The Cast

Jillann Gabrielle

Jillann Gabrielle is creating the one woman musical “Hedda! Queen of Hollywood” as a vehicle for her talents. But if a major theatrical star has interest in the project and can propel it to greater heights she will definitely consider that possibility. She would ultimately like to replace them after they leave the show…or if “Hedda!” takes to the road.

Jillann Gabrielle is a highly skilled cabaret and musical theatre singer, actress, comedienne, host/MC, creator/writer/producer, and a vocal/acting/voice over instructor. She is actively creating and producing projects for the screen and stage as vehicles for her talents as well as to bring her unique kinds of stories to the ever-thirsty entertainment business. She currently lives in Chicago with her long-suffering husband and agent/manager, Phil Barrile. She travels to Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere as her projects require.

“Hedda! Queen of Hollywood” has LOTS of music… 17 songs! Jill has been a singer her entire professional life, the majority of which has been in cabaret and theatre. “Hedda!” is being written as a theatrical book show… but with the interactive gears of a cabaret show – something the real Hedda would have appreciated, being the mouthpiece that she was.

Jill recently spent a year and a half in Los Angeles. While there she created and produced a high-end open mic in Beverly Hills, L.A. She had a cast of L.A. regulars L.A. and “stars” who appeared from time to time. She also produced and directed an AIDS Benefit for “Hollywood Remembers.” Her co-host was Alan Rachins (LA Law and Dharma and Greg) and her performers included Ray Jessel (Carol Burnett and Dean Martin Shows). In L.A. she also appeared recently in a critically acclaimed new play, Ojala!, at Casa 0101 for which she received a Los Angeles theatre award for her performance. The play is currently in negotiations for being turned into a film.

Jill has developed producing, writing, and marketing talents to create vehicles to showcase her talents as well as the talents of her students and others. Alumni from her Paradise Productions theatrical ensemble (earlier incarnation of Paradise Playhouse) and vocal studio have gone on to work with such luminaries as Barbra Streisand and John Malkovich; on Broadway in Carousel and Hair; national tours that include A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, Ragtime; Oleander in London’s West End, and Show Boat for PBS’s musical specials; television’s Drew Carey Show, Early Edition and Even Stevens for the Disney Channel; the feature film The Babe; CBS’s Rock Star INXS; and numerous appearances in Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, and all the major theatre companies in the Chicago area.

Jill’s professional life has consisted of teaching voice, acting, and voice-over (see her website here); performing her one woman shows for corporate, private, and senior events in the Chicago and New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas (see video); performing her unique dinner show, The Uptown/Downtown Diva, in which she is glamorous and funny as she showcases her dual talents as an operatic and Broadway singer and shares the stage with some of her “star” students and other professionals; producing, hosting, and marketing an open mic for opera singers, SpaghettiArias, at the historic Italian Village Restaurant in Chicago’s loop; performing her one-woman cabaret show Starstrucker! in Manhattan and Chicago; and producing and hosting dinner showcases for her vocal students. Jillann currently has a studio at her town home near Oak Park, IL, and has been a leading Chicago vocal instructor since 1981.

Jill has recently appeared on TV in “Pregnant and Injured”, “Unusual Suspects”, “Blue Movies” (short film spoofing Forrest Gump), the “Hellbent for Hollywood” web series, and on Chicago’s CBS-TV Morning Show, “CBS-TV News with Steve Baskerville” ‘Voice Lesson’ segment, and NBC-TV reality show hit “Starting Over” (stage presence instruction two episodes).

Jill created Paradise Productions (theatrical division) in 1993, and since has produced and starred in critically acclaimed productions of Into the Woods, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, Jerry’s Girls, The Wizard of Oz, Rodgers’ & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Secret Garden, Steve Allen’s Alice In Wonderland, Two by Two, and Side by Side by Sondheim. Altogether she has appeared in 35 leading roles in musicals and comedy/drama including: Evita, The Robber Bridegroom and Born Yesterday.

Jillann has appeared with: Barbara Rush in The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Peter Palmer, star of Lil’ Abner on Broadway and film; Alan Rachins (LA Law and Dharma and Greg); Ray Jessel (Carol Burnett and Dean Martin Shows); Faith Prince, Broadway/film star; Tovah Feldshuh, Broadway/film star; Jason Graae, Broadway/cabaret/TV star; Sharon McNight, cabaret/Broadway star; Sally Mayes, Broadway/cabaret/TV star; Carol Hall, composer lyricist for Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Julie Wilson, Legendary cabaret/Broadway star; Laurel Masse, cabaret/former Manhattan Transfer star; Shelly Markham (Naked Boys Singing), composer/arranger/pianist; Pamela Myers, Broadway star; legendary Chicago DJ Wally Phillips; Metropolitan Opera star Edyta Kulczak. James Mack, lauded writer, conductor, and arranger for Ramsey Lewis and Nancy Wilson, produced Jill’s first demo and utilized her talents for a Golden Book video series.

Jillann has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, cum laude, from Dominican University; 3 years toward her Masters of Music in Voice from Indiana University; Meisner technique at The Actor’s Center; on-camera technique with casting director, Janet Louer; voice-over work with James Andelin; improvisational acting at Chicago’s famed Player’s Workshop of Second City; Kodaly music education techniques at Steckman Studio of Music. She has studied voice with Carol LoVerde, Dan Balestrero, Martha Lipton, and Eric V. Howe and coached with Stuart Leitch.