By Hannah Hecht– bill russell*, a Morningside alum and professional lyricist/playwright, will be on campus on October 21st to talk to students, faculty, staff, and the public about his new Broadway play.
At 12 PM to 1 PM, the college will host a reception for russell in the Yockey room, and at 8 PM English Department Chair Marty Knepper will interview him in the Yockey room about his experience as a playwright. Both events will be accompanied by music performed by Morningside students from russell’s two current shows, Side Show and Pageant.
The musical Side Show is a revival of his 1997 Tony award winning production of the same name. The new production, directed by Bill Condon and rewritten with new songs and script changes by russell, opens its Broadway season with a preview performance on October 28th.
Side Show tells the based-on-a-true story of Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who performed on a vaudeville circuit across the U.S. throughout the early twentieth century. The original Broadway production, with book and lyrics by russell, earned four Tony nominations.
Knepper, a close friend of russell’s, saw the play at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. this summer, where it received great reviews from the New York Times and the Washington Post. She thinks that the big draw of the play is the ability for people to relate to the Hilton twins.
“I think that, on some level, everyone feels like ‘who can love someone like me?’” she says. “This whole thing with the Siamese twins, it’s one of those topics that makes people uncomfortable. But, it’s a metaphor for all the ways that people feel like they don’t fit in with society.”
Knepper thinks that the Morningside events will be a great opportunity for students and locals to interact with a playwright and lyricist.
Both events are free and open to the public.
*Editor’s Note: bill russell prefers to use lower case for his name.
Leave a Reply