Harry Williams

Well, it’s been a very long time since I’ve updated this. But I thought this would be the perfect way to update some family members on my trip to Lebanon.

I just arrived yesterday, came in through Paris, and then Beirut. Let me tell you - Beirut is CRAZY busy. People drive like madmen. It was a blast to be in the car as my cousin was driving, but I would not want to drive. We met up with some cousins in Oaibe, and went eat at a small restaurant there. The food is amazing! Hummus, tabbouli, monoush, salads, vegetables, fresh fruit (like you’ve NEVER had before), and then fish at this place (with the heads still on - LOL).

Afterwards, we got a ride to Aitoo, where we are staying in the same house my grandmother grew up in. It’s so cool to be able to think that I’m in the same place my grandmother was 60 years ago. The views are magnificent, even from the house, and I’ve put some pictures up.

http://www.harryiwilliams.com/wpg2?g2_itemId=464

We finally got to sleep, and I feel halfway alive today now. We walked around Aitoo, saw some of the town, saw the main Church, etc., and are now at an internet cafe. The connection isn’t great, so I’m kind of limited as to how many pictures I can put up.

I’ll try to put pictures up and update as I go along. It’s definitely an amazing experience to visit the homeland, the country where both sides of my family are from.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an animation nut.  Maybe a part of me never grew up.  But I think there’s a part of all of us that just loves the innocent fun of animated films, cartoons, etc.

And I’ve always been a huge fan of Disney musicals (from the good old days), and of course Pixar films, which are some of the best animated films ever created in my opinion.

Well, I stumbled upon the goldmine today.

Here is the listing of Disney / Pixar animated films coming out for THE NEXT FOUR YEARS!  (OK, I’m settling down now…)

2009

UP
Pixar Animation Studios - May 29th, 2009
Click here for the trailer

TOY STORY in 3-D
Pixar Animation Studios - October 2nd, 2009

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Walt Disney Animation Studios - Christmas 2009

TINKER BELL NORTH OF NEVER LAND - working title
DisneyToon Studios - 2009

2010

TOY STORY 2 in 3-D
Pixar Animation Studios - February 12th, 2010

TOY STORY 3
Pixar Animation Studios - June 18th, 2010

RAPUNZEL
Walt Disney Animation Studios - Christmas 2010

TINKER BELL A MIDSUMMER STORM - working title
DisneyToon Studios - 2010

2011

NEWT
Pixar Animation Studios - Summer 2011

THE BEAR AND THE BOW
Pixar Animation Studios - Christmas 2011

TINKER BELL A WINTER STORY - working title
DisneyToon Studios - 2011

2012

CARS 2
Pixar Animation Studios - Summer 2012

KING OF THE ELVES
Walt Disney Animation Studios - Christmas 2012

I’m especially excited about the new Pixar movies.  Looks like they’re starting to roll out some of the sequals (which is great in my opinion - they’re one of the very few film companies that can actually do sequals right).

Not sure about the whole Tinker Bell series.  I guess the first one came out this year, but I didn’t hear much about it, and haven’t seen it yet.  Either way, looks like they have 3 more coming out in the future.

The Princess and the Frog looks like it might be a musical, which would be awesome.  Disney really needs to bring back the animated musical genre that has sort of fallen by the wayside recently.  They were always huge hits for them - I don’t know why they haven’t figured that out by now.

Anyway, click here to read the whole press release.

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It seems that once we reach fall every year, time just catapults you towards the end of the year.  First Halloween whizzes by, then Thanksgiving, and finally Christmas and New Year’s.  And so we find ourselves already in December with Christmas a little more than 3 weeks away (didn’t 2008 just start???).

There are a several different theatre productions going on this Christmas season.  Be sure to check some of them out:

• Joseph - Eastlight Theatre
  December 5, 6, 10, 11, 12 & 13 at 7:30 PM
  December 7 & 14 at 2:00 PM
• Christmas in the City - Peoria Players Theatre
  December 18, 19 & 20 at 7:30 PM
  December  21 at 2:30 PM
• Oliver - Peoria Players Theatre
  Community Children’s Theatre
  December 5 at 7:00 PM
  December 6 at 1:30 PM & 7:00 PM
  December 7 at 1:30 PM
• Willy Wonka Jr. - Corn Stock Theatre Lab
  Corn Stock For Kids Production
  December 5 & 12 at 7:30 PM
  December 6, 7 & 13 at 2:30 PM
• Trans Siberian Orchestra - Civic Center
  Friday, Dec. 12, 2008 at 8:00 PM
• Nutcracker - Civic Center
  December 13 at 7:30 PM
  December 14 at 2:00 PM
• Peoria Civic Chorale - “An American Family Christmas”
  Peoria Civic Center
  December 19 at 7:30 PM
  December 20 at 7:30 PM
  December 21 at 2:30 PM

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The Peoria Journal Star published their review of Forever Plaid on Sunday, and it seemed like he really liked it!

