Paul Williams and Happy Days the Musical

Songwriter for Muppet Movie & TV Specials Turns to Stage Musicals

Jan 7, 2009

Performer-songwriter Paul Williams says he's fallen in love with a new art form: writing the music for live musicals like Happy Days and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.

Paul Williams has written some of the most famous songs of the past 35 years, and they’ve been hits for an astonishing variety of performers, from Helen Reddy ("You And Me Against The World") to Barbra Streisand ("Evergreen"), The Carpenters ("We’ve Only Just Begun"), Three Dog Night ("Old Fashioned Love Song") and even Kermit the Frog ("Rainbow Connection"). Active since the early '70s, Williams withdrew from music writing for a time, but he says he’s rediscovered his love for it in writing for live theatre.

His adaptation of the 1977 television special Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas ran from December 7, 2008 to January 4, 2009 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddon, Connecticut, a space known for developing musical productions like Man of La Mancha. He has also written the songs for a new musical based on the iconic series Happy Days.

Paul Williams' Break From Music Writing

Over the phone from a hotel in Milwaukee early in the morning after the Happy Days opening at Marcus Centre Uihlein Hall, Williams describes this new phase in his career. (Milwaukee is the setting for Happy Days, and a "Bronze Fonz" statue was dedicated there in August 2008.)

"I’m at a place in my life where—I wasn’t finished with music, but I felt I would take some time away from it," Williams says. "I had a major, life-changing event almost 19 years ago when I got sobre, and I got my certification as a drug and alcohol counselor." Williams didn’t retire from music entirely; for example, he wrote the score for the 1992 television special The Muppet Christmas Carol, but in general, he says, "I said I’d go back to music when I fell in love with it again. And what’s happened to me is all of a sudden I’ve got a passion for writing for the theatre that a kid has."

Gary Marshall Invites Paul Williams to Write Happy Days Musical

One of the big reasons for Williams’ newfound excitement is the Happy Days musical, which he was invited to work on by writer Gary Marshall, who created the original Happy Days TV series, as well as Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. "We actually had one brief encounter in I guess 1977," says Williams. "I did an episode of The Odd Couple [written by Marshall]. Gary said at the end of the shoot ‘This is fun; we’ve got to find something to do together,' and just like that, 25 years later, he calls me."

Marshall actually built a theatre in Burbank, California to develop the show. It later moved to the Goodspeed’s development space and then to a public run in the fall of 2007 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. "We then went back to the Goodspeed, and the show just got tighter and tighter; new songs were added," says Williams. "We had two or three endings for the show; we got down to one ending.

"The great thing is it’s a collaborative process," he continues. "For someone who’s sat up all night with a blank piece of paper, and you wake up in the morning and find you’ve rewritten ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’... to sit in this room of great people is a wonderful experience. So that’s the real gift: I’ve fallen in love with writing for the theatre. At this stage in my life, it’s wonderful being a beginner in an art form."

Happy Days the Musical On Tour in North America

Happy Days, the Musical is expected to tour North America into 2010, possibly heading for a Broadway run at some point. Australian and United Kingdom touring companies are also planned. The following tour dates have already been announced (later bookings will be listed on the official Happy Days website):

The copyright of the article Paul Williams and Happy Days the Musical in North American Musical Theatre is owned by Sarah B. Hood. Permission to republish Paul Williams and Happy Days the Musical in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.