Todd Hunter to Star in UM's PIPPIN, Choreographed by Joy French, Running 3/17-28

The Schools of Theatre & Dance and Music are hard at work on their upcoming musical production of the Tony-Award winning Pippin.

This production stars former Broadway performer Todd Hunter at the seductive Leading Player, a role originally made famous by Ben Vereen. Todd is a native New Yorker and has performed on both Broadway and network television. His Broadway credits include The Who's Tommy, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Victor/Victoria, Sideshow, and Disney's The Lion King (Los Angeles Co.). Over the years, he has performed with and for such legends as Chita Rivera, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Raquel Welch, Aretha Franklin, Diahann Carroll, Ann-Margret, Jennifer Holiday, Stephanie Mills, Joe Layton, Rob Marshall, Maurice Hines, Rob Ashford and Bob Fosse. He appeared as a recurring character on ABC's General Hospital and CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful. Also an international singer/songwriter, Todd was nominated for the Canadian Dora Award for original composition and performed in concert in Italy, Germany and Japan.

Pippin is being choreographed by award-winning UM adjunct assistant professor Joy French. A native of Missouri, Joy earned her BA at the University of Montana before establishing her dance career in the West from Washington state to Colorado. She then completed her MFA in Performance and Choreography at the University of Colorado Boulder. Happily back in this beautiful valley, Joy now teaches multiple dance courses at UM. Additionally, she instructs drama students at Hellgate High School, all while performing professionally with Headwaters Dance Co. and the CoMotion Dance Project. Joy is also the founder and artistic director of Bare Bait Dance, UM's professional contemporary modern dance company-in-residence. One of Joy's proudest moments since returning to Missoula was choreographing The Legend of Orpheus in collaboration with Professor Anne Basinski and the School of Music, which recently received the Division II First Place Prize in the National Opera Association's 2013?2014 Opera Production Competition.

DETAILS:

WHEN: March 17-21, 24-28 at 7:30 pm

WHERE: Montana Theatre, PARTV Center, U of M Campus

INFO: http://www.umt.edu/ theatredance

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