Walter Willison

Infobox actor
name = Walter Willison


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birthdate = 24 June, 1947
birthplace = Monterey Park, California, USA
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yearsactive = 1968 - to present
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tonyawards = Nominated in 1971 for Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical)
awards = Theatre World Award 1971A Special William Inge Award 1987

Walter Willison (born 24 June, 1947) is an American stage actor. He received a Tony Award nomination and Theatre WorldAward for his Broadway musical debut in Richard Rodgers' and MartinCharnin's "Two by Two". [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932506/resume IMDb Resume for Walter Willison (I) ] ]

History

Willison made his theatre debut in the show Here's Love, California Theatre, San Bernadino, Callifornia in 1964. [Filmreference.com http://www.filmreference.com/film/17/Walter-Willison.html] He started on Broadway's musical debut of Richard Rodgers' and Martin Charnin's "Two by Two", directed by Joe Layton, as Japheth, youngest sonof Noah. He returned to Two by Two in 2002, this time to direct and star as Noah (the role originated by Danny Kaye) opposite Rodgers & Hammerstein Pat Suzuki in The Jewish Repertory Theatre's "Two by Two:The Richard Rodgers Centennial Concert", and on June 12, 2006, an SRO crowd filled the Bruno Walter Auditorium, and several hundred people had to be turned away, as he and fellow original cast members Joan Copeland, Michael Karm and (via cell phone over loudspeaker) Martin Charnin reunited for "Two by Two:A Musical Reunion".

Willison has also starred on Broadway in the original cast of Tommy Tune's acclaimed musical Grand Hotel) by Robert Wright, George Forrest, Luther Davis and Maury Yeston, Bob Fosse's award winning staging of Steve Schwartz's Pippin as Pippin), Wild and Wonderful, and Norman, Is That You? directed by George Abbott, and costarring with Maureen Stapleton and Lou Jacobi. He was The Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's "Mass", the inaugural production at The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., and more recently in the original cast of Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens, Mike Ockrent and Susan Stroman's A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden.

When Willison first emerged on the Broadway scene as a romantic young leading man, he was fortunate to have the honor of costarring and sharing the Broadway stage with his theatrical idols in such historic galas as "A Celebration of Richard Rogers" with Mary Martin and other Rodgers' alumni

Selected Appearances

*NORMAN, IS THAT YOU?
*TWO BY TWO
*NORMAN, IS THAT YOU?
*WILD AND WONDERFUL
*A CELEBRATION OF RICHARD RODGERS
*PIPPIN
*A GALA TRIBUTE TO JOSHUA LOGAN
*A CELEBRATION OF GEORGE ABBOTT
*SOUTH PACIFIC: A 25th Anniversary Concert
*IT'S A MUSICAL WORLD: A Tribute To Bricusse And Newley
*FRONT STREET GAIETIES: Dodge City's Hottest Revue
*THEY SAY IT'S WONDERFUL
*BROADWAY SCANDALS OF 1928: the new speakeasy musical
*OPTIONS
*CARNIVAL
*CAROUSEL
*OKLAHOMA!
*THE FANTASTICKS!: The First International Japan Tour
*STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW
*GRAND HOTEL: The Musical
*A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Madison Square Garden
*ANYONE CAN WHISTLE: Live At Carnegie Hall
*WALL TO WALL RICHARD RODGERS at Symphony Space
*KEAN: The Musical In Concert 2000
*NIGHT OF YOUR NIGHTS
*TWO BY TWO: The Richard Rodgers Centenniel Concert 2002
*PENN AVENUE TO BROADWAY: A Celebration of the 25th Annual William Inge Festival
*TWO BY TWO: A Musical Reunion at Lincoln Center
*TO LIFE!: A Celebration of Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock at the 26th Annual William Inge Festival

