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This just in from Broadway.com: The Addams Family's Zachary James on Serving Up Laughs Age: 28 Hometown: Spring Hill, Florida Currently: Grunting around as the dutifully deranged butler Lurch in Broadway’s newest hit, The Addams Family Marching in the Band: The son of a professional jazz guitarist, James played percussion and served as drum major in his high school marching band. Though his first goal was to become a band director, he harbored a longing for musical theater, as well. “We did Grease every two years because it sold tickets,” he jokes. From Playbill.com: This just in from Playbill.com: The Addams Family, the new Broadway-bound musical about the winds of change blowing though the haunted mansion of the famously macabre family, will star two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Lane (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Producers) and Neuwirth (Sweet Charity, Chicago) will play bizarre husband and wife Gomez and Morticia, respectively. Also creating roles in the show's fall world-premiere tryout at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre in Chicago will be two-time Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann (Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables) as Mal Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello (Parade, Lestat) as Alice Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Kevin Chamberlin (Seussical, Dirty Blonde) as Uncle Fester, Jackie Hoffman (Hairspray, Xanadu) as Grandmama, Zachary James (South Pacific) as Lurch, Adam Riegler (Shrek) as Pugsley, Wesley Taylor (Theatre World Award winner and Outer Critics' Circle nominee this year for Rock of Ages) as Lucas Beineke and Krysta Rodriguez (In the Heights) as Wednesday. The original musical by Tony-nominatd librettists Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and Drama Desk Award winner Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) is not based on past Addams Family properties, but uses characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams. The Addams illustrations inspired a TV sitcom, a TV cartoon series and two live-action feature film comedies. WWW.THEADDAMSFAMILYMUSICAL.COM Competing as a finalist in the 2009 Lotte Lenya Competition hosted by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music at the Eastman School of Music, Zach won Third Place in the annual international competition.For more info visit The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music: Zach reprised the role of Petr for an October studio recording of Bryan Putnam's THE TOYMAKER, in which he played the title role in a York Theatre staged reading earlier in the year. The York incarnation starred Christiane Noll as Sarah. To hear music from the show visit the Sound Clips page to the left. For more information on THE TOYMAKER visit: This just in from Playbill News: TONY AWARDS 2008 Lincoln Center Theater's lush revival of South Pacific took the most awards of any show of the season: seven. The Lincoln Center production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific won Tonys in all four musical design categories: Scenic Design (Michael Yeargan), Sound Design (Scott Lehrer), Costume Design (Catherine Zuber), Lighting Design (Donald Holder). Its director, Bartlett Sher, was Tony-honored for Best Direction of a Musical. The depth of LCT's Vivian Beaumont Theatre helps make the World War II tropical island setting of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic an expansive, sensual world, complete with sand dunes and a horizon of volcanic mountains on the sea. Brazilian opera star Paulo Szot won as Best Actor in a Musical for playing Frenchman Emile deBecque in South Pacific. It is Szot's Broadway debut. On Monday, June 23rd, Zach sang in a benefit for the Sichuan, China Earthquake Relief, sponsored by Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, and produced by Zhu Monkey Music. This one night only event was held at Evergreen at 10 East 38th Street. David Caddick and David Lai produced the recording of the classic musical — which plays the Vivian Beaumont Theater — for Sony BMG's Masterworks Broadway label. Listen to samples, watch video from the recording session, and order the album at Amazon. Zach is currently performing in the Lincoln Center Theater Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, which began previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater March 1st with an official opening date of April 3rd. The cast is headed by two-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush and Internationally acclaimed opera singer, Paulo Szot as Emile de Becque with Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable, Danny Burstein as Luther Billis and Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the company features Sean Cullen (as