WILLIAM De DESILVA

William “Billy” de Silva was the co-producer of the original London and Toronto productions of Little Lies, starring the late Sir John Mills. He also produced the off-off-Broadway Showcase production. Before relocating to Florida from New York City, he produced a play off-Broadway entitled The Man Who Shot Lincoln at the Astor Playhouse. He was assistant to Mitch Leigh, the composer of the music for the Broadway musical, Man of La Mancha; and he also served in that capacity to Jack Farren, the producer of the Broadway production of a play by Robert Anderson, You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running; and to Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti, the producers and writers of the musical, Maggie Flynn, which starred Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. He then began producing several young people’s musicals off-off-Broadway based on famous novels, including Away Out West; Huckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyer; and Treasure Island. These productions subsequently led to his co-producing the British and Canadian productions of Little Lies in 1983-84, which starred Sir John Mills, in addition to producing the Equity-approved Showcase off-off-Broadway production. After retiring, he relocated to Florida in 1996.