Director

* YOUR OWN THING [Old Globe Theatre, San Diego]
* THE GRASS HARP: The Musical [Produced by AMA, West Coast Premiere]
* FRONT STREET GAIETIES: Dodge City's Hottest Revue [Mayfair Theatre, Santa Monica, CA]
* BROADWAY SCANDALS OF 1928: the new speakeasy musical [Upstairs at O'Neil's Times Square, New York]
* A TRIBUTE TO ROBERT ANDERSON [The 2nd Annual William Inge Festival]
* A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM GIBSON [The 3rd Annual William Inge Festival]
* THE 2005 THEATRE WORLD AWARDS [at Studio 54, New York]
* TWO BY TWO: The Richard Rodgers 2002 Centennial Concert [Produced by The Jewish Repertory Theatre, New York]
* MINNIE'S BOYS: The Marx Brothers Musical In Concert [Produced by The Jewish Repertory Theatre, New York]
* THE 2006 THEATRE WORLD AWARDS [at Studio 54, New York]
* HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN: The New 1940s Revue, choreographed by Kay Cole [West Coast Tour]
* A ROCKETTE'S TAIL by Joanna Rush [Off-Broadway, New York] over the years has written, directed and/or supervised various and sundry nightclub acts and concerts for artists including Horace Heidt, Jr., Judy Kaye, Diane J. Findlay, Heather MacRae, et cetera.

Films

Willison's films include Mike Frankovitch's Emmy Award winningZIEGFELD: THE MAN AND HIS WOMEN, directed by Buzz Kulik, for which hewas personally selected by Irving Berlin to play Ziegfeld star FrankCarter, and croon Berlin's classic "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody";HARRY AND WALTER GO TO NEW YORK, directed by Mark Rydell withuncredited musical staging for the operetta sequences, in whichWillison appears opposite Lesley Ann Warren, by his Broadway mentor JoeLayton; THE INITATION, SOMEBODY HELP ME, EDWARD II, and he wrote thelyrics, to music by Jeffrey Silverman, for the four songs he sings inthe "cult classic" FANTASIES, directed by John Derek, which marked BoDerek's screen debut in 1980 and was released on DVD in 2005.

Television

On Television, he was Dr. Calvin Campbell in NBC's McDUFF, THE TALKINGDOG, the hit series in which he starred during 1976-1977, ClydeGriffiths in Theodore Drieser's AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY episode of THE GREAT NOVELISTS series on PBS, and Dr.George "Buck" Wheaton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. He has also guest starredon The Today Show, The David Frost Show, Celebrity Revue, The DatingGame, NBC'S Sunshine Saturday, and many other talk shows and telethons.

Writing and Directing

Also active as a writer and director, his many credits includedirecting the West Coast Premiere of THE GRASS HARP (starringBroadway's Susan Watson and introducing a then six year old ChristinaApplegate); YOUR OWN THING at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. He wrotethe book & lyrics, directed and costarred in two musical revues whichreceived rave reviews from the critics, one for each coast: FRONTSTREET GAIETIES: DODGE CITY'S HOTTEST REVUE, starring Susan Watson andCharles Ward, which had it's World Premiere at The Mayfair Theatre inSanta Monica, California in 1980, and BROADWAY SCANDALS OF 1928: THENEW SPEAKEASY MUSICAL, starring Shelley Bruce, which had it's WorldPremiere Off-Broadway at Upstairs O'Neal's Times Square in 1982, bothwith music by Jeffrey Silverman. He wrote the lyrics for WONDERFULLIFE!: THE MUSICAL, with music by John Kroner and a book by DouglasHolmes, commissioned by Beef & Boards Theatre in Indianapolis, Indianain 1987, and which had been presented annually around the US sincethen. He also collaborated with Mr. Holmes on the new book for thecritically acclaimed 1997 revisal of Frank Loesser's GREENWILLOW: THEMUSICAL FOLKTALE [which Variety headlined was "redeemed by its newbook"] , and also directed the World Premiere tryout at in Sarasota,Florida. In 2005 he contributed the book and staged the West Coasttouring production of HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN: THE NEW 1940s MUSICAL REVUE,which featured musical arrangements by Jeffrey Silverman andchoreography by A CHORUS LINE's Kay Cole.

Twenty years after winning Broadway's coveted Theatre World Award, Mr.Willison was honored to collaborate with John Willis as AssociateEditor for seven books; three editions of his legendary Theatre Worldbooks, chronicling each years theatre season on Broadway and around theUS: volumes #42, 43, and 44, and four volumes of Screen World, whichcover each year in films: #37, 38, 39, and 40.

