Jill Paice, John Hillner & More to Star in Industry Readings of BRILLIANCE, Based on the life of Frances Farmer

Musical Brilliance, LLC, will present private industry readings (by invitation only) of Brilliance, a musical based on the life of Frances Farmer, with book by Lance Lewman, music and lyrics by Lance Lewman & Kristan King, and additional music by Gabriel Kane, on Thursday, January 25th and Friday, January 26th.

Brilliance chronicles the meteoric rise, and tragic fall of Frances Farmer, a Hollywood movie star in the 1930s and 40s. The play takes us from the beginning of Frances’ career, through her unprecedented success as, what Paramount described as, “the next Greta Garbo,” to her involuntary commitment to an insane asylum by her own mother – and the eventual restoration of her own freedom and competency in 1953. The play explores the volatile mother- daughter relationship and the nature of fame in the “Silver Screen” era of old- style movie stardom... exploring what happens when a young girl’s love and adoration for her mother, and her own worship of the art of acting, are betrayed beyond measure, and where the fine-line between mental health and insanity is drawn.

Directed by Lance Lewman with choreography by Pierce Cassedy, the cast features Jill Paice(An American in Paris, The 39 Steps) as Frances Farmer, John Hillner (La Cage Aux Folles, Mamma Mia), Liz McCartney (Funny Girl, Sunday in the Park with George), Jeri Sager (Fiddler on the Roof, Cats) with Jordan Alexander, Erica Dorfler, Cailen Fu, Megan Masako Haley, Ben Livingstone, Harris Milgrim, Alaina Mills, Regan Ogle, Noah Plomgren and Lawrence Street. The Music Director is Evan Swanson. The stage manager is Kayleigh Laymon. General Management by Martin Platt, Perry Street Theatricals.

Lance Lewman, director and producer who has nurtured this musical project since its infancy states, "This musical has been a brainchild of mine and Kristan King's since 1983, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to showcase what we have to the leaders of the theater industry."

Brilliance has had a memorable theater journey: a Zoom Production in 2021 and an Off-Broadway debut at The Players' Theatre in 2022 which brought 11 nominations for the BroadwayWorld Off-Broadway Awards. Notably, lighting designer Samuel Biondolillo received first place, and choreographer Pierce Cassedy received second place.

Creative Team Bios

Lance Lewman (Book/Music/Lyrics) made his living in the professional theatre as a Theatre Artist for eight years while living in New York City. During that time he worked for some of the finest regional repertory theatres in the country. Some of his favorites include; Center Stage in Baltimore (The Woman, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Our Town, and Sleep of Reason), The Pittsburg Public Theatre (The Show-off, Vikings, The Normal Heart, and Three Sisters), Merrimack Rep (The Foreigner), and American Stage Co. (Romeo & Juliet). He also worked in the city Off Broadway in Losing Battles at The Noel Coward Theatre, 12th Night and Coriolanus (with Christopher Walken) at The New York Shakespeare Festival. Since moving to Maryland in 1990 he has appeared in Off The Map (William Gibbs), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), and Speed the Plow (Charlie Fox) at The Patuxent Theatre Company. He was in Da, and Fool For Love at Rep Stage. As Artistic Director for The Ellicott Theatre in Ellicott City he directed The Runner Stumbles and Moon Over The Brewery, and produced Arms and The Man and Crimes of the Heart. He also directed Noises Off for Harbor Theatre, Joined At The Head for Vagabonds Theatre, The World of Carl Sandburg for Cradlerock Theatre and Lone Star & Laundry & Bourbon for Fell’s Point Corner Theatre, and as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, Lance directed Snow (winner of Best Play & Best Production) and Trenches also for The Fell’s Point Corner Theatre. He also directed Oliver! for Silhouette Stages and has co-directed over 50 musicals with HCPSS in Howard County, MD. Lance is a graduate of The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and as a certified Combat coordinator he has taught fight combat workshops for nearly 15 years at Howard County High Schools.

Kristan King (Music and Lyrics) is a principal and co-writer of many of the songs for the musical Brilliance, and is a key producer for the musical. She is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and worked in both theatre and television in New York City until she moved to the Washington Mid-Atlantic region in 1990. She has worked as an actor and voice-over artist in, television, film, and theatre. directed television and written hundreds of songs for the band, King Lewman, that she’s the lead singer for and they have released 4 albums. On camera credits include “Homicide” and “The Wire” which she was a core member of The Loop Group for 4 seasons.

Gabriel Kane (Additional Music) Gabriel is an actor/musician. He studied at The University of North Carolina where he earned a BFA in Drama. Once he moved to New York he felt a major calling to his other love, music. He has been writing and recording diligently ever since. He now has over 30 original songs as well as the ones he wrote for Brilliance. He will be dropping these songs this year under the stage name, Hazee. Working on Brilliance has been such a pleasure, exploring a different direction of songwriting. He never saw himself doing musical theatre but the joys of helping to create the score were well worth the leap. The amazing cast and crew have made the transition back to stage so much easier.

