Kiefo Nilsson will showcase his late father's 1970 concept album, with John C. Reilly narrating, at Theatricum Botanicum's holiday fair in December, and plans to expand it in 2022.
- Nov 26, 2021
AceShowbiz - Harry Nilsson's son is hoping to tour his late father's 1970 concept album "The Point" with a series of celebrity narrators.
Kiefo Nilsson, who was just eight when his father died after suffering a heart attack in 1994, always loved the album about a round-headed kid, named Oblio, who is banished from the Pointed Village for not having a pointed head. And over the last few years he has been trying to stage it as a show.
Kiefo will showcase the album, with movie star John C. Reilly narrating, at Theatricum Botanicum's holiday fair on December 11 and he and Reilly are talking about expanding the project in 2022.
"John C. Reilly, he's gonna do this show and we like to rotate the narrator but he and I have spoken about doing another Nilsson show and he would like to present some of these songs. Nothing has been confirmed," Kiefo tells WENN.
"Every time we try to put together a show, there are a lot of great people out there and it often has to be the right place, right time. I only do a couple of these shows a year."
Harry Nilsson served as the narrator on the album, but stars like Al Pacino, Alan Thicke and Ringo Starr have narrated various iterations of an animated film take on the project, which first aired on ABC in the U.S. in 1971. A 1977 theatrical production inspired by the album featured The Monkees stars Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz.
"My show is not theatrical - it's just my take on the album, but I'd like to have a narrator," Kiefo adds. "We've tested it in a small, intimate theater setting in Los Angeles and it was great. I feel that most towns have a place like that - a good historic theatre or an outdoor theatre. Cool old theatres are a great place to be in."
"It is a unique record and a unique sound. You need a good vibe. We could take this to other cities. The long-term goal is to do it again and try to bring something new to it. We're still putting together the full show. We're gonna have the horns and a harp. We're approaching it with good vibes and good intentions."
But Kiefo loves the idea of performing The Point at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum home in Topanga, California.
"I visited the theater for the first time and I thought, 'This would be a great venue for The Point', because you're literally in a forest - there's an oak tree on the stage!" he says. "It has a really unique vibe to it, so I reached out to friends who knew people at the theatre and we just took it from there."
