Liam Beck-O’Sullivan

Liam Beck-O’Sullivan. Winthrop in Chanhassen’s production of a Music Man.

Liam Beck-O’Sullivan

    Liam Beck-O’Sullivan is currently Winthrop in the Music Man at Chanhassen. The Music Man is a show about this man who is a traveling salesman. He comes to River City, Iowa to sell a boy band. He ends up falling in love with the town’s piano teacher.  This show is a 6 month run. I asked Liam what his favorite part in the show is and he said, “One of the last scenes in the show has Winthrop (me) and the two main characters. It is an emotional scene which I love doing every night. I get to find new moments in the scene each show.” This is the longest running show Liam has done. This is a very unique experience from his other shows. He feels that they have all gotten to know each other and that they have become one big family. When I asked Liam what his favorite thing about being in the show was, this was his response: “Everyone in the show is so kind and supportive. We all have little traditions that we do backstage which is so much fun.” 

    Liam’s usual day is determined by how many shows he has that day. If Liam has one show he does school work then goes to ballet for half of the class, then goes to the theater. On the days he has two shows he wakes up, does a bit of school work then he goes and performs for the rest of the day. He also does school work during the break and when he is not on stage. “There are so many things that I love about acting that it is hard to choose one, so here are a couple of my favorites. I meet so many amazing people in every show I do, and most of them I still talk to today. I also love the feeling of being totally immersed into a storyline.” Liam said when I asked him what his favorite thing about being an actor is. Liam says that during a long run like this, after the first month he doesn’t even need to think about the show before he gets there. Near the start of the show he would go through his lines and do the dances whenever I had the chance. 

    Liam is 13. He has been in Baba Yaga (his first show), Billy Elliot and The Wizard of Oz. He has been in Mary Poppins three times, Music Man twice, and The Barber of Seville, The Fix, Albert Herring, Little Mermaid, King Arthur and Princess Athena, and The Nutcracker twice. His mom and dad used to act when they were younger and his brother acts as well. His brother was the one who inspired him to start dancing and performing. Some advice Liam has for others who want to be actors is “Don’t get stressed about if you did good or bad in an audition or how you did on stage because first of all, it is in the past and there is nothing you can do about it. Second, the more you are stressed for the next audition, the more tense you will look to the people casting.

Also be yourself, because the more of yourself that the director sees, the more he can guess how you will act backstage.”