Owensboro Actor Lands Role in World Premiere of May We All: A New Country Musical

For the last couple of years, Brian Kelley, of Florida Georgia Line, has been working on an exciting new project. That project is May We All: A New Country Musical, which is officially set to make its world premiere in Nashville on June 7th.

The musical features songs written by country music superstars like Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, Kasey Musgraves, Florida Georgia Line and more.  It will debut at TPAC- the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in downtown Nashville- the same week of the 2022 CMA Music Festival.  When it debuts, the show's going to feature a face very familiar to theatre fans here in western Kentucky. Calvin Malone, an actor from right here in Owensboro, has been cast in the musical!

First, here's a sneak preview of the musical from its co-creator BK.

According the the show's press release, May We All "tells the story of Jenna Coates, a small-town girl whose big-city singing career is over before it even begins, and how she returns to the people and the places of her past to find a path to the future. But going home to Harmony, Tennessee isn't easy. A lot has changed there and not necessarily for the better. If Jenna and Harmony are going to dig themselves out of their current crises, they're going to need each other. And they're going to need music."

Calvin will be playing the role of "Stan."  Getting that role wasn't easy.  Calvin says that after his initial audition, "I had 6 callbacks and made it through four rounds of cuts."  Calvin adds that the dance combination he had to learn and audition with was "one of the toughest and fastest" he'd ever had.  He joked, "I think I lost 10 pounds just from sweat."

But that sweat equity paid off and now Calvin's going to be part of a world premiere musical that's going to hit the boards the week of the CMA Music Festival in Nashville. And, this is cool too. A bunch of country stars that you know are going to be a part of the show too.

Calvin says there's a character in the show named "Bailey Stone", which will be played by a different country music star each night.  May We All just released the first list of artists who have signed on to play the role.  As you can see, the name "Bailey" was gender-neutral by design.

And CLICK HERE to see the full list songs included in the show. It has everything from "Jolene" to "Wide Open Spaces" to "Achy Breaky Heart" to "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly" to "Jesus Take the Wheel" and more.  The musical features about 30 songs total.

Calvin is ready to get to work on the show. Rehearsals begin on May 9th and the show premieres less than a month later. He joined us on the morning show to chat about his exciting new project.

May We All: A New Country Musical runs June 7th through July 17th at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

If you'd like to purchase tickets to go down, enjoy the musical and see Calvin's performance, CLICK HERE!  Tickets for the world premiere start at $30.

Break a leg, Calvin!