From the original cast of Broadway’s The Addams Family to starring in Hadestown on the West End, Zachary James is one of theatre’s finest voices. Adam Schmitz and Orla Mahon sat down in the UO office with the Grammy Award Winner who was named Broadway World’s Vocalist of the Decade.
Let’s start right at the beginning, what were you like in school?
“Oh I was a terrible student! Really, really terrible. I think in school I learnt how to act in a way - not from acting classes - but pretending that I read a book or coming up with excuses to not go to class. I went to Florida State University for two years and then transferred up to Ithaca College in New York to study musical theatre.”
What was it like studying musical theatre full time?
“It was really intense, I mean it’s like a proper conservatoire programme and you’d be 8am to 5pm in classes and then 7pm to 10pm in rehearsals for whatever show you were doing. Yeah, it was gruelling.”
What was your first performance?
“I was sixteen, so I was in high school. It was just that they needed guys! The chorus teacher just asked every guy who walked past his door to be in the show. So I got a part in Grease, and suddenly I had to act and dance in front of people and I was terrible! But I really liked it and the community aspect of it was great. Just the idea of being someone else, you know? At that time in my life it was a really nice thing to be able to hide behind a character on stage.”
Is there something you’d love to go back and tell sixteen year old Zachary?
“No one knows what they’re doing. Ever. Just own that and don’t compare yourself with other people. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would do this as a career.”
You had your first appearance on Broadway in 2007 in Coram Boy, what was that like?
“Yeah I moved to New York in 2006 and had three survival jobs and I was going to about five auditions a day so it was crazy I saw my friends and classmates kind of dropping like flies and realising it wasn’t for them, and leaving New York. I really liked the hustle of it and the business aspect. If I keep showing up they’ll know I exist so that’s how I got my foot in the door.”
Did you ever have a point back then where you thought it wasn’t for you?
“Well, I had all these survival, part time jobs and one of them offered me full time. I did think it would be nice to have full time pay and health insurance and all that but there was a voice in the back of my mind telling me to give it a shot. I ended up taking a week off and called in sick from the job and I went and auditioned in as many things as I could and I ended up getting three parts that week and one was a Broadway Show! That was a big enough sign.
This is my twenty third year doing this professionally, there have been plenty of times where I’ve said ‘alright, thats enough’. Especially during the pandemic, that was really tough.”
You originated the role of Lurch in The Addams Family, is that still a career highlight?
“Yes, for sure. It’s one of the most produced High School Musicals in the US so I get messages all the time from schools that are doing it. It was also amazing working alongside Nathan Lane. He was a hero of mine growing up. It also very strangely opened the world of Opera to me, and then I suddenly was an Opera singer!”
Tell us more about that!
“So the director was Phelim McDermott and he asked me to audition for this Philip Glass Opera that he was directing. So I was cast in the role of a robotic Abraham Lincoln at Disney World. So we flew out to Madrid and I went from doing The Addams Family on Broadway with a twelve piece band and a microphone to being in Madrid and London and Brisbane in this opera with no microphone and an eighty piece band! So that was really cool, but a challenge for sure.”
How did you find travelling around the world as an Opera performer?
“It’s so cool. I’ve gotten to see the world. It’s amazing. I’m from a swamp in Florida, my parents don’t have passports, yet I’m travelling the world doing Opera.”
You won a GRAMMY in 2022, how was that?
“Amazing, like really mindblowing. It was for Akhnaten, the Opera I’m doing in Barcelona right now by Philip Glass, the last fifteen years of my life have really been defined by him. We did a live broadcast into movie theatres from the Metropolitan Opera and we didn’t know that it was going to be recorded and put out as an album. Then during the pandemic they put it out and we were like “Wouldn’t it be crazy if this, like, got a GRAMMY” and then all of a sudden we’re in Las Vegas, giving a speech, holding a GRAMMY. It’s life changing, it’s the adjective before my name now.”
As some advice for our readers, many students feel pressured to go down one career path. You’ve obviously done a few different things with your life, what would you say to those students?
“There’s no right way. You can be studying and then switch to another and you learn from both and become well rounded. At any point in your life you can say that you want to change and do something else.”
Hadestown is sort of the ‘it’ show in London at the moment, could you feel that while you were in it?
“Yeah, I mean the first performance we had, the line of people we had at the stage door was around the block and the road was closed and the police had to come and divert traffic. It was a huge into the fanbase for that show and how intense and amazing they are. People at the stage door would want to tell you where they came from, how long it took them to get there and what the show meant to them. The stage door is part of the job for me, not everyone feels that way, but I kind of had a reputation for engaging with fans everyday. It’s great because there are times where you think you had a terrible show and then the fans tell you were amazing and that helps a lot.
Acting can feel like a vanity career and it can feel like its unimportant. But to hear everyday why it's important to people, that's huge.”
In such a demanding career, how do you look after your physical and mental health?
“Mental health is a life long journey and something I’m very open about. I’ve had a lot of struggles with anxiety and depression over the years and I find the more I talk about that the more people are like ‘yeah me too’. Physical health, I’m pretty on top of because I know how it feels to be tired all the time. The biggest thing for me is that I got sober around fourteen years ago and that was a huge turning point in my life. I often think that most of what I’m doing now wouldn’t be happening if I wasn't drinking.”
We must mention your performance in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl over the summer. What was it like working alongside the likes of Cythia Erivo and Adam Lambert?
“It’s the most incredible cast. I can’t believe they got all those people together in one place. It’s a show that I didn’t know very well and then you’re suddenly in the most amazing thing. It’s a masterpiece and it was a really cool experience.”
We’ll finish with some quickfire questions! What’s a role you’ve haven't yet gotten to play that you’d love to take on?
“I’d love to play Javert in Les Mis. I’d also play Sweeney Todd again any time!”
Do you have a go-to karaoke song?
“I would say I Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis. Elvis suits my voice because it’s quite low so I’ll go with that.”
What type of music do you listen to?
“Like, exclusively pop. I am a Swiftie, it's quite embarrassing but it is what it is. I grew up with Madonna and Michael Jackson, I’ve always loved Mariah Carey. I love, currently, Chappell Roan, I’m obsessed. Dua Lipa is always cool. Megan Thee Stallion. Beyonce, for life. Britney, I’ll always be rooting for her. Basically all the cool girls.
As a final question, have you any advice for students who are looking to go into their passion?
“Just do it. A lot of people are going to say its a terrible idea but I’ve found that when people say no that it's encouraging. My first voice teacher told me that I’ll never be an opera singer and someone in my family told me that you can’t be an actor and that it’s not a real career. And I just say ‘maybe you can’t, but I’m going to’. My dad always said to be happy you have to work for yourself and do something that you love, and I think that’s good advice."