Photo Flash: Connor Russell, Katie Thompson and More at THE HINTERLANDS Musical Web Series Launch

THE HINTERLANDS, a free musical web series about teenage gay bullying, officially launched on October 28, 2013 at a special event held at The New 42nd Street Studios. At the event, special guest speaker James Clementi of The Tyler Clementi Foundation shared some touching words about his younger brother Tyler and underscored the importance of being a light for young people who were struggling with thoughts of suicide. Connor Russell (Disney's Aladdin world premiere), star of THE HINTERLANDS, performed "Like It Here," a song from the fifth episode of the series. Katie Thompson (GIANT), backed by 13 students from the Professional Performing Arts School in Midtown, sang "Worthy," which will be part of the sixth episode of THE HINTERLANDS. Scroll down for photos!

Also at the launch event were Tony Award-nominee Erin Dilly (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Nice Work If You Can Get It) and John Bolton (A Christmas Story, Curtains, Spamalot), who play Paul's mother and father, and Zoe Considine (A Christmas Story) who plays Paul's younger sister.

THE HINTERLANDS features an array of established and rising Broadway musical theatre stars, including David Andrew Anderson (Meet John Doe), Caitlin Kinnunen (The Bridges of Madison County, Spring Awakening, next to normal), Daniel Quadrino (Newsies, Bye Bye Birdie), Andrew Brewer (Off-Broadway's Cougar, The Musical and Nymph Errant) and Brianne Wylie.

Created as a response to suicides by bullied LGBTQ youth, the show is about Paul, a 16-year-old bullied gay kid who is growing up in a rural community with few resources for kids like him. Episode 1 of THE HINTERLANDS is now available at www.HinterlandsTheMusical.com. Subsequent episodes will be released weekly hereafter.

THE HINTERLANDS, was conceived by the writing team of Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen (Cloaked, The Yellow Wood). The team was awarded a Jonathan Larson Grant for Cloaked and Elliott received the Kleban Award for the Most Promising Librettist, and The Yellow Wood, which won a Richard Rodgers Development Award and Daryl Roth Award. Their shows have had productions, workshops and readings at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (winning the Excellence in Music award), National Alliance for Musical Theatre, CAP21 Theatre Company, Vital Theatre Company, and Village Theatre, among others. They are currently working on Maiden Voyage, a musical about the legendary female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonney. THE HINTERLANDS was directed by Brandon Ivie (A Christmas Story, First Date).

Katie Thompson (GIANT), backed by 13 students from the Professional Performing Arts School in Midtown, sang "Worthy,"? which will be part of the sixth episode of THE HINTERLANDS.

Connor Russell (Disney's Aladdin world premiere), star of THE HINTERLANDS, who performed "Like It Here,"? a song from the fifth episode of the series, Zoe Considine (A Christmas Story) who plays Paul's younger sister, Tony Award-nominee Erin Dilly (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Nice Work If You Can Get It) and John Bolton (A Christmas Story, Curtains, Spamalot), who play Paul's mother and father.