Click here to view the article online.

Opening weekend went really well.  We had some great audiences, and everyone had a great time.  I hope you are able to come and see the show!

We took a few pictures on opening night (if you notice the clock, it’s only a little while before we go on stage).  I’ve put these in an album along with some of the pictures from our 2004 performance of Plaid.  We haven’t changed a whole lot.  ;-D

Click here to view the Forever Plaid album.

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Tickets for Forever Plaid went on sale this week!  Here’s the information for the show:

This timeless musical tells the tale of The Plaids, a 1950s male singing group who were killed on their way to their first big gig. Miraculously, they come back to earth for a chance to fulfill their dreams of fame and fortune - albeit, posthumously. This review features some great songs of the 1950s: “Catch a Falling Star,” “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” “Magic Moments,” among many others.

Directed by
Roberta Koch

Starring
Josh Kensinger, Eric Keysor, Jimmy LaHood, and Harry Williams

Tickets:
$17 for adults, $12 for youth 18 & under

Show Dates:
November 7-8 and 12-15 at 7:30 pm
November 9 & 16 at 2:30 pm

Tickets went on sale on October 27, 2008.  For tickets, you can either stop by the Peoria Players box office, call 309-688-4473, or visit the web site at:

http://www.peoriaplayers.org

Get your tickets soon because this show has sold out each time that we’ve performed it.  Hope to see you there!

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I found a great clip of Forever Plaid highlights on YouTube, and thought I’d post it here:

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Well, we have been rehearsing Forever Plaid for the past month and a half, and it’s coming together nicely.  It’s really weird how easily the music, movies and whole show in general come back to you after doing a role 3 times!

For those of you who haven’t seen the show before, we first did the show at Peoria Players Theatre in May, 2004.  That was my last year in college and was a really busy time for me.  But it was also an amazing few months as I got to be in my dream show.

Forever Plaid was the first professional show that I saw.  My uncle took me and my sisters to Chicago for the day (I think I was around 18 at the time), and he got us tickets for a show called Forever Plaid.  I had never heard of it, but I thought, “Cool!  We’re going to see a real professional show!”  Little did I realize what sort of an effect it would have on me.

We walked into the small cabaret theatre, and sat down around a table facing a small stage.  The room was very intimate, and very different from anything I had ever experienced.  I had always seen productions where you are seated in a large audience and the actors are far away on stage.  In this cabaret setting, the actors entered and we could have almost touched them.  It really drew me into the show.

Plus, it was a great show.  Great music, good tight harmonies, a funny but simple story, and funny characters that you really cared about and felt for at the end of the show.  I remember that I just sat there throughout the entire show, mesmerized by this whole new experience of theatre.  I was simply blown away by a show that could transport you away for a couple of hours, and really make you feel that strongly for the characters.

When we left the theatre, Forever Plaid had made it’s mark on me.  I remember thinking to myself, “I don’t care how I do it, but I HAVE to get involved in theatre.”  That was it.  End of story.

I was pretty busy with college for a while after that, but one summer I saw that Peoria Players Theatre was holding auditions for its Youth show, West Side Story.  I thought, “This is my chance!” and auditioned with some of my sisters.  I landed the role of Bernardo, and have been singing and acting (and now dancing) ever since.

Fast forward a few years, and you can imagine my excitement when I saw auditions posted for Forever Plaid for May, 2004!  I HAD to audition for that show, the show that inspired me to start performing in theatre.  After really working on audition material, I audition and landed the role of Sparky.  It was a dream come true!  We performed the show that May, audiences loved it, and we sold out.

Since May, 2004, I’ve had the priviledge of performing the role 2 more times for New Years Eve performances at Peoria Players Theatre in 2004 & 2005.

So, it’s been almost 3 years since we have done the show, and I’m really excited to be doing it again!  They’ve brought back the “original cast” of Forever Plaid to perform this November of:

Eric Keysor - Frankie
Harry Williams - Sparky
Jimmy LaHood - Smudge
Josh Kensinger - Jinx

This is the cast that performed in May and December 2004.  The show is coming along great, and It feels like we never even took a break.

We’ve mostly been working on music for the past month, and this month we started rehearsing back at Peoria Players Theatre and working our way through the show.  I’ll be posting show and ticket information soon, so stay tuned!

