Harry Williams

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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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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Coming off of a show is always an interesting experience. You’ve just devoted two months of your life to a show, spent every night with the people in the cast, and formed a small community around the show. Then, all of the sudden, on closing night, it’s all over. Many times I need a few days just to recover from the show, and even then, it’s weird going back to “normal life” (whatever that’s supposed to be), and having nights free again.

Now, a couple of weeks after the show, I’m pretty much caught up on mail, cleaning, etc., which I had put off for the past few months. I’ve also downloaded most of the pictures from the show, and I’ve put some more on this site in the Singing in the Rain album. Click here to view them.

During the run of the show, I had someone take a picture of Don, Kathy, and I, and I recreated the original Singing in the Rain poster using our picture. The original poster is on the right. Click on the picture above to see the finished poster that I framed and gave to our director, choreographer, and Don & Kathy. I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

It’s always sad to see a show end, especially a show like this. Singing in the Rain is a huge musical classic, and it was awesome to be a part of it. As I’ve said in earlier posts, the role of Cosmo was a challenge for me both in the acting aspects and especially the dance. Plus, I got to meet a great cast of people and have a lot of fun working with them.

A lot of people have asked me what’s next. I’m taking a break for a little while to catch up on things. But, we’re gearing up to do Forever Plaid at Peoria Players in November, so keep your eyes open for that. Roberta Koch, who has directed me in Forever Plaid 3 times over at Peoria Players is again at the helm in November. She’s bringing back the “original cast” of Jimmy LaHood, Josh Kensinger, Eric Keysor and I to reprise our roles. We first performed the show in May 2004, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to do the show again. So stay tuned for more details of that soon.

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As of yesterday, we were completely sold out for our run of Singing in the Rain! Corn Stock Theatre announced a hold over for Sunday, and as of last night, even the East section was almost sold out for the hold over. So, word is spreading about the show! If you still don’t have tickets and want to come see this great show, give the box office a call at (309) 676-2196 and reserve your tickets for our hold over on Sunday.

Last night was a fun show - during the last scene, it started raining outside, the first time that’s happened for me at a Corn Stock show. Normally, having rain at an outdoor theatre would be annoying, but what better way to end Singing in the Rain!

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The Peoria Journal Star posted their review of Singing in the Rain, and it’s a hit!  Gary Panetta had nothing but good to say about the show.  For the past couple of shows, we’ve actually gone down to the Journal Star at midnight to get a paper, and taken it back to the cast party to read it to the group.  Anyway, a few things that he said:

…the other standout is Harry Williams, who plays Cosmo Brown, a wise-cracking musician and Don Lockwood’s sidekick. Not only can Williams sing and pound the piano, but he’s also admirably light on his feet: He leaps in the air, clicks his heels, tumbles to a prone position on the stage floor, does a push up or two, pivots on one arm, bounds to his feet and cartwheels across the stage.

Put Williams together with Huerta and Laura Miller, who plays Kathy Selden, Don Lockwood’s love interest, and you have some dynamic dance numbers choreographed by Erica Franken. One moment, Huerta and Williams are spinning and twirling a bespectacled, goggle-eyed diction coach played by Bill Ciardini. The next moment, Ciardini’s head has popped through an oversized paper sign. Look again, and Miller, Huerta and Williams are wrapping up a dance extravaganza by riding a couch as it topples over, and somehow wind up in sitting position, appearing quite breathless.

…Here is a show that truly drenches everything but the spirit. Don’t miss this one.

Read the full review by clicking here.

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Singing in the Rain opened at Corn Stock Theatre last night to smashing success. Everything fell into place, we had a great audience, and everyone had a GREAT time. At the end of “Moses, Supposes,” we even had applause for about 15 seconds with people standing up! It was pretty amazing!

I took a few pictures backstage before the opening, and you can view that album by clicking here.

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There are certain moments in theatre that really give you the “that’s really cool” feeling. This usually occurs when I’m watching a production, but there are times when it will hit me in a production that I’m in. Last year in West Side Story when they had the rotating set for me to run through Doc’s shop in my angry “Chino, come get me!” moment, I got that feeling.

And I just got it again a couple of days ago when they made it rain in the tent for Singing in the Rain. When John (who plays Don Lockwood) ran that number and it started raining in the Corn Stock Theatre tent, it was just really cool. I’m sure the audience is going to feel the same way. I was able to snap a few pictures of that number. You can view the album by clicking on the Photos link at the top of the page or by clicking here.

Unfortunately for my picture taking, I’m either on stage or changing for the majority of the show, so this was really the only number where I was able to get a few pictures. I’ll try to take some more tonight and during the run of the show.

Oh yeah - we open tonight! Come on out and check out the show - I guarantee you’ll have a great time!

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