Telly Leung & More to Star in HAS ANYONE SEEN MY MIND? Industry Readings

Jim Kierstead and Leslie Sweem Bhutani will present two private industry readings (by invitation only) of Has Anyone See My Mind?, musings and lyrics by Bill Russell with music by Janet Hood, Nick Cearley and Ronald Melrose. Directed by Justin Ross Cohen (Romeo & Bernadette), with musical direction by Mary Gatchell (Waitress), the readings will be held on Thursday, October 26 at 3pm and Friday, October 27 @ 1pm. 

Has Anyone Seen My Mind? is Bill Russell's (Side Show, elegies for angels, punks and raging queens) most personal piece created from his free verse and lyrics about life and love and everyday frustrations!

The cast includes Jordan Dean (American Psycho, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Michelle Duffy (Heathers: The Musical, Leap of Faith), Telly Leung (Allegiance, Aladdin) and Tiffany Mann (Be More Chill, Waitress). Casting by Stephen DeAngelis.

 

Bill Russell

(Musings and Lyrics) is an internationally produced author and director of musicals for the stage. He received Tony Award nominations for the book and lyrics of Side Show. An acclaimed revival, directed by Oscar winning screenwriter and director, Bill Condon, was on Broadway in 2014. He penned book and lyrics for Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, music by Janet Hood, and has directed it frequently in America as well as the Fringe and West End of London. At the end of 2020, with Justin Ross Cohen, he co-directed a streamed version of Elegies... as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids with a cast of 51 stars of stage, film and television, including Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, Fran Drescher, Norm Lewis, Cherry Jones, JK Simmons, Joaquina Kalukango, Anthony Rapp, J Harrison Ghee and Seth Rudetsky, to name a few. Pageant (co-author, book and lyrics) ran for a year off-Broadway, was revived there in 2014 and Mr. Russell directed productions in Chicago, L.A., Atlanta, Boston and in the Fringe and West End of London. His latest musical with Janet Hood, Unexpected Joy, premiered off-Broadway and in London in 2018, produced by Jim Kierstead. Bill's other off-Broadway book and lyric credits include Lucky Duck, The Last Smoker in America, Fourtune and The Texas Chainsaw Musical. He has been writing free verse for decades.

Mary Gatchell

(Music Direction) is a multi-faceted music director, composer, singer, songwriter, oboist, pianist, and educator. She grew up in Epping, New Hampshire and is a graduate of NYU with a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Theory and Composition and a Master's degree in Jazz Piano. In 2018, Mary was the pianist for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar starring John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper, which aired on television Easter Sunday live on NBC. Starting in 2019, she became a substitute for the conductor and pianist on stage on Broadway for Sara Bareilles' show, Waitress. Mary is currently a rehearsal pianist and substitute conductor for the Broadway hit Six: The Musical. Mary has performed in NYC venues such as the Blue Note, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Birdland, Knitting Factory, Bitter End, Cutting Room, Rockwood Music Hall, Groove, CBGB's, as well as Broadway theatres namely the Lamb's Theatre, Minskoff Theatre, Brooks Atkinson Theatre (now the Lena Horne Theatre), and Barrymore Theatre. She has brought her original music to Europe and Africa. She has performed at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and Newark's Prudential Center with legendary rock band The Rolling Stones for their 50th Anniversary tour with Ghostlight Chorus. She is also a singer in the Leon Russell southern funk bank, Strangeland, that plays regularly at the Bitter End. This fall, Mary will be playing principal oboe with the New York Chamber Players at Carnegie Hall. A passionate teacher, from 2015-2022, Mary was a faculty member at Nyack College in NYC, teaching ear training, music theory, acting, and conducting. She was also the co-director of the Chorale and the music director and choreographer of the musical productions for West Side Story, In the Heights, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Dreamgirls. As a bandleader and prolific songwriter, Mary has released 8 albums of her original music as well as a jazz album and children's album. Mary is currently working on her 11th album, What's My Name? Destiny, setting music to a collection of love poems from poets Rabia of Basra, Rumi, Hafiz, St. Catherine of Siena, and Farouk Henry of NYC. This past summer, she had her classical composition, Paradiso Canto 33, premiered in Italy setting Dante's beautiful text to music for a cappella choir. Mary's music and more can be found at www.marygatchell.comand is available on all streaming platforms.

