Bill Russell

Bill Russell 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, which was also nominated for Best Musical and its leading ladies, Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner received a unique joint nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. An acclaimed revival, directed by Oscar® winning screenwriter and director, Bill Condon, was on Broadway in 2014. Mr. Russell has directed several productions of that show around the country. He penned book and lyrics for Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens and has directed it frequently in America as well as the Fringe and West End of London. At the end of 2020, he co-directed a streamed version 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. Other off-Broadway book and lyric credits include Unexpected Joy (also London), Lucky Duck, The Last Smoker in America, Fourtune and The Texas Chainsaw Musical. He is currently writing lyrics for an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. He received Honorary Doctorates from the Boston Conservatory and Morningside College and was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2016. Much more at www.billrusssell.net.