
The Pasquo Precinct Follies
The Senator Wore Pantyhose
Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii
Santa’s Magical Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
Once is Enough
Much Ado About Nothing
Hiccup
An Evening with Sherlock Holmes
A Christmas Cactus

1999
Saving Grace
Any Wednesday
Sugar Babies
Luck, Love, and the Lottery
Bill of Wrongs
Fiddler on the Roof
Run for Your Wife
The Bop She Bops
Lend Me a Tenor
Don’t Dress for Dinner
Santa’s Christmas Caper

BACKSTAGE:
Same Time, Next Year
Comedy of Errors
Sylvia
Another Evening with Sherlock Holmes
Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Her

2000
I Take This Man
Ghost of a Chance
State Fair
Alone Together
Hello, Dolly!
The Foreigner
Proposals
Love, Sex, and the IRS
Out of Order

BACKSTAGE:
Special Occasions
Othello
The Cemetery Club
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Late, Late Show

2001
Funny Valentines
Wife Begins at Forty
The Remainders
Ghost Story
A Bad Year for Tomatoes
Annie
Rumors
The Second Lady
Sorry! Wrong Chimney!
Santa’s Christmas Robot

BACKSTAGE:
Macbeth
The Boys Next Door
Hostage
A Study in Scarlet
A Country Christmas, Carol

2002
Gone But Not Forgotten
Steel Magnolias
Man of La Mancha
Caught in the Net
Picture Perfect
The Sound of Music
A Gentleman and a Scoundrel
I’ll Be Seeing You
It’s a Wonderful Wife
Santa’s Christmas Mystery

BACKSTAGE:
Tomfoolery
Sherlock Holmes: A Trilogy of Tales
Murder in Music City
Butterflies Are Free
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s

2003
Barefoot in the Park
Queens of Heart
Forever Plaid
Lo and Behold!
Situation Comedy
My Fair Lady
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
Ten Little Indians
Natalie Needs a Nightie
Santa’s Frozen Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
Chaps!
Sherlock Holmes: A Trilogy of Tales II
Beyond the Fringe
The Artificial Jungle
Cookin’ with Gus

2004
Weekend Comedy
Catch Me If You Can
Cabaret
Social Security
When the Cat’s Away
Annie Get Your Gun
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Arsenic and Old Lace
Glad Tidings
The Christmas Santa Almost Forgot

BACKSTAGE:
Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath

2005
The Odd Couple
Sunday in New York
Nunsense
Who’s Under Where?
Goodbye Charlie
Smoke on the Mountain
A Thousand Clowns
Ghost Story
The Mousetrap
Glad Tidings II: The Gift Returns
Santa’s Selfish Elf

BACKSTAGE:
A Country Christmas, Carol

2006
The Foreigner
Suitehearts
Smokey Joe’s Cafe
Boeing-Boeing
All My Love, Always
Johnny Guitar
Deathtrap
Over the River and Through the Woods
Glad Tidings III: Re-Gifted
Santa’s Christmas Caper

BACKSTAGE:
Greater Tuna
A Tuna Christmas

2007
Any Wednesday
Modern Love
Chicago
Saving Grace
Mixed Emotions
Snowderella
Smoke on the Mountain
Lend Me a Tenor
Run For Your Wife
Sorry! Wrong Chimney!
Santa’s Frosty Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
The Game Show Show

2008
On Golden Pond
My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra
Beau Jest
Dearly Beloved
Alone Together
The Bop She Bops
FishaFrogaPotaTurnip
A Bad Year for Tomatoes
Breaking Legs
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s
Lost Claus

BACKSTAGE:
Greetings

2009
Don’t Dress for Dinner
Barefoot in the Park
Winner Lose All
The Second Time Around
Seeing Stars in Dixie
Sarah and the Secret of the Cellar
There Goes the Bride
Filthy Rich
See How They Run
Christmas Belles
Sarah and the Secret of Santaland

BACKSTAGE:
Sanders Family Christmas

2010
Rumors
Blithe Spirit
Frankly My Dear
The Butler Done It!
Funny Money
Cinderella 8.0: Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous
Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming
Rear Widow
Squabbles
It’s a Wonderful Wife
Santa’s Frosty Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
john & jen
An Evening with Sherlock Holmes
Mixed Nuts
The Late, Late Show

2011
I’ll Be Seeing You
’Til Beth Do Us Part
The Foreigner
The Rainmaker
Everybody Loves Opal
Annie
Writer’s Block
Southern Fried Funeral
Boeing-Boeing
Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag

BACKSTAGE:
’Til Death Do Us Part
A Country Christmas, Carol

2012
Modern Love
Elvis Has Left the Building
Too Old for the Chorus (But Not Too Old To Be a Star)
Here Lies Jeremy Troy
Fiddler on the Roof
The Odd Couple
The Dixie Swim Club
Spreading It Around
Glad Tidings: A Holiday Variety Show

BACKSTAGE:
Totally 80’s, Totally Murder
Wanted Dead or Alive
The Bop She Bops: Merry Christmas, Baby

2013
Run For Your Wife
Ghost Story
Ded Herring
Who’s Under Where?
All For a Song
Southern Fried Nuptials
Seniors of the Sahara
Sanders Family Christmas
Santa’s Longest Day

BACKSTAGE:
’Til Death Do Us Part
Sorry! Wrong Chimney!