Evan Swanson (Music Direction) is thrilled to be on the Brilliance team as Music Supervisor and Orchestrator! His work with Brilliance began at Players Theater in March of 2022 and has continued ever since. When he’s not with Brilliance, he can be found arranging and performing with other new works, cabaret shows, pop acts and various churches around the city. Past regional theater credits include: Freaky Friday, Emma: A Pop Musical, A Christmas Carol, Ring of Fire, Home for the Holidays, Little Shop of Horrors, It’s a Wonderful Life, Guys and Dolls, First Date, A Christmas Survival Guide, [title of show] and Tenderly.

Pierce Cassedy (Choreography) is a Director, Choreographer, and teacher from Tallahassee, Florida. After obtaining a BFA from CCM, select performance credits included Kinky Boots(Broadway), NERDS (Broadway) The Book of Mormon (Elder McKinley, Chicago/Original 2nd Nat. Tour cast), and Something Rotten! (Original 1st Nat. tour cast). Since discovering a passion for Direction/Choreography, Off-Broadway credits include: And Then There Were None, Somewhere I Can Scream, A Christmas Carol (2018-2022), Sleepy Hollow, Frankenstein, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. Other fun projects include choreography for world-renowned drag artist Alaska Thunderf✶✶✶5000’s music videos “Red,” “Puppet” and various live shows. Gratitude is the attitude. Thank you to this ebullient team and cast. Piercecassedy@gmail.com

Cast Bios

Jill Paice (Frances Farmer) Broadway credits include An American in Paris(Milo), Matilda(Miss Honey), The 39 Steps, Curtains(Niki Harris) and The Woman in White(Laura Fairlie). She also appeared on the West End in The Woman in White and Gone with the Wind(Scarlett O’Hara). Some of her other credits include Company starring Neil Patrick Harris and filmed for PBS, Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday (Grazia, original cast recording), the national tour of Les Miserablesand Mamma Mia(Sophie, Las Vegas). She most recently completed the world premiere of Watch Night at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center in NYC.

John Hillner (Adolf Zukor) most recently portrayed The Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose at the Argyle Theater, a role he played in the original Broadway production. In the intervening years he has played lead roles in twelve Broadway shows including Mamma Mia, La Cage Aux Folles and The Graduate as well as the Goat Professor Dr. Dillamond in the national tour of Wicked. He has worked extensively on Network Television and appeared as President George H. W. Bush in the feature film Vice. During the pandemic John built and donated over 100 “Distance Learning Desks” to schools in New York and Massachusetts for kids attending school online. What keeps him grounded is his wife Wendy and three children, Amy, Nicholas and Jackson.

Liz McCartney (Leslie Moore) recently closed the Broadway revival of Funny Girl with “Glee’”s Lea Michele, it was her 14th Broadway show. Others include, the revivals of My Fair Lady, Sunday In The Park With George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, South Pacific and Annie. Liz created the roles of Sue Tilly in the Boy George musical Taboo and Rebecca in The Dance Of The Vampires. She was also on Broadway in The Phantom Of The Opera, Mamma Mia, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Les Miserables. At Encores, she was part of Carnival with Anne Hathaway, God Bless You Mr Rosewater with Santino Fontana and James Earl Jones and Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show, the third time working with her idol, Stephen Sondheim. She has toured across the country with Cinderella, Wicked, Les Miserables, Phantom and The Little Mermaid. Other regional productions include Souvenir, Into The Woods, Chicago, Pirates of Penzance and Mary Poppins. Liz received a Joseph Jefferson nomination for her portrayal of Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Chicago's Drury Lane Theater. She won two best actress awards at the New York Music Theatre Festival and this year won a Broadway World Award for “Best Supporting Performer in a Musical” as ‘The Mother’ in The Last Match. Liz was also presented with a Bistro award for Rosemary and Time, the life and music of Rosemary Clooney. On TV, Liz has appeared in “The Gilded Age,” “That Damn Michael Che,” “The Blacklist,” “The Other Two,” “Annie-Live,” “The Prosecutors,” “Madam Secretary,” “SNL,” “Murphy Brown,” “Law and Order, SVU” and “Bull.”

Jeri Sager (Lillian Farmer) is a critically acclaimed veteran of Broadway and numerous national tours. She made her Broadway debut as Fruma Sarah in the 25th Anniversary Production of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Topol. She then went on to star as Grizabella in Cats, Eva Peron in Evita, and appear as Fantine in Les Miserables.  She has worked with such theater notables as Tony/Oscar Award winning director Jerome Robbins, Tony/Olivier Award winning director Trevor Nunn and Tony/Emmy Award winning singer/songwriter and playwright Rupert Holmes. Jeri has sung on the Grand Ole Opry, co-hosted the cable TV show, “RV Today,” played the abusive mother in Martina McBride’s heart wrenching music video Concrete Angel, and was featured in the film Country Strong, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Recently, Jeri was nominated in NYC for a BroadwayWorld Award for “Best Performance in a Musical Off-Broadway” for her original work as Lillian Farmer in the new musical Brilliance and is happy to be continuing the journey. Currently, Jeri is touring with her solo concert This Broad'sway.

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