Five time Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James is no stranger to an emotional rollercoaster.

While James is particularly prized for his heartbreaking appearances in Titanic, Next to Normal, The Ferryman, and Days of Wine and Roses, he is equally acclaimed for his comedic work, with his performances in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Apple Tree, Shrek the Musical, and Something Rotten! striking a joyous chord with audiences.

While his newest role, coal barge captain Chris Christopherson in Anna Christie at St. Ann’s Warehouse, firmly resides in the rich dramatic canon of Eugene O’Neill, James can’t help but express his equal love for the opposite side of the coin (he even jokes that he hopes the white beard he's growing for the role "says Swedish barge captain").

“I love comedy,” James shares, cocking his head to the side with a soft smile. “Comedy means a great deal to me… I love the work that is interesting and compelling and dramatic, those experiences where you feel like you're being asked to do something scary and vulnerable. And I love working with comedic geniuses where I just can’t stop laughing and having a good time. Those are the experiences I yearn for and I hope for, and I need them both in the long run.”

For memories from James storied stage career, including his love for Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, his arduous experience on Shrek, and wooing his wife onstage in Carousel, check out his full retrospective in the latest edition of My Life in the Theatre

When living a life in the theatre on both ends of the spectrum, you can occasionally find yourself stretched too thin. In 2015, James found himself trapped in an impossible situation, stuck between a comedic role in a drama, and a dramatic role in a comedy.

Hamilton and Something Rotten! nearly split him in two, James recalls, shaking his head. In the blink of an eye, he was forced to choose between remaining with Hamilton as the original King George III when the show transferred from the Public Theater to Broadway, or starring on Broadway as the leading player in the true blue musical comedy Something Rotten!

“Hamilton had me on the ground floor of something extraordinary. I felt like I had won the lottery, watching the show develop and evolve, and just looking at everyone being drawn to it like a huge magnet,” James sighs, wistful. “And then, Something Rotten!, which was a show that I'd also been working on in development for years, was suddenly going to Broadway a year and a half earlier than I had imagined. So I had to make my Sophie's Choice. And, you know, people can make what they want of that decision. But I've always contended that I am the luckiest because I was able to do both. I got to be a part of that original production of Hamilton, and then I got to hand it off to Jonathan Groff, and be a part of the original production of Something Rotten!"

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James leans forward, smirking. "I joke that I'm Broadway’s Pete Best [the original drummer of The Beatles], only I didn’t get fired, I left. The fact that I was there at all is just one of the greatest, greatest things that could ever happen to an actor. And I don’t regret it for a second.”