Tony-nominated lyricist and playwright Bill Russell will return to Morningside College on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for two events where he will talk about his career creating musicals performed around the world.

Tony-nominated lyricist and playwright Bill Russell will return to Morningside College on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for two events where he will talk about his career creating musicals performed around the world.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Russell and his songs will be featured during an event at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in Klinger-Neal Theatre, 3700 Peters Ave., called “From Sioux City to Broadway and Back Again: An Evening with Bill Russell and Friends.” Singers from Morningside College and Lamb Arts Regional Theatre will perform songs from his musicals, and there will be a reception in the lobby after the program.

At noon Feb. 12, he will speak informally about his career in the Hickman Dining Room of the Olsen Student Center, 3609 Peters Ave. He will share excerpts from his most recent musical, “Unexpected Joy,” which was performed in New York and London in 2018.

A Morningside alumnus, Russell is best known for the Broadway musical “Side Show,” which received four Tony nominations for the original 1997 production. With composer Henry Krieger (“Dreamgirls”), he created the musical about real-life singing duo Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who wonder “Who Will Love Me as I Am?” It was revised and revived on Broadway in 2014.

Russell grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota and then studied theatre at Morningside.  For a production at Kansas University, Russell and frequent composer-collaborator Janet Hood won a national collegiate original musicals competition for the rock musical “Sun, Son.” After directing and stage managing the comedy team Monteith and Rand for 14 years, Russell made his Off-Broadway debut with the musical “Fourtune,” followed by “Texas Chainsaw Musical” and “Family Style.” In the 1980s, the AIDS memorial quilt inspired his “Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens,” which has been produced Off Broadway, twice on London’s West End, and around the world.

In 1991, his musical “Pageant” opened Off Broadway and transferred to London’s West End. He will direct this popular musical spoof of beauty pageants this summer at Lamb Arts Regional Theatre in Sioux City, the production running from June 7-22. His most recent musical, “Unexpected Joy,” deals with three generations of women in one family who struggle to find common ground on gay marriage and other divisive political issues.

The two events at Morningside are part of a semester-long celebration of the 30-year-old, interdisciplinary Friday is Writing Day series at Morningside College.  This award-winning weekly series has given college, community and visiting writers of all types the opportunity to share and discuss their work in an informal setting.