Harry Williams

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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We’ve been Singing in the Rain in the Corn Stock Theatre tent for about a week now, running the show every night.  There are so many different parts of the show to bring together between the orchestra, actors, dancing, lighting, sound, rain, and other technical aspects, and yet, it’s come together nicely.  It’s a grueling and tiring process, but well worth the effort.

The thing that is fun at this point in a production is that I’ve learned all of my lines, choreography, dance, etc., and really get to start digging deep into my character and have fun with him and his interactions with the other characters in this Singing in the Rain world.

At this point, I start to have fun with the exchanges with Don Lockwood, my childhood friend, and with the hate-hate relationship with Lina Lamont, the leading lady, whom I “cahn’t stand” (in the show, of course).  However, as I’ve become more comfortable with the role, I’ve realized that a role like Cosmo Brown is difficult to practice.  He’s the “funny” character in the show, the comic relief, the wide-eyed guy loving his job as a Hollywood musician in the 1920’s.  It’s a hard role to practice because he has so many one-liners in the show, and is so sarcastic most of the time that it’s hard to judge and play the role without an audience.

I’ve worked on a lot of live theatre productions as well as some film productions, both personally and in my multimedia work.  These productions are always a lot of fun, both on film and in live theatre because it’s all about telling a story, and bringing an audience into that story.  The beauty of live theatre is that it’s just that - Live.  No performance is exactly the same, and as a performer, you have a special communication with the audience.  You do something in the performance, and they react.  This in turn provides feedback for you, fueling your performance.

Last year, when I played “Tony” in West Side Story, this feedback wasn’t always as expected.  On opening night for West Side Story, I threw everything I had into the performance, and was running towards Maria at the end of the show when Chino shot me down.  I remember falling to my knees, and then hearing the audience first gasp and then…laugh!  Here I was, dying on stage, pretty convincingly, I had thought, and the audience was laughing?  What had gone wrong?  Not the kind of audience reaction or feedback I was expecting.

However, after a few seconds of nervous laughter, they became so still that you could hear a pin drop.  I later found out that the nervous laughter is a common reaction for that part of West Side Story because the gunshot is so unexpected.  I guess people are startled by the shot, and the shock and emotion of the scene come out as a nervous laugh.  Once I found that out, it made me feel good, first of all because I wasn’t doing anything wrong (as I had first thought), and secondly because the laughter meant that we were getting the emotion across to the audience.

So, as we go into opening night of Singing in the Rain, this time I AM going for the laughter reaction.  It’s a different type of role for me to play, but good, because it’s challenged me to grow into it.  So, tomorrow night, I’ll just go out there, and “Make em Laugh,” this time without dying on stage.

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The Journal Star wrote up a preview article for Singing in the Rain.  Check it out by clicking here.

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Boy, it’s been a whirlwind for the past couple of months! Teaching 3 classes at Bradley University has really kept me busy, and on top of that, I auditioned for Singing in the Rain at the end of March, and landed the role of “Cosmo.” In the 1952 movie, the role was originally played by Donald O’Connor, a master of dance and comedy. The lead role of Don Lockwood is played by John Huerta in our production, and was originally played by Gene Kelly in the movie. John and I joke about how hard it is to try and live up to Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.

Nevertheless, we have some great help with Jenny Parkhurst, our talented director, and Erica Franken, our mad-tappin, brilliant choreographer. And, boy is this show going to rock! In case you’re not familiar with Singing in the Rain, it’s set back in the 1920’s, right when talking movie picture technology was just coming out. Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are big name silent movie actors, coming out with a string of romantic movies, always accompanied on piano by Don’s childhood friend, Cosmo Brown.

It’s a good old story about love, romance, movie making, comedy, and of course, dancing. Almost everyone has heard the title song Singing in the Rain, as well as some of the other favorites: “Good Morning,” “Moses Supposes,” “Make Em Laugh,” etc.

The show will be playing at Corn Stock Theatre from May 30 - June 7, at 7:30PM each night. For those of you who haven’t been out to Corn Stock Theatre, it’s a pretty cool set up. The theatre is outdoors inside a large tent, and the audience wraps around 3/4 of the tent. So, the performance goes on up on the trim, which is the 4th side, and also in the middle of the tent, with the audience wrapping around them. So, it’s a closer, more personal feel than other theatres where everyone faces the front stage.

PLUS, it wouldn’t be Singing in the Rain without rain, would it? So, they’ve already rigged a system to make it rain in the tent! I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it’s going to be really cool.

So, come on out during that week to see Singing in the Rain! Tickets go on sale May 19th. For box office information, or to see the rest of the cast list, go to:

http://www.cornstocktheatre.com/singinintherain.html

Hope to see you there for a fun night of “dancin, and singing in the rain.”

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Little Women opens tonight!

In celebration, I’ve uploaded around 80 rehearsal pictures. You can either go to the ‘Photos’ section (link at the top), or you can just click here to go straight to the album. Let me know what you think of the pictures by posting a comment to this article. Also, if you see the show, click the ‘Contact Me’ link at the top of this page, and let me know what you thought of it!

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