Cmdr. William Harbison), Victor Hawks (Stewpot), Luka Kain (Jerome), Li Jun Li (Liat), Laurissa Romain (Ngana), Thomas G. Waites (Captain George Brackett) and Noah Weisberg (Professor). The ensemble comprises Becca Ayers, Wendi Bergamini, Genson Blimline, Grady McLeod Bowman, Charlie Brady, Matt Caplan, Christian Carter, Helmar Augustus Cooper, Jeremy Davis, Margot de la Barre, Christian Delcroix, Laura Marie Duncan, Mike Evariste, Laura Griffith, Lisa Howard, Maryann Hu, Zachary James, Robert Lenzi, Garrett Long, Nick Mayo, George Merrick, William Michals, Kimber Monroe, Emily Morales, Darius Nichols, George Psomas, Andrew Samonsky and Jerold E. Solomon. South Pacific has music by Rodgers, lyrics by Hammerstein II and a book by Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. It's adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Tales of the South Pacific" by James A. Michener. The Lincoln Center Theater production features musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Scott Lehrer and musical direction by Ted Sperling, conducting a 30-piece orchestra performing the musical's original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and dance and incidental music arrangements by Trude Rittman South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for its Broadway debut in 1949. Tickets for the Lincoln Center Theater revival are available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65th Street), at Telecharge.com or by visiting Lincoln Center Theater's official website. For tickets and more information, including production media visit: WWW.LCT.ORG On May 2nd, Zach played the role of Petr with Christiane Noll as Sarah in Bryan Putnam's THE TOYMAKER at the York Theatre as part of the Developmental Reading Series. A haunting tale of enduring passion and hope, The ToyMaker tells the story of a disillusioned young woman whose marriage has fallen apart after two failed pregnancies. Stories of a childless toy maker in an ill-fated town of the past have set her on a desperate search for the last toy made by this man. Thus begins a journey that spans the globe and time itself. The horrors of the past, an encounter with a blind woman who holds a secret, and an unlikely new friendship with a Czech street urchin named Doby lead her towards a destiny of fulfillment she once thought impossible. WWW.THETOYMAKERMUSICAL.COM On Sunday March 30th & Monday March 31st Zach sang the title role in Neil Wolfe's CREATION in a world premiere concert presentation at The Actor's Temple on West 47th Street in NYC. Enjoy the video clips below of Creature's Narrative and the ballad, One Gift. On the 7th of January, Zach read the role of Zbigniew in Dahn Huini's new play, MURMERS AND INCANTATIONS, Zach spent December at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut as the Ghost of Christmas Future in A CHRISTMAS CAROL directed by the award-winning Tazewell Thompson This just in from Playbill.com: A by-invitation-only reading of the new musical Red Eye of Love, sponsored by the Public Theater, will be held in Manhattan Oct. 22. The reading, Playbill.com has learned, will boast the talents of Laura Marie Duncan (as Selma Chargesse), Cheyenne Jackson (as Wilmer Flange) and Richard Kind (as O.O. Martinas). The ensemble will comprise Cole Burden, Kimberly Chesser, Harris Doran, Rebecca Eichenberger, Montego Glover, Ann Kittredge, Zachary James, Orville Mendoza and Will Trice. Tony Award-winning orchestrator Ted Sperling will direct the reading of Red Eye of Love, which is based on a play by Arnold Weinstein. The musical features book and lyrics by Weinstein and John Wulp and music by Jan Warner. Zach spent November of 2007 as an Egyptian Soldier in the Metropolitan Opera's AIDA. Zach returned to NYC to the part of Gargantus in the New York Musical Theatre Festival's production of MACCABEAT! THE HANUKKAH MUSICAL. Songs by Harvey Shield and Richard Jarboe. Book and additional music and lyrics by Chayim ben Ze'ev. From an idea by M. Edelman, based on stories in the 1st and 2nd Book of Maccabees by Jason of Cyrene Zach spent the summer as Miles Gloriosus in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at the Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck, Rhode Island. The historic, beach-side theatre which once hosted the likes of Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead, Groucho Marx and Marlon Brando has been dark since the 2003 season and reopened with the Sondheim musical comedy. The production was directed by Amiee Turner, cast member of the 1996 Broadway Revival of the show. On May 2, 2007, Zach made his Broadway debut in the National Theatre of London import CORAM BOY at the Imperial Theatre, as a member of the on-stage choir. Though nominated for six Tony Awards and a smash hit in London, the show closed on Broadway May 27, 2007.
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