There’s something about James D. Gish that evokes Elvis.
He gets that from people. But especially since he began playing the dashing love interest, Fiyero, in Wicked on Broadway. “I’ll slick my hair for this show,” says Gish, 28, who is appearing in the musical through April 21st at the Orpheum Theatre.
Offstage, Gish’s hair has resembled the pompadour Elvis sported in his early movies. “Not on purpose. It’s sort of the way my hair sits.”
He isn’t trying to emulate The King on or offstage. But, ironically, ever since Gish was a child, Elvis was part of his life. “My family are such obsessive Elvis fans. When I was growing up, I had a dog named Elvis. And after he passed away I had a dog named Presley.”
And, Gish says, “Let’s just say, the garage was full — every wall — [of] Elvis memorabilia that my parents, especially my father, collected over the years.”
His family still watches Elvis movies and “Elvis CDs are playing throughout the house.”
Images of Gish also are included at their home. If his face appears on a poster at a venue or if his name is printed anywhere, his dad wants it. It then gets added to the “Elvis and James D. Gish Shrine.”
His dad still calls him “Presley” or “Elvis.” As in “I’ll see you later, Elvis,” Gish says. Or “Oh, have a great night, Elvis.”
That actually translates to “rock star,” Gish says. “He’s very proud. And I’m very fortunate that he’s proud.”
Born in Las Vegas, Gish was raised in Bullhead City, Arizona. His family is related to the famous silent screen actresses Dorothy and Lillian Gish, he says. “I know that my grandmother knew Lillian quite well. She said she would always attend the family reunion. She passed away before I was born.”
But, for Gish, it was singing “as a very young kid” before acting, Gish says.
He reluctantly joined the choir in high school. Then the guy who was playing the Beast in the school production of Beauty and the Beast had to drop out. “He had issues with family, school, or something. And they asked me to do it. And I ended up falling in love with it.”
Gish’s first Memphis visit was with his parents when he was 20 to participate in the United Professional Theatre Auditions. “Of course, we toured Graceland and went to Sun Studio.”
Like other tourists, Gish’s dad paid to have his son make a little recording at Sun Studio. “Most people sing ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘Viva Las Vegas.’ And I, of course, sang ‘Music of the Night.’”
Gish remembers looking at his proud father. “You just see him crying. With his son singing show tunes at Sun Studio.”
In 2017, Gish recorded an EP, So in Love, which rose to number six on the iTunes Classical Chart. It was “sort of a mishmash of a few different genres.”
The EP included an Italian aria as well as “soaring symphonic arrangements” of show tunes. And, he says, “We took Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and adapted it into an up-tempo swing jazz number like a big band.”
Gish toured with the EP off and on for about a year before focusing on acting. “I missed having a full cast around me.”
He majored in business at Arizona State University, but at night he would audition for the Phoenix Theatre Company. “I just kind of took to it like a fish to water. It just felt right.”
Gish eventually moved to New York. “There’s no book on how to become an actor in New York City.” It’s just “falling on your face until you start to crawl and then walk and then run.”
From a small role in Les Misérables, Gish went on to appear in leading roles in plays, including one of his best known — Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazza.
Gish landed the role of Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway. “I love Fiyero because you get to play two very different people in one night, which is really cool. It’s fun to come on stage and get to be a ‘big shot’ — this cocky little punk who thinks he’s God’s gift.”
Then, in the second act, Fiyero’s character changes and he becomes more human. “He comes to know empathy, sympathy, and caring for other people.”
As for roles he’d like to play some day, Gish says, “I would really like to play a very quirky awkward character who lacks all self-confidence. I think I would do a character like that justice. I never get the opportunity. I sort of just get typecast as a Fiyero. A lot of cocky jerks or leading man types.”
When he’s not on stage, Gish likes to write young adult fiction books. He hasn’t tried to publish any yet, but, he says he’s currently working on a “young adult fantasy novel” that is “almost a historical allegory with fantastical elements.”
For now, Gish is taking care of business pursuing his work in the theater. He’s happy “the cards have fallen the way they have.”