What's Up?

Updated October 3, 2008

Ok, I'll start with the bittersweet news first. Unfortunately I will not be playing "Young Max" in the Old Globe's production of How The Grinch Stole Christmas this year like I had planned. It breaks my heart. I was really looking forward to it. My apologies to all those who were planning on seeing me reprise my role this year.

Instead, I will be playing the role of "Lewis" in a new version of Pippin for Deaf West Theatre and Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The two shows, The Grinch, and Pippin, overlapped a little bit in their scheduling, and as hard as I tried to work it out, I would have had to be two places at once some days. A trick I haven't figured out yet.

So, let me tell you about this Production of Pippin which I'm very excited about. Better yet, here's the announcement from Deaf West's own website.

A magical musical comedy and the artful expression of sign language are brought together in CTG and Deaf West Theatre’s production of “Pippin” for the opening production of the Taper’s 2009 season, January 15 through March 15, 2009. Opening is January 25.

With book by Roger O. Hirson and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, “Pippin” will be directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, who was at the helm of two previous, highly successful CTG and Deaf West co-productions, “Big River” and “Sleeping Beauty Wakes.”

“Pippin” is the captivating coming of age story about a young man’s search for meaning in his life, as told by a lively band of troubadours in the Roman empire. The episodic quest of Pippin, the son of the powerful Charlemagne, takes him through battlefields, orgies, revolution, and finally, love and domesticity, as he tries to find a place for his “spirit to run free,” for his “corner of the sky.”

By interweaving music, voice, American Sign Language and dance, and combining powerful storytelling techniques from both hearing and deaf cultures, Deaf West has created a uniquely theatrical genre for a number of productions including “Oliver!,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Open Window.”

CTG and Deaf West first paired up in 2002 with the presentation of Deaf West’s award-winning production of “Big River” at the Taper, which was subsequently presented for an extended run on Broadway, where the cast received Tony Award Honors for Excellence in the Theatre and the production was nominated for Best Revival – Musical. “Big River” traveled to Japan and had two national tours, returning to Los Angeles in 2004 and presented by CTG at the Ahmanson Theatre. In April 2007, CTG and Deaf West collaborated on the world premiere of the musical “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and the production won the Ovation Award for World Premiere Musical.

When “Pippin” was first presented on Broadway in 1972, the musical won five Tony Awards and was nominated for 11.

Stephen Schwartz has received Tony Award nominations for his work on the current Broadway hit “Wicked,” and for “Pippin,” “Godspell,” “Working” and “Rags,” while Roger O. Hirson has received two Tony Award nominations (“Pippin” and “Walking Happy”) and an Emmy nomination for his work on the TV series “The Adams Chronicles.”

Tickets Currently Only Available as Part of a Season Ticket Package

Tickets for the Taper’s new season are currently available by subscription only. For information and to charge season tickets by phone, call Audience Services at (213) 972-4444. To purchase online, visit www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.

So that said it better than I ever could. This is going to be an amazing production and I can't wait to get started in a couple of weeks. For those of you who have been following for a while, you will remember that I recently did the Goodspeed production of Pippin and it's subsequent National Tour. This is an all new version with a much changed script and score. Anyway, bout time for some pictures. Here's some pics of me as "Lewis" from Goodspeed's Pippin.

In the not too distant past....I recently finished up a fantastic production of Bye Bye Birdie for the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, located in beautiful Redondo Beach, CA. Playing "Birdie" is one of the most fun times I've ever had on stage. Here's some pics and reviews from the show:

"Generating heat as the pelvis-swiveling, lady-killing teen idol Conrad Birdie, James Royce Edwards is hilarious, nailing the narcissism and galvanizing moves of this Presley-inspired character." - Les Spindle, Backstage

"As for the Conrad Birdie character, James Royce Edwards does a fabulously close rendition of the “Elvis, the Pelvis” swivel hips routine, as well as some terrific singing, “One Last Kiss” in particular." - Melinda Calvert, Easy Reader

"As Conrad, Edwards successfully trumps the usual Elvis imitation." - David C. Nichols, LA Times

"In the title role of Birdie, James Royce Edwards is the next best thing to The King himself as he swivels his hips and causes grown women to faint with “Honestly Sincere,” “One Last Kiss,” and “A Lot Of Livin’ To Do.” - StageSceneLA.com

On a personal note, Kadence celebrated his second Halloween this year. I had a sort of informal ballot on Facebook to try to decide between dressing him as Yoda or Superman. Yoda won out by a landslide. So I did my best to dress up as Degobah Luke Skywalker and little Kade makes the cutest Yoda in a backpack if I do say so myself. Here's some pics from the big night.

Until the next time,

James