Lynne Taylor-Corbett to Helm New Bill Russell Musical UNEXPECTED JOY at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater

The world premiere of Unexpected Joy, opening July 21 at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, will be directed by Lynne Taylor Corbett. Musical Direction is by Gillian Berkowitz. This world premiere by Bill Russell and Janet Hood is produced in association with Jim Kierstead, Linda & Craig Wielkotz, and Gabby Hanna & Marcy Feller. Casting is by Stephen DeAngelis. Unexpected Joy opens July 21, running Wednesdays-Mondays through August 20.

Taylor-Corbett has been nominated for Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award for Broadway's Swing!, and received Drama Desk and Lortel nominations for My Vaudeville Man and Wanda's World. She directed and choreographed Cougar the Musical, and KICK! Off-Broadway. Regional shows include Tintypes at Hartford Stage and The Old Globe, Opal at George Street Playhouse and the Lyric Theatre, Flight of the Lawnchair Man for the Goodspeed Opera House, Hats in Chicago and Girl's Room starring Donna McKechnie and Carol Lawrence in New York and Los Angeles. She also directed last season's successful production of Joni Fritz's In the Car with Blossom and Len at Centenary Stage, which will be presented at Queens Theatre this coming year. Her choreography can be seen in feature films Footloose and My Blue Heaven and in Disney's stage show, Aladdin, at the Hyperion Theatre at Disneyland. She adapted and directed The Lion King for Disney's production in Hong Kong. Her dance works have been commissioned by New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Carolina Ballet and numerous companies throughout the world. Broadcasts of her work have been seen on Live from Lincoln Center, Live from the San Francisco Opera House and on UNC TV. Distant Thunder, a musical set on the Blackfeet rez, written by Lynne and son, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, is in development with Amas and Playwrights Horizons.

Unexpected Joy has book and lyrics by Tony nominee Bill Russell (Side Show, Lucky Duck) and music by Janet Hood. It marks the first collaboration between the two since their song cycle Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, which was inspired by the AIDS memorial quilT. Russell is a Tony Award nominee for book and lyrics to Side Show, on which he collaborated with Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger. Russell has also penned book and lyrics to The Last Smoker in America and Kept.

According to the authors, "Unexpected Joy is a new musical about four women - all of them singers, but of various experience and success: Joy, a baby-boomer, her daughter Rachel, Rachel's daughter Tamara, and Lou, the woman Joy is intending to marry. But Joy hasn't told Rachel about her wedding plans and has good reason to be apprehensive. Rachel is married to a successful televangelist and performs regularly on his TV show. And Lou is a self-described lesbian terrorist. When the family comes together for a concert honoring Rachel's father (her mother never married him), the sparks and music fly!"

Unexpected Joy
A World Premiere Musical
Produced by Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater in association with Jim Kierstead
Book and Lyrics by Bill Russell; Music by Janet Hood
Directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett
Musical Direction by Gillian Berkowitz
July 21 - August 20, 2016
Previews July 21 and 22
Performances Wednesday-Monday at 8:00PM
Sunday July 31, August 7 & August 14 at 3:00PM & 8:00PM
Tickets: $20-$50
Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater
2357 Route 6, Wellfleet
508-349-9428
www.what.org

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