Until 1997,
Adam-Michael James hadn't done much treading of the boards - his
objectives for acting included television and movies (as detailed in
his book, song, and video Extra
Extra!). But, during school, he found himself on stage
repeatedly, most notably as Linus in a Hawaiian version of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
in which he did his own fainting stunt (the object of Linus' worship
was The Great Pineapple, however!) and as Grandpa in You Can't Take It With You - a
performance apparently so convincing that his drama teacher was asked
where they got a 75-year-old man to appear in a high school play!
Before he was out of school, he was in several drama competitions,
scoring high placements at Regional, District, and State levels with an
interpretation of Neil Simon's Brighton
Beach Memoirs, in which he portrayed three characters. Still, he
felt he had bigger fish to fry, and it would be ten years before he
found himself on stage again.
There seems to be a pattern that AMJ finds himself on stage quite by accident, and this was no more true than in April 2002. With his first book, Undo the Deed, weeks away from release, he was working in a bookstore when one of his co-workers informed him she was in an Aerospace Players production of Oklahoma! and still needed people - would he do it? He resisted at first, but he went to the reading, anyway - and soon found himself in the midst of his favourite theatrical experience to date. He was cast as peripheral character Slim, who had a total of seven lines, and also put into a few of the chorus numbers. But when director Scott Clifford discovered he could bust a few moves, "principal dancer" was added to his role and AMJ happily hoofed it through familiar songs like Kansas City, The Farmer and the Cowman, and, of course, the title song - although he freely admits he could never master the bell kick! He was even thrown into the Dream Ballet, which was conceived only 2 weeks before opening night. While everyone else showed up to rehearsals in street shoes, it was only days before AMJ's dedication showed through - he came to rehearsal in his costumes, including his cowboy boots, so he would know how to move in them. After three months of rehearsals, Oklahoma! opened at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, California on July 26, 2002, and ran for six shows. AMJ came down with a bad cold on the show's second night, but willed himself through the performance anyway, sucking down throat lozenges onstage and feeling like he would faint in the middle of a number! Clifford later said he couldn't tell from AMJ's performance that he was at all impaired and that it was a testament to his acting!
Click here to see pics and video from AMJ's turn in Oklahoma!
Other creative projects and just plain life have kept AMJ from accepting any more theatrical roles since then - but, now that he's writing a musical, he and the stage are definitely not through with each other yet!
| In the
midst of his extra work and acting pursuits, fellow hopeful Christina
Williams called AMJ out of the blue in October 1997 to ask if he would
be interested in a community production where he wouldn't even have to
audition! Intrigued, he went to investigate the role where he would be
asked to play a flamboyant gay character. He was concerned that such a
character might perpetuate a long-held stereotype, so, when he accepted
the part, he decided to make him so far
over the top that he couldn't possibly be believable! And thus, "Randy"
and his sequins became part of Steve Oakley's The Ballad of Bobby Rae,
which ran the following month at The Playhouse of the Foothills in
Tujunga, California. AMJ's favourite element of playing this part was
when Oakley liked his improvisations in rehearsal so much he insisted
they go into the script! |
 AMJ as Randy in The Ballad of Bobby Rae
|
 AMJ (right) in
rehearsal as Luigi in Festival Fever,
1999
|
Despite trying out for a few more theatre parts, it wasn't until June 1999 that AMJ found himself at The Playhouse of the Foothills again, this time as dimwitted mobster Luigi in Oakley's Festival Fever. This time AMJ donned leather, slicked his hair back, and talked in a thick Brooklynese accent! The show had a short run, but not without an adventure. Luigi's main scene was with his mother Ina and brother Angelo, discussing how to wrest control of a certain picture at Sundance. The character playing Angelo didn't show one night, and it was discovered just 10 minutes before curtain that he'd been called out of town on a family emergency. So AMJ made a snap decision and absorbed Angelo's dialogue into his on the spot, making it naturally look as if Ina had just the one son. So impressed was Oakley that, after the show, he said to one of AMJ's friends "He can do anything." |
There seems to be a pattern that AMJ finds himself on stage quite by accident, and this was no more true than in April 2002. With his first book, Undo the Deed, weeks away from release, he was working in a bookstore when one of his co-workers informed him she was in an Aerospace Players production of Oklahoma! and still needed people - would he do it? He resisted at first, but he went to the reading, anyway - and soon found himself in the midst of his favourite theatrical experience to date. He was cast as peripheral character Slim, who had a total of seven lines, and also put into a few of the chorus numbers. But when director Scott Clifford discovered he could bust a few moves, "principal dancer" was added to his role and AMJ happily hoofed it through familiar songs like Kansas City, The Farmer and the Cowman, and, of course, the title song - although he freely admits he could never master the bell kick! He was even thrown into the Dream Ballet, which was conceived only 2 weeks before opening night. While everyone else showed up to rehearsals in street shoes, it was only days before AMJ's dedication showed through - he came to rehearsal in his costumes, including his cowboy boots, so he would know how to move in them. After three months of rehearsals, Oklahoma! opened at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, California on July 26, 2002, and ran for six shows. AMJ came down with a bad cold on the show's second night, but willed himself through the performance anyway, sucking down throat lozenges onstage and feeling like he would faint in the middle of a number! Clifford later said he couldn't tell from AMJ's performance that he was at all impaired and that it was a testament to his acting!
Click here to see pics and video from AMJ's turn in Oklahoma!
Other creative projects and just plain life have kept AMJ from accepting any more theatrical roles since then - but, now that he's writing a musical, he and the stage are definitely not through with each other yet!
Website ©2005-2006 Adam-Michael James