2014
Driving Miss Daisy
Always a Bridesmaid
Chaps!
A Bad Year for Tomatoes
Grease
A Fox on the Fairway
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Gone, But Not Forgotten
A Christmas Carol
Santa’s Special Reindeer

BACKSTAGE:
Greater Tuna
A Tuna Christmas

2015
A Gentleman and a Scoundrel
I Take This Man
Good Ol’ Girls
Cliffhanger
Nobody’s Perfect
All Shook Up
Arsenic and Old Lace
Alone Together
Yule Y’all
Santa’s Christmas Mystery

BACKSTAGE:
Sherlock Holmes
Murder at the Howard Johnson’s

2016
Mixed Emotions
Funny Valentines
The Taffetas
Rumors
Take My Wife
Route 66
Picture Perfect
Playing Doctor
Glad Tidings
Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag

BACKSTAGE:
The Lockhorns — Together At Last
Red, White, and Tuna
Tuna Does Vegas

2017
Odd Couple
Seeing Stars in Dixie
The Nerd
Beau Jest
Sister Act
Smoke on the Mountain
In Stitches
Mamma Mia!
Southern Fried Funeral
It’s a Wonderful Life: The Musical
’Twas the Night Before Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
A Tuna Christmas

2018
Freaky Friday
Almost, Maine (presented at the Darkhorse Theater)
Sister Act
Minnie Pearl: All the News from Grinder’s Switch
Newsies
Elf the Musical
All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

BACKSTAGE:
Ollie's Diner
The Game Show Show


2019
Who’s On First?
Kiss Me, Kate
Esther
Minnie Pearl: All the News from Grinder’s Switch
Listen to Your Mother
God’s Favorite
Annie
Southern Fried Nuptials
Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure
The Wedding Singer
Ollie’s Diner
Singin’ in the Rain
Sanders Family Christmas

BACKSTAGE:
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One
Greater Tuna
A Tuna Christmas

2020
Schooled
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (closed 2/29)

?

Monday, May 18, 2020

Horrible Gompie

I've written obsessively about Tom Tichenor and the puppets he created for the 1961 Broadway production of Carnivalhere and here and also here. But did I know that Tichenor's Carnival puppets were the stars of a children's TV show in the Netherlands? No, I did not.

So: It seems that Jaap Molenaar, a Dutch filmmaker, director, and performer, had a series of children's shows on public TV station NCRV in the Netherlands, in which he played Papa Wirrewarre. From his show Het Koerhuis van Papa Wirrewarre came a spinoff show called Gompie en zijn vriendjes, which concerned a walrus named Gompie, a fox named Ritsaard, a grande dame named Majolica, and a young rogue named Peentje. This show ran six years, from 1966 to 1972.

And somehow, the stars of "Gompie" were a set of the puppet characters Tom Tichenor created for Carnival! Horrible Henry became Gompie, Carrot Top was Peentje, Renardo was Ritsaard, and Marguerite was Majolica.

How did this happen? How did Molenaar acquire a set of Carnival puppets? Was this in any way an "authorized" enterprise, approved by David Merrick or Tichenor or anyone else?

Thanks immensely to the help of Erik Lippe on Facebook, I think we're beginning to unravel this mystery. It seems NCRV also broadcast TV versions of musical comedies in the 1960s. They did Brigadoon in 1964, they did one called Jij en ikke which was a Dutch version of Me and My Girl in 1965, and according to one source they did Carnival at around the same time too. I can't find any detailed info on their Carnival, but Jij en ikke featured Jaap Molenaar as one of the writers, probably a translator. It's not too hard to imagine that Molenaar worked on NCRV's Carnival in the same capacity as well, for which NCRV might have bought a set of Tichenor's puppets, perhaps from a European tour. After the show was broadcast...well, NCRV owned a set of charming puppets, Molenaar was doing children's shows for NCRV...it starts to add up.

It at least seems obvious that Molenaar was aware of the puppets' previous identities. He renamed Carrot Top "peentje", which is a Dutch word for a type of carrot, and also the similarities of Renardo/Ritsaard and Marguerite/Majolica suggest a knowledge of their Carnival names.

As far as I can find, no one has thus far made this Carnival/Gompie connection anywhere on the internet. Does anyone out there know anything more about how this came to pass?

Here are a bunch of photos and video clips from the show, including some book and record merchandising:
















Some of the illustrations from this book are viewable here.