Treading The Boards

After impressing the Bill Kenwright office with his performance in Eurovision, barely off the plane from Istanbul, he was invited to audition for the part of Judas on the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. He made his debut in to musical theatre at the Birmingham Hippodrome in August 2004 and his performances were rewarded by standing ovations and great press reviews at venues across the UK. Tim Rice was encouraged to go and see him by his daughter and Tim was impressed to the point of telling James he was the best Judas he’d seen in 30 years of the show. James had been a huge Billy Joel fan all his life and, with a letter of recommendation from Tim Rice, he was invited to New York to audition for his dream role of Pianoman in the Billy Joel musical Movin’ Out. His return ticket was cancelled and he was thrown straight in to rehearsals, making his debut in the show on Broadway on his birthday 6 April 2005. James joined the US national tour and wowed audiences all across America, taking a break to bring the show home to London for a limited run in the West End during spring 2006. He returned to America and remained with the show until the original tour closed in Birmingham AL January 2007.