Bill Russell News

 Broadway On Demand will present several special projects this week, including the new La Jolla Playhouse digital series Without Walls (WOW) (as of November 26), the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids benefit Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens featuring Nathan Lane, Norm Lewis, Cynthia Nixon, Lena Hall, and more (December 1).

More Broadway, television and film stars have been added to the celebrated series of songs and monologues Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, set to stream on World AIDS Day - Tuesday, December 1, 2020. The virtual production, featuring 51 performers, will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Today we rewind to 2014, when Side Show was getting ready to return to Broadway at the St. James Theatre, where it played for 56 performances.

An online revival of the celebrated series of songs and monologues Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, starring a bevy of Broadway, television and film favorites, is set to stream on World AIDS Day - Tuesday, December 1, 2020. The virtual production, featuring 50 performers, will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Abingdon Theatre Company today announced the #I Will campaign, a series of videos and social media posts bringing their patrons, colleagues, friends and family together in hope for the future.

Uptown Players will present a virtual production of the 2014 audience favorite, the farcical Offa??Broadway hit, Pageant. With book and lyrics by Bill Russell and Frank Kelly and music by Albert Evans, what makes Pageant the musical so different from other beauty contests? Our girls have it all, plus a little a?oesomething extra!a?? The virtual production runs September 25th through October 4, 2020.

Quarantine Cabaret and Cocktails, produced and hosted by entertainer and LML Music founder, Lee Lessack, and actor and frequent SNL regular, Robert Bannon, will return tonight with the Original Broadway cast of Side Show: Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner, Hugh Panaro and Jeff McCarthy, PLUS Shawn Ryan, founder of Young Actors Theatre Camp.

Director and choreographer Michael Pereira has announced the launch of Broadway Chez Vous, a virtual performing arts school dedicated to advancing musical theater training for artists around the world. This innovative membership program grants students of all ages access to dance and voice classes on-demand, a monthly LIVE Zoom class and Q & A with Michael. Classes and choreography are added on a monthly basis.

Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse will present free 'screened' readings of four new one-act plays inspired by life and history in the East Village, via live stream video, with talkback to follow, on Saturday, June 26th and 27th, 2020 at 8 PM, EDT.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) will present the June Panel Life on Hold, and What We Do in the Meantime on Thursday, June 25, 2020 via Zoom.

I remain awed by Swift Creek Mill's production of 'Side Show.' the 1997 musical focused on the real-life story of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins born in 1908 who were exhibited as circus freaks and then became vaudeville stars.

In response to Coronavirus and the industry's shutdown, the cast of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens which ran last year at The Union Theatre, has recorded a deeply moving tribute to NHS heroes and freelancers.

How do we make a list of the 101 greatest show tunes from the past 100 years? Well, we did the near-impossible task.  Check out our full list here! 

Broadway alum Jacob Brent debuts his first mainstage musical as faculty director in the James Madison University School of Theatre and Dance's production of Side Show, a?oea?? a hypnotic spectacle that packs an emotional wallopa?? (The Hollywood Reporter). 

The inimitable Emily Skinner will be headlining 42nd Street Moon's gala fundraiser a?oeCome to the Moona?? on Tuesday, February 4th at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. After bursting onto the scene with her Tony-nominated performance in a?oeSide Show,a?? Ms. Skinner has gone on to star in several more Broadway shows, most recently a?oeThe Cher Showa?? in 2018-19, and performed at top regional theater companies and done innumerable concerts throughout the country. Ms. Skinner's trademarks are a spectacular voice that can move seamlessly from a luscious lower register to a thrilling high belt, an irreverent sense of humor and a deep passion for the classic American musical. She is the type of performer who can dazzle you with her vocal prowess one moment, then make you laugh out loud with a perfectly-timed bon mot, then break your heart with a tender ballad. BroadwayWorld spoke recently by phone with Ms. Skinner from her home base in Manhattan. In conversation, Ms. Skinner is delightfully chatty, smart and warm, sort of a mashup of a gimlet-eyed leading lady from a bygone era, a brainiac specializing in Broadway arcania, and your best friend from high school.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) in association with Eric Krebs will present the Off-Broadway premiere of Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn, with book and lyrics by Mark Saltzman, music adapted from classic Italian melodies, and directed and choreographed by Justin Ross Cohen. Previews begin at the Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 West 53rd Street (10th Avenue & 53rd Street) tomorrow night, Tuesday, January 14th at 7pm with an official opening on Thursday, January 23rd at 8pm. Performances will continue through February 16, 2020.

The Old Globe's 2020 Summer Season brings to Balboa Park an extraordinarily talented group of artists who will delight audiences with their unique takes on four great works of theatre. The season incudes a classic American musical, a new adaptation of a 20th century thriller, and two of Shakespeare's masterworks on our outdoor stage.

Due to overwhelming demand, new tickets have been released for Cinderella - the UK's first full drag pantomime in the West End. Starring RuPaul's Drag Race UK finalist BAGA CHIPZ and SHEILA SIMMONDS - best known from her outrageous performance that wowed the judges in Britain's Got Talent 2019, and comedian KEMAH BOB, fresh from supporting Hannah Gadsby on tour, CINDERELLA is a fierce and funny drag makeover of the classic pantomime this Christmas, playing at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End.

The talent at the Weekend Theater will blow you away at their production of SIDE SHOW (2014 Broadway Revival). Running through October 27, you do not want to miss this.

Drag stars BAGA CHIPZ a?" currently on screen as one of the contestants in BBC Three's RuPaul's Drag Race UK a?" and SHEILA SIMMONDS a?" best known from her outrageous performance that wowed the judges in Britain's Got Talent 2019 a?" will star in a fierce and funny drag makeover of classic pantomime CINDERELLA this Christmas, playing at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End for six performances only.