Janet Hood News

On Monday, February 29, 2016, the Broadway at Birdland concert series will be presenting Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens as a benefit concert. With music by Janet Hood, lyrics and additional text by bill Russell, the piece is comprised of songs and monologues inspired by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. To get the inside scoop on the upcoming star studded concert, I chatted with Russell and director Jill Sapenoff.

Modern conveniences like smart phones and GPS often make us forget that the journey of life is full of the unexpected. For its 2016 theater season, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater celebrates these unexpected moments: the realization of first love; a town bonded by a bullied teenager; a family finding common ground through music; the censorship of a fictional marriage between two rabbits; the beauty behind the darkness of Edgar Allan Poe; love lost then found again.

Red House Arts Center is proud to open its 2015/16 LAB Series with "Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens," a musical celebration of lives lost to AIDS told through free verse, rock, jazz and blues. Bursting with humor, rage and hope, Elegies will be presented for three performances, October 2 - 4. Don't miss this unique production the Glasgow Herald says will leave you "glowing!"

It seemed appropriate that a cabaret show titled Confessions of a Native New Yorker would begin with the quintessential “call to all dreamers” song “Let The River Run” by native New Yorker Carly Simon. Wearing an elegant black and gold brocade dress--the very personification of class--Helen Glassman took the Don't Tell Mama stage by storm in performing her debut show on June 28. Glassman, a native New Yorker, chronicles her life in music to the beat of “the city that never sleeps.” Beginning by pointing out the ironic love/hate challenges of existing in the Big Apple, Glassman croons the wonderfully hip Portia Nelson classic “Confessions of a Native New Yorker,” showing us a delightfully flippant comic side that serves her well throughout the evening.

Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging Queens is a song cycle with music by Janet Hood and lyrics and additional text by Bill Russell. The work features songs and monologues inspired by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. Each of the monologues is written from the perspective of characters who have died from AIDS and the songs represent the feelings of friends and family members dealing with the loss.

?Tickets are now on sale for a West End revival of the song cycle Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, taking place at the Criterion Theatre on Sunday 31 May 2015.

The Sheryl Kaller helmed musical adaption of the Aldous Huxley classic BRAVE NEW WORLD will present two presentations onFebruary 23rd at 3PM and February 24th at noon following the culmination of a two week experimental AEA Lab.

Bill Russell and Janet Hood's musical 'Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens' will soon be performed in Manchester as an official event for Manchester Pride this August. The show is being produced by Side by Side Productions, a fringe theatre company set up to in 2009 to create opportunities in developing the up coming musical theatre fringe scene for actors and audiences in the North West.

On April 27, 2014 a private reading of the upcoming musical adaptation of BRAVE NEW WORLD took place in an undisclosed Midtown Manhattan venue.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced complete casting for its production of Side Show that runs in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater from June 14 to July 13, 2014. Side Show features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger, and is directed by Academy Award winner Bill Condon. Sam Davis will serve as musical director and arranger and will conduct the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. The Kennedy Center production of Side Show is produced in association with La Jolla Playhouse. Press opening night is Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

Grammy and Emmy Winner JOHN McDANIEL and Tony Nominee BILL RUSSELL have joined the creative team of BRAVE NEW WORLD: THE MUSICAL, currently in development, as Co-Composer and Lyricist. They join a team that already includes Ben Andron as Book Writer, Jonnie Rockwell as Co-Composer, and Tony Nominated Director, Sheryl Kaller. John McDaniel is also attached as Music Director.

Musical Theatre students at Marymount Manhattan College are thrilled to be performing two shows this January: a revival of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, and VOW, featuring writers from The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers.

Musical Theatre students at Marymount Manhattan College are thrilled to be performing two shows this January: a revival of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, and VOW, featuring writers from The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts produces, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical closes at La Jolla Playhouse tonight, December 17 and will open at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in spring 2014. The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Russelland music by Henry Krieger who will revise the show before its debut at La Jolla.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will produce, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse now through December 17 and will open at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in spring 2014. The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger who will revise the show before its debut at La Jolla. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will produce, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse November 5 through December 17 and will play the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in spring 2014, according to an equity casting notice. The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger who will revise the show before its debut at La Jolla.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Andrew Levine, Executive Director), in association with Jim Kierstead, as part of its acclaimed Developmental Reading Series, continues its summer schedule with the new musical Unexpected Joy, with Book & Lyrics by Bill Russell and Music by Janet Hood. Directed by Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller and with music direction by Jodie Moore, the four-member cast will feature Annie Golden, Emma Hunton, Capathia Jenkins and AnnMarie Milazzo.

On Sunday January 27 singer/TV executive producer Joe Lupariello brought his musical show Where or When to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Lupariello has had a background in musical comedy, but chose a mix of contemporary and traditional pop standards for Where or When, some of which worked better than others. Backed by great versatile Brian Graden at the piano, Lupariello worked like a charm with his SRO crowd, bringing the set in at under 60 minutes.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will produce, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse November 5 through December 17 and will play the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in spring 2014, according to an equity casting notice. The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger who will revise the show before its debut at La Jolla.

As BroadwayWorld first reported in March, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will produce, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award® winning director Bill Condon, the musical will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 2013 and will play the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater beginning June 2014. In a recent interview with creator Bill Russell chatted with the Sioux City Journal about the revival.