As he gears up for what may very well be his most prolific yr so far, Mark William is raring to take his followers on a genre-traversing musical journey of Broadway favorites in addition to basic pop.
The New York actor and singer unveiled his second album and first-ever dwell recording, “If I Can Dream,” in September. The 13-song assortment captures William’s Could 10 efficiency on the Manhattan nightspot Inexperienced Room 42 and finds him placing his distinctive spin on songs made well-known by Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and others, alongside authentic tunes.
“This album marks a significant moment,” William writes within the album’s liner notes. “I finally feel like I’m no longer imitating the great singers I grew up listening to, but have found my own voice. And I am elated to share it.”
Different highlights embody a medley by late singer-songwriter Peter Allen, together with “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” and “Not The Boy Next Door,” in addition to songs from “Dorian’s Wild(e) Affair,” William’s forthcoming stage musical which units Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in New York in the course of the disco period of the Seventies.
Describing “If I Can Dream” as his response to basic information by Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, William instructed HuffPost, “There’s an energy on a live album that you just can’t duplicate in a studio, and that’s the interchange between musicians and the audience.”
“My first album [2019’s ‘Back With a Beat’] was very much a classic crooner, Great American Songbook and Broadway album,” he mentioned. “With this new show and this album, I wanted to be open to some rock-and-roll stuff, and also share some of my own writing. It’s really something special that I’m proud of.”
As in earlier years, William carried out his Could live performance earlier than a number of stage and display stars, together with Sandy Duncan and “Ozark” actor Ben Rappaport.
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It’s no shock, then, that New York’s movie and theater communities have begun to take discover. William not too long ago wrapped capturing on his first-ever quick movie, “Do You…?,” by which he portrays a groom-to-be going through an uncommon dilemma on his wedding ceremony day.
He’s additionally at work on a second quick, “Good, Isn’t It?,” a story of self-discovery set in a small-town library, and is co-writing the screenplay for a characteristic movie, which he describes as “a campy slasher set during the opening night party of a new Broadway musical.” The primary full-fledged staging of “Dorian’s Wild(e) Affair” can be set to happen within the latter half of the yr at a theater in New Hampshire.
The discharge of “If I Can Dream” comes simply weeks earlier than William kicks off a busy vacation season. He not too long ago returned to Walt Disney World for the third yr to look alongside Brendan Fraser, Sheryl Lee Ralph and different A-list movie star hosts within the Orlando, Florida resort’s Candlelight Processional occasion.
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He’s additionally set to carry out with singer Sarah Brightman, finest identified for originating the position of Christine within the Broadway smash “Phantom of the Opera,” for 5 stops on her Winter Symphony Tour throughout the Sunshine State in December.
William was launched to Brightman two years in the past, when he was tapped to sing backup for her on the Arduous Rock On line casino in Hollywood, Florida. The pair met unexpectedly, with Brightman stepping onto an elevator within the resort sporting “a caftan and her hair up in pin curls,” he mentioned.
As soon as Brightman stepped onstage, nevertheless, she was each inch the “glamour goddess” William had hoped for. Since then, he’s come to view his time with the Broadway veteran and world recording artist as a studying expertise he hopes will pave the way in which for the subsequent chapter in his profession.
“Life may be crazy and the world may be crazy, but … keeping hope and continuing to reach out is what’s going to get us through,” he mentioned. “Whether it’s romantic love or brotherly love or friendship, there’s so much of it out there to give and receive. So just being open to that is my goal.”