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Well, obviously I didn’t have any time to write while I was in New York City. I think it would be nice to go on a vacation where I could relax and do nothing…someday. But, of course you don’t go to New York for that! So, I made the most of my time there. I attended a conference in New Jersey for the 4th of July weekend, and then last Sunday, my uncle and I took the train over to Manhatten to spend a few days there. I’ve previously been to New York around Christmas, 2006, with a couple of my sisters. But this was my uncle’s first time in the Big Apple.

Right off the bat, we went over to see Times Square, which literally never sleeps. One of the nights, we were in Times Square around 1 AM, and stores were still open! It’s crazy for this Peoria boy, since I’m used to everything shutting down at 11.

The next day, our first full day in New York, we headed up to Central Park, which is huge and very beautiful. We ended up walking through about half of it, noticing different areas where movies have been shot (…Enchanted…hey, it was a great musical!). The place is huge, and it’s pretty neat to see this oasis of nature and greenery surrounded by towering skyscrapers in the distance.

Next day, my uncle and I went on the Statue of Liberty ferry and hit Liberty Island and Ellis Island. For those of you visiting New York soon or sometime in the future, it’s pretty much an all day event. You have to get there early (which we didn’t do), wait in line for an hour (which we did do), and then wait in lines for the ferries (to Liberty and then Ellis Islands). It was great though, and very fun to be there around the 4th of July.

That night we saw Lion King, which was AMAZING. It’s a huge spectacle with intricate costumes and masks, puppetry, amazing sets and lighting, great choreography, and of course, blow-you-away vocals. It definitely has been on Broadway for 10 years for a reason. For more information on the show, check out:

http://www.lionking.com

The next day, my uncle had to get back to Peoria, so I hung out with our Kathy from Singing in the Rain (Laura Miller), who recently moved out to New York. She showed me around more of the city, and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, which was quite a trek, but well worth it!

That night, we stood in line for cancellation tickets, and (drum roll, please)…got in to see South Pacific! That was the big musical I wanted to see on Broadway. We had grown up watching the classic musicals like that one, so it was awesome to see it done live, on Broadway. It was a little more racy than the movie, but the classic story and music were there in all their glory. And let me just say that Paulo Szot (who plays Emile de Becque) was phenomenal in the role. “This Once Was Mine” just ripped your heart out, and he received a good 20 seconds of applause after that song. Boy, was it great!

Click here to check out my New York Album.

Now, back to catching up on life and work after being gone for a little over a week…

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A couple of weeks ago, the 2008 Tony Award ceremony took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This is the big awards night for Broadway, like the Academy Awards for movies, and unfortunately, I missed it! But, thanks to the internet, you can always catch up on things after the fact. And when I looked it up the next day, I was really happy that the revival of South Pacific had won 7 Tony awards:

- Best Revival of a Musical
- Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
- Best Director of a Musical
- Best Scenic Design of a Musical
- Best Costume Design of a Musical
- Best Lighting Design of a Musical
- Best Sound Design of a Musical

Click here to see a full list of the 2008 Tony Award Winners.

South Pacific first opened in the spring of 1949, the third great Rodgers and Hammerstein musical produced. And, it was pretty controversial when it came out. Tackling issues like race, war, and love in a post-war era, it was denounced in the early 50’s by the Georgia Legislature. However, it’s themes of love, sacrifice, and even optimism make for an awesome drama. And, of course, there’s the Rogers and Hammerstein music, which I think is phenomenal, especially in this show.

So, on April 3rd of this year, the revival of South Pacific opened on Broadway. I’ve found some great links for those of you who are interested in this revival. Click on the links below to find out more about the show, and even see a clip of one of the TV performances promoting the show:

• 2008 Tony Awards South Pacific Performance
• Newsweek Article about the revival and history of South Pacific
• Playbill article about the South Pacific Revival

One of the many things I really like about South Pacific (especially being revived right now) is that it is a classic show doing really well (it’s sold out), and it has some great bass parts. There aren’t many good bass roles in current Broadway shows, but South Pacific has 2 leading parts - the Frenchman & Stewpot. And the the Frenchman, played by Paulo Szot in the revival, has a great bass voice in the older classical bass tradition of Howard Keel and Rossano Brazzi (who played Emile de Becque in the movie).

I’m actually heading to New Jersey and New York City this next week. We already have tickets for the Lion King, which I’m really excited to finally see, and I really want to see South Pacific. So, I’ll see if I can actually get in since it’s supposedly sold out. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some pictures and write about the trip while out there.

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