Review: Mark William Evokes Decades Of Show Business Artistry In TECHNICOLOR DREAMS at The Green Room 42

Crooner Mark William returned to The Green Room 42 over the weekend. There. That is the last time this writer will ever refer to Mark William as a crooner. Yes, it is true that the young juvenile has made it well known that he loves the art of crooning, that he loves that style of entertainment, and that he loves that era in music, right down to releasing an album titled COME CROON WITH ME. But Mark William is more than any one thing, and this writer will not be a party to any attempt to put the gentleman in a box, in a pigeonhole, in a category. The actor that is Mark William has cast his eye in many different directions, each of them one in which he is intending to make a mark.

In his newest show, TECHNICOLOR DREAMS, Mark William is reminiscent of the men from the past with whom the word is associated, indeed, Mr. William is reminiscent of many pockets of the past, but it's not just the era of "Fly Me To The Moon" and "Danke Schoen" that's up on the stage with William: it's decades worth of entertainment industry ambiance that the proficient is presenting. With his glamorous bugle-beaded fuchsia jacket covering sheer black chiffon, his jewelry-embellished tapered fingers, and his lanky youthfulness, Mr. William is the very picture of a Vegas headliner (Atlantic City will do, but Vegas is better). He can handle himself on the stage, the mic is his friend, the musicians are his playmates, and his voice is the surf upon which it all sails. When Mark William sings "Love Is In The Air" or "The Way Of Love" or (a magnificently arranged) "Feeling Good," visions of Jack Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Lawrence, and Robert Goulet dance through one's head. Mr. William has a discernible ability with the music and the vibe of the era of The Rat Pack, and vocal prowess that, at times, surprises (the man's pipes are pretty powerful) - he is smooth, he is suave, he is ideally suited to the era... and the one right after it.

It isn't just the Tuxedo-clad entertainers of Vegas that Mark William embodies, because there is a certain rock star quality about him, and it all lies in the way that he eats the stage and his time there. There is a YouTube video of Tom Jones singing "Treat Her Right" on television, and he is dancing the entire time, in particular taking out one section of the number to dance like the world is on fire. Many men get up on a stage (especially a small venue stage) afraid to, shall we say, shake their booty... not Mark William. Mark is moving during every moment of his show. A trained dancer, he moves his body with all of the music, showing his connection to the composition, to the band, to the musicality of his storytelling, and some of that dancing is as provocative as Tom Jones shaking his groove thang in that YouTube video. No crooner was Tom Jones: he was a rock star. That rock star quality lives in Mark William because he isn't afraid to be himself, he isn't afraid to bust a move in the middle of his show, he isn't afraid to be a full-out bona fide entertainer, one whose very tiniest flick of a wrist or toss of the head can inform the musical storytelling. But it doesn't stop with the Tom Jones thing... it goes ahead a decade or so to the era of Peter Allen, a particular favorite of Mark's, leading the singing actor to put a Peter Allen tribute in almost all of his shows, and Technicolor Dreams was no exception. And, like Peter Allen, Mark is ready to do a little soft shoe, a bit of high kick, a splash of theatrical terpsichore: Mark William is invested and he is committed - to the genre, to the art form, to his idols, to the entertaining of his audience, to the storytelling. He has a tale for every tune, and, well, he should because directors Preston Ridge and Richard Ridge have been there to guide him in the crafting of his cabaret concert, and the execution of that show, one that includes a stellar band and an overture, the sort that a star would have bring them onto the stage. It's a dedicated team that Mark has working with him (including an awesome Musical Director in Matthew Lowy), and their belief in him is in every detail of the program. Everyone here seems on the same page regarding Mark's brand and they are leaning into that brand. During the concert, there are discussions with the crowd about that which inspires him, that upon which he has built his foundation, and those upon whose shoulders that foundation stands, like his mother, who, at his young age, presented him with the score to Funny Girl. This is a story that Mark shared with his audience moments before singing an impressive"The Music That Makes Me Dance" in which no lyrics were changed, no pronouns were swapped, no coy attempts were made to alter the song for a male performer, rather than female: he just sang the song and told the story.

And the storytelling doesn't come only in the form of compositions by others or in prosaic speeches about Mark's life: you see, Mark William is a songwriter. The creative took some time out of the program to present three compositions that bear his name with a writing credit (along with Andrew Morrisey), one of them titled "The Power Of My Name" which is from his new musical spin on The Picture Of Dorian Gray. The play, William explains, is set in Nineteen Seventies New York City, with a score that leans into the disco sound, and how appropriate for Mr. William to be working in the era of the Seventies. He is, in fact, the perfect image of a wholesome boy with cheek of tan, newly arrived in the New York City of Nineteen Seventy-two, right down to a slender, lithe body showed off in sheer chiffon, the type of body that was the aesthetic of the Seventies, before the succeeding decades led men into the gyms to build life-threateningly muscular bodies. Mark William's Dorian Gray should be an interesting creation to observe. In William's compositions that are not from the new musical, Mark displays a knack for music that sounds of today, music that might be played on the radio (if that's still a thing) or that one might stream on Spotify. The sound that Mark creates with, both, his writing and performing of these songs is pop-oriented, and that could lead him in, yet, another direction in his work, which wouldn't be much of a surprise, given what we know of him already - that he is a show business renaissance man with an eye on a time "When I See My Name In Lights" - one of the Peter Allen numbers he tends to favor.

But there is a note, a modest observation that this writer has, one that Mark and Team William can take or dismiss, but it's a good note, an important observation, one made with the best of intentions. Mark is working from a script, that much is clear. He and the Ridges have worked hard on it, and he has taken great care to memorize it so that he has every word in his bones. He uses that script to connect to his audience, and he succeeds at it, most of the time. But there are other moments when the script is reading Mark, rather than Mark reading the script. Sometimes Mark's dedication to the script renders him a bit performative and justthismuch out of reach, which isn't his goal, that's plain to see. If you look at videos and listen to recordings of Mark's idol Peter Allen and Allen's one-time wife, Liza Minnelli, two of the all-time great live entertainers, they always sound accessible. Even on the biggest stages in the world, when they are talking, it sounds completely and totally unrehearsed, as though they are chatting while scrambling eggs in the kitchen, you at the table sipping a cup of coffee. Their dialogue may be rehearsed within an inch of its life, but it never sounds that way. This writer (and, clearly, fan) might offer that Mark could rehearse only the text of the show in his living room, barefoot, in jeans and a t-shirt, just talking to some good friends, in order to finesse the spontaneous nature of talking with an audience, so that it is always on the front burner.

So, what do we have here? An actor and a singer, a songwriter and a storyteller. Tall and talented, debonair and daring. Rat Pack vibes, rock and roll moves, pop star presence, Broadway belting, singing-songwriting, artistry evocative of decades long past or the one in which we are living, all in one performer. Mark William is an artist living in the past, the present, and the future. He is representing for himself, for history, for the art form, and for the artists who came before him, and he's got the goods to take it somewhere.

He's just not a crooner anymore.

The Technicolor Dreams Team:

Produced & Directed by Preston & Richard Ridge

Musical Director/Arranger/Piano: Matthew Lowy

Drums/Percusssion: Jonathan Ward
Bass: A C Muench
Guitar: Jakob Reinhardt
Trumpet: Josiah Lamb
Saxaphone: Dan Meinhardt

Find great shows to see on the Green Room 42 website HERE.

HERE is the Mark William website.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

To post a comment, you must register and login.