Currently

Willison served as Vice-President of Theater World Awards Board ofDirectors from 2004 to 2006, directed THE 61st ANNUAL THEATRE WORLDAWARDS at Studio 54 in June, 2005, starring such TWA luminaries asLucie Arnaz, John Cullum, Tim Daly, Pat Suzuki, and he directed THE62nd Annual Theatre World Awards at Studio 54 in June, 2006, starring
Lucie Arnaz, Harry Connick, Jr., Ralph Fiennes, Harry Groener, AndreaMacArdle, Ken Page, John Rubinstein, and contributed specialmaterial for guest star Liza Minnelli.

Recordings

Willison now has over 25 recordings in release on CD, as produceror performer or both. To name just a few, they include performing onthe original cast or studio cast recordings of TWO BY TWO, GRAND HOTEL,BROADWAY SCANDALS OF 1928, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE: LIVEAT CARNEGIE HALL, UNSUNG SONDHEIM, LOST IN BOSTON I, LOST IN BOSTON II,UNSUNG IRVING BERLIN; producing and performing on Robert Wright &George Forrest's ANASTASIA: THE MUSICAL and PREMIERE RECORDINGS OFWRIGHT & FORREST SONGS FROM GRAND HOTEL*AT THE GRAND*BETTING ON BERTIE& KEAN (Judy Kaye, Len Cariou, Regina Resnik, Walter Willison, GeorgeLee Andrews, Steve Barton, Simon Jones, Marcia Lewis, Donna LeeMarshall, Eric Riley and others), A BAG OF POPCORN AND A DREAM: ANINTIMATE BIGSCREEN REVUE (Karen Akers, Lucie Arnaz, Jeff Calhoun,Geoffrey Holder, Simon Jones, Judy Kaye, Marcia Lewis, Kathi Moss,Karen Murphy, Ashley Rose Orr, Walter Willison and others), BEAUTY ANDTHE BEAST: A GOTHIC MUSICAL (starring Robert Cuccioli, Melly Garcia,Brooks Almy, Bryan Batt, Timothy Jerome, Walter Willison, ChristineBoger, Bonnie Simmons; and as producer, MARCIA LEWIS: NOWADAYS, Maltby& Shire's restored CYRANO & THE GRAND TOUR, and NEVA SMALL: MY PLACE INTHE WORLD. Willison also wrote booklet notes for the above CDswhich he produced, and has contributed notes for several otherbooklets, as well, including those for Martin Charnin's MATA HARI andBob Merrill's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S.

Willison continues to develop new projects as a writer, to direct,to perform, and to appear on tour with Heather Mac Rae in concerts andclubs around the US, in NIGHT OF YOUR NIGHTS: A CELEBRATION OF BROADWAY'SGOLDEN AGE.

Willison is proud to serve on The National Advisory Board of TheAnnual William Inge Festival, an event he helped to create, along withplaywright Jerome Lawrence and founder Margaret Goheen, more than a quarter of a century ago. Since 1982, IngeFest, which takes place inthe late playwright William Inge's hometown of Independence, Kansas,has honored our greatest living American playwrights and theatrecomposers and lyricists. In 2006, he appeared in "PENN AVENUE TOBROADWAY: A 25 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE" created and directed by Mike Wood;in 2007, in "TO LIFE!: A TRIBUTE TO JERRY BOCK AND SHELDON HARNICK"created and directed by Peter Ellenstein. In 2008, he returned tocelebrate honoree Christopher Durang, and to present a seminar on hismost recent work-in-progress, WILLIAM INGE: THE INTERVIEW -- A PLAY ONREALITY based on interviews with and writings of William Inge. In 2009he returns to IngeFest to celebrate the careers of William IngeDistinguished Achievement in The American Theatre Award winners,Broadway Legends and creators of THE FANTASTICKS, Tom Jones andHarvey Schmidt.

References

3. Theatre World books Edited by John Willis Vol. 24 to present

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932506/resume IMDB Article] IMDB Article on Walter Willison