New York City performer Brandon Looney has been settled in the Big Apple for more than a decade, but on occasion, he still heeds a special call to come home to the Landers’ stage. For BRANDON LOONEY PRESENTS: I STILL FEEL ALIVE, the singer is uniting friends from Springfield Little Theatre and coworkers in NYC for a powerhouse performance.

“I am super excited. We have a live band that’s coming, three SLT people: Sally Trtan, Sheristen McCullah, Imari Stout,” Looney announced. Trtan and McCullah just wrapped up performances in WAITRESS and Stout played the iconic princess in the most recent staging of CINDERELLA. “I am also flying in three of my dancers from the first show – Moe Ivey and AJ Blankenship. They are incredible artists who took time out of their day. Both of them have been on Broadway, they’ve toured, they’ve worked on MATILDA. They’ve done very, very cool stuff and I’m just so happy they agreed to come along and fly down to my hometown. It’s going to be fun.”

Come ready to get up and dance, Looney teased. The concert is filled with great music, high energy, and vocals that promise to bring the house down.

“It’s genres of music I go to when I’m feeling happy or feeling sad. It’s a mixture of things and will definitely take you on a journey,” he promised. “It’s going to be such a great time. It’s very high energy, fast paced. You’re going to be up on your feet. I’m encouraging dancing, dancing in the aisles. There will be a lot of stuff going on, it’s going to be super, super fun.”

The show is a celebration, but ticket sales will support a very important cause. Looney was diagnosed with end stage kidney disease in 2023 and has been undergoing dialysis three times a week. He also receives an infusion every eight weeks to combat the Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) with which he was diagnosed in 2024. aHUS is a rare genetic disorder affecting only 2 out of every 1 million Americans that causes the formation of tiny blood clots that reduce or prevent proper blood flow, especially to the kidneys. Despite his diagnosis, Looney is still performing regularly.

“When I attend dialysis, I’m the youngest person by 30, 40 years,” he noted. “It’s interesting to be in the dialysis facility – which I’m there three times a week – and still get to go and perform during the nighttime. I’ll take a little nap, then show up at the theater at 6, and perform my little heart out. It’s been such a blessing to be able to still do this and perform and travel and still get to do what I love.”

Looney has a living donor, which increases longevity of the organ. Recovery from the surgery can take three to six months and, Looney explained, there is virtually no federal aid for transplant patients or their donors. Recognizing the cost of recovery, Looney hopes to be able to support other patients.

“I’m trying to launch an LLC so I can put on and produce shows and most of the proceeds would go to helping people with end stage kidney disease,” he announced. “That’s my next project and I’m going to switch over into producer realm to do that as well. That’s been on my heart the last year or so. How fun is it to be in this situation and still be able to perform, and I can use both of those things to maybe help someone else? That’s my next step.”

Looney began acting at Central High School with drama teacher, Dr. Gretchen Teague. When several of his classmates started leaving rehearsals early to go downtown, he grew curious. He went to see them on the Landers stage and got hooked.

“I caught the first HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. It was the first thing I ever saw [at Springfield Little Theatre] and I was like, ‘Wow, that was so much fun.’ I saw all of my friends in it. Then I auditioned for ALICE IN WONDERLAND, JR. That was my first show there.”

Looney grew up singing with family and in church, but he admits he struggled singing in front of people. Looney was a member of Y.E.S. Troupe his junior and senior years and performed in several shows. When he became involved with SLT programs, he began to open up for audiences.

“Springfield Little Theatre really taught me confidence,” he reflected. “I’ve always been a singer. I come from a family full of singers. I very much struggled getting up and singing in front of people before Springfield Little Theatre for sure. I’ve always had a stage fright situation, and I just never really knew what it was. I started doing things at theatre and it helped me being around my peers. It really smashed a lot of that.”

Looney made a splash in 2021 when he returned to SLT to star as Lola in KINKY BOOTS. The show played to raucous audiences and made a lasting impact on Looney’s soul.

“The material, doing that back home, performing in front of my family, it was just a long list of things that literally changed my life,” he shared. “It really, really did. It was incredible. I just love the show but also coming back to my home theater and the storyline hitting so close to home, it was just so many things that made a perfect experience that I will never forget.”

His performance even inspired his aunt, Brecka Henderson, to pursue performing. Henderson will also make a guest appearance in I STILL FEEL ALIVE.

“I did KINKY BOOTS and that was actually the first time that a lot of my extended family came to see the show,” Looney explained. “I had been performing for 20 years and that was the first time that many of them had ever seen me perform. It was very interesting. My aunt saw the show and just fell in love with theater, and she auditioned for CINDERELLA. Now she understands what she didn’t get 15 years ago. She is like, ‘Oh, I love these people. I understand why you do show after show after show.’ It’s just so much fun. You’re so supported. That’s the environment that we should all be in.”

In 2013, Looney was attending MSU for a non—performance degree when he got an opportunity to perform professionally in NYC. He quickly became a staple of the New York nightlife scene with power-packed performances as host of the The Box. Today, he is a singer at theatrical burlesque Company XIV in Brooklyn appearing next in their production QUEEN OF HEARTS.

“They’re a relatively new company of about 12 years, but they put on incredible productions,” he explained. “It’s super cool. It’s Cirque du Soleil meets Broadway style. They have an incredible team. That’s been my longest running job in New York. I’ve been there for about six years now. It’s been wonderful. They change shows every three to four months, so it’s something new every time you come.”

Looney is still appreciative of those experiences at Springfield Little Theatre and Central High School that prepared him for a flourishing career in the arts.

“Springfield Little Theatre, it gave me such a sense of community and belonging and just that self-confidence. Being able to go out there and know that if I flop or not, I’ll have all of that support with my peers. We’re very much cheering each other on. I’ve never been in that environment before, but that environment there is so strong that it really just helped me in so many other areas of my life.”

Tickets are still available for BRANDON LOONEY PRESENTS: I STILL FEEL ALIVE.