Janet Hood

(Composer) has written five musicals with book writer/lyricist Bill Russell. Their latest, -Unexpected Joy-, opened in New York (York Theatre) and London (Southwark Playhouse) in 2018. Their first, Sun, Son was presented at the University of Kansas and won the BMI Inter-Varsity Show Competition. The Blob That Ate Vermont was written for the Bradford Repertory Theater (Vermont.) Family Style was presented in Minneapolis. Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens has been produced in New York, London's fringe and West End and continues to be performed around the world. The score has been recorded numerous times, including an all-star benefit in New York. Janet was musical director of Elegies… at the Criterion and King's Head Theatres in London and several productions in New York and other American cities. During the height of the pandemic, Ms. Hood acted as musical director for a streamed version of Elegies… as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, with 51 stars from stage, film and television, filming themselves at home. She has performed as pianist and singer and has played on many albums, including her own, “Jade and Sarsaparilla.” Janet has also performed with the Boston Pops. She has toured with Ronnie Gilbert and Holly Near and has accompanied Ronnie Gilbert in her one-woman show “American Agitator.”

Nick Cearley

(Composer) is the co-creator of the critically acclaimed “Undie-Rock” duo known as The Skivvies (www.theskivviesnyc.com). Broadway Tour: All Shook Up. Off Broadway: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck), Pageant (Great Plains / Cast Album on Jay Records), Sex Tips…, Cupid & Psyche, Golden Rainbow. Nick holds the record for most performances of the one-person comedy Buyer & Cellar by Jon Tolins all across America. Selected regional credits: Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Bay Street Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, American Stage Company, Rubicon Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Two River Theatre, Pittsburgh's City Theatre. Upcoming: Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (dir. Chris Gattelli). Instagram: @clearlycearley & @theskivviesnyc. www.nick-cearley.com

Ronald Melrose

(Composer). Forty-seven years of arranging, music direction and supervision, including nineteen Broadway shows and productions spanning the world. Helpmann Award (Australia's Tony) for music direction on Jersey Boys, music supervisor of Jersey Boys streaming and film, associate producer of Jersey Boys cast and Christmas albums. Music supervisor and arranger, A Bronx Tale (Broadway/Tour), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Broadway/Tour), The Who's Tommy (Goodman Theatre). Composer: Fourtune (Off-Broadway), The Silver Swan (NEA Fellowship), The Missing Peace (Washington's Capitol Fringe), Early One Morning (liturgical one-woman musical), two Harvard Hasty Pudding shows, a gospel “Requiem,” songs for “Saturday Night Live.” Education: Harvard (philosophy), Westminster (choral conducting).

Justin Ross Cohen

(Director) recently directed and choreographed the Off-Broadway musical Romeo and Bernadette by Mark Saltzman. Winner of two Outer Critics Circle Awards and recipient of two Drama Desk Award nominations, an original cast album has just been recorded. For more information go to romeoandbernadette.com. Other theater directing credits include I Could Go On Lip-Synching! by John Epperson aka Lypsinka and Mr. Cohen (Provincetown Playhouse, NY, Theatre-Off-Park, NY, Callboard Theater, LA); Don't Grab The Gowns Until You See The Gurney by Ronald Dennis (Highways Performance Space, LA ); NOCTURNE by Adam Rapp (The Other Space, LA) and Tom Eyen's Women Behind Bars, whose jailbirds included Jennifer Tilly, Niecy Nash, Lainie Kazan, Lesley Ann Warren, Ellen Greene and Mindy Sterling. A graduate of the American Film Institute, his films include Waiting For Yvette starring Wendie Malick and Stephen Tobolowsky (Audience Favorite Award: Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, LOGO/TV); Paul Draper: The Aristocrat Of Tap (Commissioned by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division/Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center) and Elegies For Angels, Punks And Raging Queens, co-directed with Bill Russell and produced by Jim Kierstead to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The film stars Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, Richard Chamberlain, Famke Janssen, JK Simmons, Fran Drescher and 45 other stars of stage and screen. A Brooklyn, NY native and graduate of the High School for the Performing Arts, Mr. Cohen's career began as a dancer on Broadway where he had the great fortune to work for, among others, Bob Fosse in the original Broadway production of Pippin and Michael Bennett in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Off-Broadway he starred as Roscoe in Bill Russell's Fourtune where he introduced the song "I'd Rather Be A Fairy Than A Troll". Soon after, Richard Attenborough cast him to reprise his role as Greg for the film version of A Chorus Line. Mr. Cohen is a founding member of Lincoln Center Theater's Directors Lab and a proud union member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), Actor's Equity Association (AEA) and SAG-AFTRA.

Jordan Dean

(Performer) can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed feature film, A Million Miles Away for Amazon. Previously he starred as Prince Harry in Harry and Meghan, Escaping the Palace. Additional recent credits for Jordan include the hit USA series “The Sinner” (2020), recurring on Netflix's drama series “The Punisher” (2019) alongside Jon Bernthal and Ben Barnes, and “Z: The Beginning of Everything” (2017) opposite Christina Ricci for Amazon. Theater credits on Broadway: American Psycho, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Mamma Mia, Cymbeline. Off-Broadway, Jordan has appeared in Shows for Days (LCT), Pump Boys and Dinettes (NY City Center), The Heart of Robin Hood ( A.R.T), Macbeth ( Park Ave Armory), A New Century (LCT), A Midsummer Night's Dream (CSC), and As You Like It (Public Theater/NYSF).

