Today we’d like to introduce you to Ceejay Russell. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Golden gals live! Is the brainchild of Joshua Eads, Richard Kuntz, and Ceejay Russell. One night, after a taco Tuesday at Richard’s house, all three men talked about bringing golden gals to Orlando and in just 3 weeks, they had a script, actors, a venue, and a show on their hands.
Tickets went on sale shortly after and in 4 days, all 5 shows were sold out! They decided to then add 2 more shows and within 24 hours, both of those shows were sold out. Golden gals live! Became a huge success that the team decided to branch out to include other hit sitcoms to their resume. In January of 2022, the team presented Gilligan’s island at the Clermont performing arts center and sold out all 4 performances. In October of 2022, the team will present the world debute of munsterz at the Clermont performing arts center and then in 2023, the team will hit the road and present golden gals in 45 different cities!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Golden gals live! Started at the world-famous parliament house in the footlight theatre. That was our home for so many years and sadly, it is no longer around. It was hard to find a venue that would allow us to perform in front of a live audience again due to covid-19 still being very much a danger. However, December of 2020, we found a home and performed our golden gals live! A Christmas musical to 14 sold-out houses.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Our team has so many talented people apart of it and I think that’s what makes our shows so much fun to not only work on but to come and see.
Ginger minj from Rupauls Drag race, Netflix’s dumplin’ and so many other tv shows and movies is our director and writer. Ginger brings years of theatre experience to our team. She has directed multiple award-winning shows and has starred in even more.
Richard Kuntz aka gadget galore is our costumer and set designer. She is also Orlando nicest queen. She is the first one to drop what she is doing and help out with any charity ‘cause that may need help. Her costuming has been seen in national pageants and on tv.
Ceejay Russell is our company manager. Ceejay brings with him years of hospitality training and is what we like to call a jack of all trades but a master of none. He knows how to do everything and if he doesn’t, give him an hour and he will know how to do it.
Mr. Ms. Adrien is one of our resident cast members and is Orlando’s premier drag queen. She can be seen all over Orlando performing everything from broadway to top 40s. Mr. Ms. is very well known for her gaga ball shows that have sold out in Orlando every time she performs one!
Divine grace is another one of our resident cast members! She is one of the funnest women you will ever met. She is the glue that holds us all together with her comedy. Divine is also the premier Bea Arthor impersonators as you will think you are actually watching Bea!
And the final member of our team is Doug Ba’aser who is one of Orlando’s premier actor. Doug has been performing for decades and brings such a wealth of knowledge. Doug is also one of the funnest men you will ever meet as he has been performing comedy since a young age. Doug plays all the secondary characters in our golden gal live! Shows and starred in Gilligan’s island as the skipper.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
We learned that theatre is such an important part of people’s lives. Theatre is one of those things that helps people heal, forget, laugh, cry and think all at the same time.
Covid-19 made all of us appreciate theatre so much more
Contact Info:
- Email: ceejay@tvlandlive.com
- Website: TVLANDLIVE.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/TVLANDLIVE
- Facebook: facebook.com/TVLANDLIVEOFFICIAL
- Twitter: twitter.com/TVLAND_LIVE
Image Credits
Dylan Todd
CeeJay Russell
Kelly Stewart
