Jeremiah James on Being Billy Bigelow

Age: 29. 

Hometown: Macedon, New York, not far from Rochester, where James—the middle of three children and only boy—lived until he was 13. At that point, his father, who worked in the car business, moved the family "from a very, very, very small town" to the "hustle and bustle of Los Angeles." It was there that he attended the Hamilton Academy of Music, which, the performer recalls, "was such an intense program six days a week that we didn't have much time to do professional theater outside the program."  

Currently: Making his West End debut as the carnival barker Billy Bigelow in director Lindsay Posner's West End revival of Carousel, which continues at the Savoy Theatre through July 25 (and possibly longer). "It's such a beautiful show; I would love for it to run and run," says James. This latest take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1945 classic has been especially heralded for the quality of its voices in a company that includes James's fellow American, Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof), as Julie Jordan and English opera singer Lesley Garrett as Nettie Fowler. "Some of the sounds that come from our cast are absolutely stunning," says James. "It was very nerve-wracking to come in and sing alongside someone like Lesley Garrett. It's been just incredible listening every day to this cast."  

Be Italian! It was an invitation to join Teatro, the all-male London-based vocal quartet that James describes as "theaterland's first super-group," that first took him to England, where he had never previously been. According to James, the agent and impresario Jonathan Shalit initially heard about the performer while he was playing Curly on tour in the U.S. in the Cameron Mackintosh-produced Oklahoma! "I sang for [Shalit] in New York City, and he said, ‘I love what you did. How do you feel about coming to London for a couple of days on me and singing with a few gentlemen in London?' So from there, I flew out and sang with them—there were about 10 or 11 of us—and it was about who blended well with who and who had what they wanted looks-wise. They kept whittling it down," and eventually the gig was his. Teatro released its first album in November 2007, and is currently planning a second one. In the meantime, it's been good for the group's members to diversify into musical theater: Teatro colleague Simon Bailey is now appearing on the West End in The Phantom of the Opera. 

Opportunity Knocks: James and his wife, Texas-born performer Kelley Dorney, upped sticks at the end of 2007 and now make their home in Chiswick, west London. "The life of a performer is pretty much a gypsy, so you've got to go where the opportunity arises," says the exceedingly genial James. "I love it here; I have had a wonderful time and hope to stay." What about Broadway? "That's a goal of mine that I hope to achieve very soon," he says, proudly adding that his wife has been part of the workshops for Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber's imminent sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. "I have to say that the theater world here and anywhere is often such an accepting world in general that I have never felt like an outsider. And I'm so lucky in this production to have Al [Silber], so we can share our Americanisms." He laughs. "I love going to Walmart at 1am, too, and there are little things that you do miss about being at home, but this cast has so personally embraced both me and my wife that you would think she was in the show."  

Redemption: "We've all wanted a chance to go back and change some of the things we might have done," James says of Billy Bigelow, an impetuous soul who's as quick to raise a fist in anger as his voice in glorious song, even if the Maine man's volatile nature leads—spoiler ahead for Carousel uninitiates—to an early death. "It's not just about setting up the character as a horrible, violent individual," says James, "but once you get to his afterlife and Billy gets to see the mistakes he has made, [the musical] becomes about redemption." James is especially pleased that he gets to sing 12 bars of music in Billy's first-act showstopper, "Soliloquy," that are rarely heard, especially outside of concert versions of this show. "That's phenomenal, really. It sets up the end of ‘Soliloquy' so much better."

Life After the Afterlife: What's next up for James? "Obviously, I love classical musical theater—this type of music that I sing right now," he says, citing Ravenal in Show Boat as a role that the onetime sportsman would like someday to play. And while James admits that "everything has kind of slowed down" in the current economy, "there are a few projects I've been talking to different people about. I love the atmosphere here and would love to be able to make an impact in London. So if I'm lucky enough to do shows here, great. And if I am sent back to America and New York, that's no bad thing either."