Harry Williams

Well, back at the beginning of the year, I started thinking about what my goals were for the year. I came to what personal goals I had and got around to thinking about what shows I was interested in doing this year.

Ever since I saw the show The Light in the Piazza a couple of years ago, I fell in love with it. And that was just watching the PBS video that they made - I still haven’t seen it live. But, everything about the show, from the music to the story to the characters - I was just captured by it. So, the role of Fabrizio, the Italian boy from the show, has been on my “Role Wish List” ever since then.

Well, this year, I decided that I really wanted to look into doing that role. So, I found that a theatre company was putting on the show down near Springfield, IL in July! I was pretty excited, so I got some more information, went down for auditions…and…got the part!

So, yes, come July, I’ll be performing in my first production outside the Peoria, IL area, and playing one of my dream roles. If you are interested in the show (and you should be - it’s an AMAZING show), check out their website:

http://www.theatreinthepark.net/show-the-light.html

More info to come soon!

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Looks like Music Man received a good review in the Peoria Journal Star!

http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/x785864146/Review-76-trombones-led-the-big-parade

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As a kid, we grew up watching all of the classic musicals. All the Rogers & Hammerstein musicals, Singin’ In The Rain, Music Man, etc. We loved them!

So, it was really cool when I got to play Cosmo in Singin’ In The Rain a couple of years ago. This year, I’m tackling another one of the classics with The Music Man at Peoria Players Theatre. I’m playing the role of Marcellus Washburn, Harold Hill’s old friend and sidekick in the show.

It’s been a fun time as the role is more of a sidekick role like Cosmo was in Singin’ In The Rain. Mary Ellen Ulrich has been our fearless leader directing this production, with Aliesha Graves as our wonderful choreographer. Aliesha (at Mary Ellen’s suggestion) choreographed a great soft shoe dance for the “Sadder But Wiser Girl” song. I’m in that song with Harold Hill, and the dance is a BLAST. I get to dust off my tap dancin skills for the number, and it’s a really good time.

We open tonight, so, if you get the chance, come on out and check out the show!

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A few weeks ago, I got a call from Steve Bortolotti, a director I’ve worked with before at Peoria Players Theatre. He needed someone to perform an Argentinian Tango dance in Evita, his upcoming show that he was directing at Peoria Players Theatre.

It sounded like fun, so I agreed, and we’ve been rehearsing for these past few weeks. Michelle Loeffler choreographed the dance, and my tango dance partner, Samantha Zobrist, is really good, so it’s been a lot of fun. We played leads opposite each other back a few years ago in State Fair at Corn Stock, so it’s been fun getting together again to do this show.

I’ve never danced Argentinian Tango before, so it’s been really fun learning a new dance. I kind of feel like I’m on Dancing With The Stars! I’ve been watching a bunch of You Tube episodes from that show trying to get the finesse of this dance down.

Since tango is such a fun dance, we tried to take some pictures of our dance and some of the dance poses. The picture you see here is one that we took, and then I used my Photoshop skills to make it a little more dramatic. I thought it turned out pretty cool… ;-D

We open the show tonight, so we’ll see how it goes!

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Last weekend, my family went up to Chicago to see “Fiddler on the Roof.” But not just ANY production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” this show starred Topol, the original “Tevye” who also played the role in the movie.

It was an AMAZING production.

Well, first of all, it was awesome to see Topol live. We grew up watching the “Fiddler on the Roof” movie, so to see it live on stage with the original guy was really cool! Everything about the show was great - the orchestra sounded great, the scene design and lighting blew me away, the chorus and choreography was great - it was just a GREAT overall show.

I think “Fiddler on the Roof” is also special to me because my sister, Maria, and I were in the show at Peoria Players Theatre a few years ago. She played the role of Tzeitel, and I was a bottle dancer / chorus. It was a huge show with a lot of people in it, and it was a great time.

So, if you get a chance, Topol is on his farewell “Fiddler on the Roof” tour right now. Check out the website:

Fiddler on the Roof Farewell Tour

And see if you can make one of the performances. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

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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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