KU News Release

‘Pageant’ writing collaborators met at KU

LAWRENCE — Their collaboration for the musical comedy “Pageant” didn’t come about until 1986, but the writing team of Bill Russell and Frank Kelly first came together at the University of Kansas in the early 1970s.

“Pageant,” which has book and lyrics by Russell and Kelly with music by Albert Evans, is being staged this summer as part of Kansas Summer Theatre presented by the University Theatre. Russell has returned to his alma mater to direct the high-energy production. Kelly recently retired from a long and successful teaching career and now lives on Long Island.

Russell and Kelly met at KU and began an enduring friendship; they also collaborated on the musical revue “The Texas Chainsaw Musical.”

“Frank was here working on a doctorate, and I transferred here essentially to get my first musical produced,” Russell said. “Bill Becvar, who had been a professor and my inspiration at Morningside College, was doing graduate work at KU and had a directing slot scheduled for the next year. Inspired by ‘Hair,’ I wanted to write a rock musical and asked Janet Hood, a student at Oberlin College, if she’d be interested in composing the music. She was, even though neither of us had even written a song, let alone a score.”

The result was “Sun, Son,” a modern version of the Icarus myth, which was staged in what is now the Inge Theatre with Ron Willis, professor emeritus of theatre and film, as Russell’s playwrighting adviser. The KU production won the national BMI Competition for original musicals produced in universities.

Russell and Kelly lived in the same apartment house in Lawrence and ended up living in the same Manhattan neighborhood several years later. One night Kelly made a joke that someone should write a revue of unlikely musicals. The result was “The Texas Chainsaw Musical,” which was produced off Broadway.

At the time, Russell had several friends in the national tour of “42nd Street,” and one of them, Robert Longbottom, told Russell about a show they’d thrown together for other members of their company: a beauty pageant complete with evening gowns, swimsuits, talent presentations and production numbers. And all the contestants were played by men.

“Bobby thought there was the germ of a musical there and asked if I was interested. I thought but didn’t say that pageants had been satirized a lot and personally I wasn’t that into drag,” Russell said. “But I agreed to take a look at a video they’d made of their one-time event and when I did, I was positively rocked with laughter and admiration because these Broadway dancers were so much more talented than most actual pageant contestants. And putting men through the torture that women endure in these events had resonance beyond most drag acts I’d seen.”

Kelly and Evans agreed to join the project, and the first production was in 1986 in a tiny theater in New York’s West Village, where the audience and performers shared a single toilet. The show subsequently had a lengthy run off-Broadway and has been done all over the United States, in Australia and in London’s fringe and West End, Russell said.

“We’re very pleased that it continues to be produced regularly — even some high schools are doing it,” he said. “To my knowledge though, this is one of the first college productions, if not the first. I know I speak for Frank when I say it’s thrilling to see our show done here at KU. Working with this cast, these designers and the University Theatre support staff has been such a pleasure. Being back where my first musical was written and produced is very meaningful. And reconnecting with many old friends and making new ones is wonderful. Frank and I have had a most enjoyable ride with our ‘girls’ and we hope the audience will, too.”

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