Michelle Duffy

(Performer)Throughout her celebrated three-decade career on stage and screen, Michelle Duffy has kept quite busy and on the move. In New York, Michelle has originated roles on Broadway (Leap of Faith), off-Broadway (Heathers: The Musical) and pre-Broadway (Gettin' the Band Back Together, First Wives Club, Unexpected Joy, to name a few..). She's worked extensively in regional theaters throughout the country and abroad, launching a host of world premieres (most recently Steven Dietz's How a Boy Falls, at Chicago's Northlight) and reimagining great classic and contemporary roles (most recently “Mrs. Dashwood/Anne Steele” in Kate Hamill's Sense and Sensibility at Northern Stage, “Alice” in Bright Star at Farmers Alley, “Jessie' in Sweat at Pittsburgh Public… “Hilary” in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at The Guthrie…). More principal roles @ American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Theatreworks, SF Opera, Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, Rubicon, The Goodman, Drury Lane, Milwaukee Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, The Barbican (UK), Birmingham Rep (UK) and Vienna's English Theatre. Most recent TV/film credits include “Succession”, “Chicago PD”, “The Night Of”, “Blue Bloods”, “The Good Wife”, “Elementary”, “Pitching Tents”, “Burning Man the Musical” She is the grateful recipient of Los Angeles Ovation, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, Wilde, and Garland awards.

Telly Leung

(Performer) is a Chinese-American, New York City native, Broadway & television performer, recording artist, producer, director, theater arts teacher & coach. His Broadway & national touring performing credits include Aladdin in Disney's Aladdin on Broadway, In Transit, Allegiance (with George Takei & Lea Salonga), Godspell, Rent (final Broadway company), Wicked (Boq, original Chicago company), Pacific Overtures, and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song. In 2010, he starred as Angel in Rent at the Hollywood Bowl opposite Wayne Brady, directed by Neil Patrick Harris. Television audiences will remember him as Marcel in season 3 of "Warrior" (HBO Max), Wes the Warbler on “Glee", as well as his guest star appearances on "Instinct", “Odd Mom Out,” “Deadbeat” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” Telly is featured as a performance coach for the Jimmy Awards in the PBS documentary, "Broadway or Bust". He can be heard on many original Broadway cast recordings and has released two solo albums - I'll Cover You (2012) and Songs for You (2016) - on The Yellow Sound Label. His EP, “You Matter” is a collection of 5 songs made during the 2020 pandemic with composer & arranger Gary Adler and profits will benefit Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. Telly currently lives in Harlem in New York City with his husband, James. Instagram: @tellyleung. Website: www.tellyleung.com

Tiffany Mann

(Performer) Hailing from Fort Worth, TX, the multi-hyphenate talent Tiffany Mann is no stranger to the spotlight. The combination of her home-grown gospel sound and the tools she gleaned from classical training at Oklahoma City University has created a “Powerhouse” according to the New York Times. She has appeared in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows such as, Jerry Springer-The Opera (Lucille Lortel Award for Best Female Actress), Waitress, and the original Broadway cast of Be More Chill. She has also streaked her claim on television shows including “Orange in the New Black, “New Amsterdam” and the NBC series “RISE.” Ms. Mann's mission is to bring joy infused healing through storytelling, activism, and song. @iamtiffanymann

Jim Kierstead

(Producer) is a Grammy-nominated, Emmy, Olivier, and six-time Tony Award-winning producer of the Broadway, touring, Toronto, and London productions of Kinky Boots, Pippin, Hadestown, The Inheritance, The Lehman Trilogy, and Company. In addition, he has been a co-producer of 25 Broadway productions and is currently represented on Broadway with Sweeney Todd and Hadestown. Off-Broadway projects include Titanique, Stranger Sings, Unexpected Joy, Yank! (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Nominees), Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, and Thrill Me (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Nominees). He has also produced extensively in London's West End and produced Miami's hit immersive show Amparo. Jim is on the Board of Directors of The York Theatre Company and The Abingdon Theatre Company and is the founder of the digital theatre content creation company Broadway Virtual. www.kiersteadproductions.com

Leslie Sweem Bhutani

(Co-Producer) previously co-produced off-Broadway's The Last Smoker in America, which had book and lyrics by Bill Russell. They've been friends since long before that. Ms. Bhutani is active in many causes, serving on the Boards of the Brennan Center for Justice, Civic Influencers and recently the Equal Rights Coalition. She also has enjoyed a long association with Planned Parenthood, serving as the co-chair of the national Leadership Council from 2019-2023. Other activism includes preventing gun violence, the Humane Society and League of Women Voters. She has helped produce the documentary films Better Together, We are Galapagos and Lutah.

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