Major at Williams: American Civilization

 

Although very fortunate to have enjoyed an over forty-year career in investment management as my profession, I have pursued an outside avocation, really for most of my life, in the world of theater and vocal arts. At Williams, I sang in the Choral Society, but most of my spare time involved a commitment to the Varsity basketball program shared with our talented classmate, Harry Sheehy.

 

To summarize, which I hope would be of interest, I picked out some highlights of my acting/vocal arts/combination of the two endeavors broken down as follows: (

1) In strict acting — cast in local blackbox theater productions of Hands Across the Sea by Noel Coward; The Dining Room written by Williams 1952 grad A.R. Gurney;

(2) Vocal arts — one of the founders  and current member of 30-year A capella group, The Tonics, which has given me and others so much joy (classmate Tony Brown was involved for a stretch) and various church choirs;

(3) Acting/vocal arts combo highlights — leading roles in eight Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with Philadelphia companies including H.M.S. Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado (my role as the Mikado was portrayed as Elvis Presley in our modernized version of same), The Gondoliers, Patience, Iolanthe, and others; cast in excellent local productions of South Pacific and The Music Man, and as Larry in the genius musical comedy show Company, with music and lyrics, as we know, by the amazing Williams grad, Stephen Sondheim, class of 1950.

 

This rich world of theater and the arts has given me the opportunity to honor, in my own way, these artistic masterpieces, replete with close and enduring relationships with fellow actors, performers, directors, stage crew, et al. I am very grateful.