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| Willy giving a Library Concert . . . |
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| Singer
Songwriter
Storyteller
Guitar Man
Silly Guy
Author
Actor
Daddy
Hubby
Buddy
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| Willy, as drawn by a Fan. . . |
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Mr.
Willy (also sometimes known as "Willy Welch") is a children's
entertainer, picture book author and recording artist who brings his
songs and stories (and sometimes puppets) to schools, churches, child
care centers, preschools- wherever!.
He performs at hospitals, arts festivals (Montage, Kid-Around, etc.)
and birthday parties, bookstores and store openings. He has written
over 35 songs for Barney and Friends to sing. He is also a songwriter
for the new "Boz the Green Bear Next Door" DVD series.
Mr. Willy has written and performed for and with thousands of children
under the auspices of Young Audiences of North Texas - leading singing
with elementary children and working with them on expressing themselves
through their own songs.
Mr. Willy has an ability to see the world through a child's eyes, and
the children listening and singing with him know they are with a friend!
Willy often performs with his wife, the actress Wendy Welch, as the
folk/gospel duo "Wendy & Willy" at camps and churches throughout
the country, as well as for Young Audiences. They have recorded three
albums together.
A graduate of the Boston University School for the Arts, Willy Welch
has been writing and performing for many years. He is probably best
known for penning "Playing Right Field," the heart-warming tale of an
inept little leaguer, which has been recorded and performed by over a
dozen recording artists, most notably Peter Paul & Mary, who
recorded it for the third time (as a greatest hit!) in 1998 on the CD
Around the Campfire.
Many people are also familiar with the story as a double-Clio award-winning Pizza Hut commercial!
"Playing Right Field" was released as a children's picture book by
Scholastic, Inc. in 1995 with illustrations by Caldecott-award winning
artist Marc Simont. His second book, "Dancing with Daddy" was a fall
1999 release from Whispering Coyote Press (an imprint of Charlesbridge
Publishing), who also published "Grumpy Bunnies" - aka "Grumbly
Bunnies" in March, 2000. "Grumbly Bunnies" was released as a paperback in 2009.
Willy's other song hits include "Whole Lotta Fishin'," featured in the
Dallas Theatre Three musical Ball Games, "I'm Gonna Hold Onto You,"
recorded by RSVP, and "House of the Carpenter," a theme song for
Habitat for Humanity. Pretending to be a grown-up, Willy wrote a
rockabilly musical version of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" performed by
the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas.
Willy most recently performed simultaneously in two Christmas musicals: "The Gifts of the Magi" at PFamily Arts in Plano, and "A Sanders Family Christmas" for 1:30 Productions at the Bath House Cultural Center. He recently portrayed Woody Guthrie in the musical "Woody Guthrie's American Song" at Theatre Three's downstairs theatre, Theatre Too (summer, 2009).
DFW Metroplex theater audiences have also seen Willy as Farmer Brown in "Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type," at the Dallas Children's Theatre (Jan-Feb, 2009). Before that, he was FDR in "Annie" at Bass Hall in Fort Worth (Dec. 2008). He was also proud to be in the world premier of the musical "The Winner" at Lyric Stage (2007), as a member of an all-star
cast at Watertower Theatre (Addison) for "Ain't Nothin' But the Blues"
(2004), as Wink in "A Country Life," also at Watertower (2005); as Jim
in "Pump Boys and Dinettes" at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas (2004),
and in "Cotton Patch Gospel" at Dallas Theater Center (2003) and Casa
Manana in Ft. Worth; as Uncle Stanley in "Smoke on the Mountain" at
Granbury Opera House (2005), and as Lloyd in "Guys on Ice" at Circle
Theatre in Ft. Worth. He also starred as the Balladeer/Proprietor in Stephen
Sondheim's "Assassins" at Theater 3.
Before he moved to Texas, New York and Boston audiences saw him in dozens of productions,
including "Dracula," the title character in "The Marlowe Show," in "The
Jim Thorpe Story," "Geography of a Horse Dreamer," "Tartuffe" and
"Cowboy, the Musical."
Willy, the father of cinematographer Grady and singer/dancer Molly
Bess, is a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers and
Illustrators, American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers,
Actors Equity, and the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.
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