James Barbour, who is currently starring on Broadway in the title role of The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre, is writing a one-man show, The Ghosts of the Majestic, based on the lives of “the three greatest leading men” to play on the stage of that theatre: John Raitt, Robert Goulet, and Ezio Pinza.
He’s collaborating on the project with Hershey Felder, the actor-playwright whose celebrity-based solo shows have included Beethoven, As I Knew Him; Maestro Bernstein; Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin; and George Gershwin Alone, the last of which he performed on Broadway in 2001.
Pinza starred at the Majestic in South Pacific, Raitt in Carousel, and Goulet in Camelot.
No premiere dates or venue have been announced for The Ghosts of the Majestic.
Barbour is also working on a documentary film about the life of entrepreneur and motivational speaker Ted McGrath, and continues to film episodes of his own talk show, James Barbour Now, which can be seen on MYGCTV.com.
Barbour does motivational speaking of his own. He is scheduled to appear as a speaker at the entrepreneurial convention 10X Growth Con on March 17 in Hollywood, Florida, and is planning to publish a book, Your Star Power, this spring, about “breaking down the known and unknown barriers to become a working professional in the world of the arts.”
Barbour is scheduled to be one of the featured performing guests aboard Playbill’s inaugural river cruise along the Rhône River in May 2017. The tour is sold out, but cabins are available for the Rhine River cruise in August 2017, featuring Seth Rudetsky, Andréa Burns, Faith Prince, Terrence Mann, Charlotte d’Amboise, and more exciting talent to be announced. Visit PlaybillTravel.com for booking and information.
“I am so incredibly excited for the future,” Barbour told Playbill. “The arts, and specifically Broadway, allow a tremendous platform for artist to be a catalyst for positive change in the world. This is what I want to do with my art, this is how I am dedicating my life.”
Barbour was nominated for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Sydney Carton in the Broadway musical version of A Tale of Two Cities. He has starred on Broadway in such Tony Award-winning shows as Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast as the Beast, Carousel as Billy Bigelow, Urinetown as Officer Lockstock, and as Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre (Drama League Award nomination). He also appeared in the Broadway productions of Cyrano and Cats, and the national tour of The Secret Garden.
