Appalachian musical "That Other Woman's Child" opens at Chattanooga State. STARTS TONIGHT

Appalachian musical opens tonight at Chattanooga State

Back by popular demand, “That Other Woman’s Child” opens tonight, March 30, at Chattanooga State Community College marking the 35th anniversary of its creation by Sherry Landrum and George S. Clinton.

“We brought it back because we constantly had people on campus who said they wanted to see it again,” says Rex Knowles, executive director of Chattanooga State’s Professional Actor Training Program. Knowles is producing this show. Landrum, head of the Theater Department at Chattanooga State, is directing the production.

The Appalachian musical backed by a seven-piece bluegrass band tells the story of Dawn Hanover, “that other woman’s child,” who is soon to arrive at Hanover farm in Kentucky. Her father, who left family matriarch Granny Loomis years previously to run off with “the other woman,” has died and left Dawn his share of the farm.

Dawn has taken time off from her PR job in Los Angeles to come to the farm and meet the family she’s never known. But the family is in an uproar — they day they’ve dreaded has arrived. “That other woman’s child” has come to claim her rights.

Jennifer Arbogast is cast in the title role. Christi Barr is making her debut in a Chattanooga State production as Granny.

The two head a talented cast of singers and dancers, 10 of whom are current or former students in Chattanooga State’s Professional Actor Training program, adds Knowles. Lindsay Fussell has choreographed the show.

Landrum and Clinton, who has written scores for films such as “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” and “The Santa Clause 2,” collaborated on this foot-stomping, pickin’-and-singin’ musical three decades ago, but it’s just as relevant and entertaining to audiences today.

“That Other Woman’s Child” opened in December 1982 at the Callboard The- atre, a small theater in Los Angeles. It was slated to run five weeks, but ran for five months since it continuously sold out its audiences.

In 2003, with the rise in popularity of bluegrass, Landrum and Clinton updated their script, added four new numbers and chose Chattanooga State for the 2004 premiere of their updated musical. “That Other Woman’s Child” was chosen from 400 submissions to be performed at the 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Jennifer Arbogast plays Dawn and Jonathan Wilson is Luke John in “That Other Woman’s Child.”