OUTSpoken BoyZ Talk with Bruce Vilanch and Creator of Waiting in the Wings Jeffery Johns

The Boyz of OUTSpoken talk to Bruce Vilanch and Jeffery Johns creator of “Waiting in the Wings”

OUTSpoken

Jeffrey A Johns started singing and dancing ever since he was old enough to walk and talk. In fact, he was performing in his church choir before he even knew how to read! At a young age he performed in local theatre and the oldest running Minstrel Show in the world. I guess it’s no surprise that Jeffrey still loves the music of Vaudeville. When he wasn’t on stage, Jeffrey was a competitive swimmer and a Boy Scout. To many people’s surprise, this song and dance guy eventually earned the rank of Eagle Scout. After high school Jeffrey went off to college and continued studying theatre, but decided he also wanted to focus on children’s entertainment. He graduated from Manhattanville College with a degree in Elementary Education and Performance.

Following college, Jeffrey moved to California where he was performing at Disneyland, with regional theater companies, on national/international tours, sweeping movie theatre floors, and living off peanut butter and jelly while enjoying the life of an actor. Eventually he headed to Las Vegas performing with the cast of Naked Boys Singing and Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding at the Planet Hollywood. With his return to California, Jeffrey continued to performing in theatre, but also started working in film and television. He appeared several times on America’s Got Talent and a variety of television series, web-series, and feature films. He wrote a children’s book entitled, “Have You Ever Tried To Stop The Rain?” and the feature film, Waiting In The Wings: The Musical.

 

Synopsis:
Waiting In The Wings: The Musical is a feature film where two entertainers, destined for the big time, are mismatched in a casting office from two very different online contests. Tony, a stripper from New York, is cast in an Off-Broadway musical and needs to trade in his tear-away trunks for tap shoes and tights. Anthony, a naive musical theatre enthusiast from Montana, needs to decide if he can strip all the way down just to stay in town. Hilarity ensues as they realize that “to make it” they’re gonna have to learn some new tricks. Shirley Jones, Sally Struthers, and Lee Meriwether round out this heartwarming homage to Broadway with some delightful cameos.

Waiting in the Wings Trailer:

Making of “Waiting in the Wings”

Awards
BEST FEATURE FILM – Central Florida Film Festival (CENFLO)
BEST FEATURE FILM – QFlix Philadelphia
BEST FEATURE FILM (Audience Choice – First Place) – Rhode Island International Film Festival
BEST MUSICAL – Manhattan Film Festival
BEST MUSICAL – Garden State Film Festival (Atlantic City)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE – B’more Q Fest (Baltimore)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE (Audience Choice) – Cinema Diverse: Palm Springs LGBT Film Festival
BEST FIRST TIME FEATURE (Audience Choice) – Film Out: San Diego
BEST CALIFORNIA FEATURE – California Film Awards
BEST ACTOR IN A FEATURE FILM – Pasadena International Film Festival
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Audience Choice) – Film Out: San Diego
CELEBRATION OF COURAGE AWARD – Out Here Now: Kansas City LGBT Film Festival

WEBSITE LINK: http://www.witwthemusical.com/

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Operation BRUCE VILANCH is an actor (occasionally an actress), writer (occasionally a re-writer), comedian (occasionally for money, often for causes) and sex surrogate (seasonal). He has co-authored twenty-three Academy Award spectacles, winning two writing Emmys in the process (almost as good a nominee/win ratio as Meryl Streep’s). He has also been nominated for seven other Emmys — one of them was for his participation on the celebrity panel of HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, where he resided for six years just to the left of Whoopi on your screen.

For two years, he starred on Broadway and the road as Edna Turblad, Baltimore’s most glamorous plus-sized tootsie, in the musical HAIRSPRAY. His one-man show, ALMOST FAMOUS – he had that title first, dammit – was a big hit a few years before that. He is so well-known as a provider of comic material for other performers that Harvey Weinstein made a documentary about it (during the Miramax years). GET BRUCE features comic deconstructions by such Vilanch collaborators as Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and a roster of others from Michael Douglas (soon to be seen as Liberace!) to Nathan Lane to Paul Reiser to Lily Tomlin to Shirley MacLaine.

In addition to the Oscars, he has co-written many Tonys, Emmys, Grammys, Peoples Choice, American Comedy Awards, TV Land Awards, SAG Awards, and a ton of other pageants, roasts, tributes and various trumped-up reasons for people to enjoy t&a on a red carpet. Many of his collaborators have gone to Broadway with his material, including Diana Ross, Michael Feinstein and Michael Buble’ and the late Peter Allen, whose stage shows he wrote and subsequently re-wrote for Hugh Jackman when he played Peter in THE BOY FROM OZ. He has co-authored multiple dozens of variety television shows and actually put words in the mouth of Cher.

People recognize him a lot – some think he’s Michael Moore, but no – from his appearances on MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER, CELEBRITY FIT CLUB (where he lost 21 lbs, which he subsequently found), THE WORLD’S DUMBEST CRIMINALS, THE 100 MOST SHOCKING MOMENTS IN SHOW BUSINESS, LIVE WITH REGIS & ELLY (where he shaved his beard to play Edna), JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, THE VIEW, THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, MATCH GAME (a special version hosted by Ricki Lake) and a raft of others. He’s also a lyricist, scoring gold and platinum records for disco songs he wrote for Eartha Kitt (WHERE IS MY MAN?) and Village People. Pre-HAIRSPRAY, geeks of all ages will remember him as Weird Wendon, the evil emperor with a big head but no body, in ICE PIRATES, or in THE MORNING AFTER (with Jane Fonda). Musical theatre geeks will remember him as the co-author of the Broadway misfire called PLATINUM, which was revived off-Broadway last season for reasons which continue to mystify Bruce.