'Action News' anchor Rick Williams comes clean about his 'double life'

IT'S HARDLY news that local broadcast personalities sometimes lead double lives (as, for instance, notorious skirt-chasers or charity scammers). But when it comes to extracurricular activities, those of longtime 6ABC newsreader Rick Williams are far more wholesome.

Williams, who co-anchors the "Action News" noon and 5 p.m. weekday newscasts, spends a good deal of his offscreen hours with the Moorestown Theater Company, both as a member of the community troupe's executive board and, more prominently, as a leading man in many of its musicals. Among his starring vehicles are "The King and I," "Footloose," "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Anything Goes," in which he portrays gangster Moonface Martin in the Cole Porter classic that runs this weekend and next at the Burlington County township's Upper Elementary School.

While his involvement with the group dates to 2008, his love of performing took root when he was a high-school student in his hometown of White Plains, N.Y.

"There was a cheerleader I had my eye on - she was in a production of 'Oklahoma,' " he recalled, during a recent pre-rehearsal chat. "She said, 'We need extra guys. Would you be interested?' [That's when] I got bit by the theater bug."

Williams, who graduated from Howard University with a communications degree, minored in theater. But he figured he had left those aspirations behind by the time he launched the broadcasting career that brought him to Channel 6 in 1988. The "bug" returned six years ago when his then-6-year-old son, Nicholas, expressed an interest in joining some of his friends in MTC's production of "The King and I."

Because the troupe's bylaws require a youngster's parent to also participate in a show, Williams signed on, assuming he'd "be a tree or something." But as soon as producing artistic director Mark Morgan heard him sing, he knew Williams had legitimate talent. Williams won the "Yul Brynner role" as The King, and a star was born.

"His acting skills are great," enthused Morgan. "He's a natural. Nothing throws him onstage. He's a rock up there. He's a very good singer, very good dancer. He works his rear end off learning dance steps."

Perhaps more important to Morgan is Williams' personality. "He's such a wonderful, down-to earth, no-airs-about-him person," he said. "He truly believes in our mission. He's a sweetheart of a guy."

Williams, whose wife, Jocelyn, a Cooper University Hospital OB-GYN, also performs in MTC shows, enjoys the stage so much that he admitted he might consider turning pro if circumstances ever necessitated a career change.

"I love what I do with 6ABC, but if for some reason , I might pursue it," he offered. "I would think about it. It's fun, but I really do love TV news."

And what role would he especially like to tackle in the future?

"One of my favorite plays is 'The Wizard of Oz,' " he said. "I always loved the Cowardly Lion. I think it would be fun: 'Put 'em up, put 'em up!' "

What is arguably the greatest drama in American theater history deserves a cast that can do it justice. And that's what Ambler's Act II Playhouse's production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" boasts.

Led by recent Barrymore Award lifetime-achievement honoree Carla Belver as faded Southern matriarch Amanda Wingfield, the cast - which also includes 2014 Barrymore winner Charlie DelMarcelle (as Williams avatar Tom Wingfield), Amanda Schoonover (the emotionally and physically crippled Laura Wingfield) and Sean Bradley as Jim, Laura's "gentleman caller - puts on an acting clinic.

While Belver's astounding performance, a marvel of low-key rage and smoldering resentment, is the play's center of gravity, it is Schoonover's turn as the lost Amanda that really resonates. Her vulnerability is never overplayed and is always as fragile as the glass figurines she collects, making her Laura a most heart-rending and compelling character.

"The Glass Menagerie" runs through Nov. 23, which means you still have time to catch it. It is highly recommended you do.

"Mary Poppins" may have no direct correlation to the holiday season, but there's is plenty of holiday magic in the Walnut Street Theatre's production that runs through Jan. 4.

The staging is as exciting and eye-popping as any you'll see beyond the borders of New York's theater district - a high-tech extravaganza of seamlessly shifting sets, flying actors and a few cool feats of hocus-pocus.

The cast, toplined by two first-rate actors - Lindsey Bliven, as the most beloved fictional nanny of all time, and David Elder, as the chimney-sweeping Bert - delivers whether belting out the Sherman Brothers-penned iconic tunes from the 1964 Disney film ("Chim-Chim Cher-ee," "Let's Go Fly A Kite, "A Spoonful of Sugar") or the slew of new numbers created specifically for the stage version by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

The performers also dance up a storm and tug on all the right heartstrings as the tale of a dysfunctional Victorian-era London family sings and hoofs its way towards the happy ending.

There's not enough room to pass out all the kudos that the ensemble demands, but we would be remiss if we ignored Cameron Flurry who, at Wednesday's opening, portrayed Jane Banks, one of Mary Poppins' two young charges.

The engaging tyke, who shares the part with another actress, hit it out of the park in what is arguably the toughest little-girl's role since Annie first stomped on Miss Hannigan's bunion.

Add in Linda Goodrich's supercalifragilistic choreography and Wayne Bryan's solid direction, and you have about the sweetest holiday treat Philly will get this season. If you don't take the family to the 'Nut to see "Mary Poppins," you deserve nothing but coal in your stocking this Christmas!

Tonia Tecce is a Paulsboro, N.J., native who put her singing career on hold for decades in favor of marriage and children. She ultimately returned to vocalizing, performing with such units as the Ocean City Pops, Philly Pops and Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Thursday and Nov. 24, the 76-year-old grandma of 12 will review her life in a program called "A Cockeyed Optimist: Why We Believe the Songs of Richard Rodgers."