James Newman dressed Western in his first stage role as “Little Jake” in Annie Get Your Gun. He was 14.
“I probably had cowboy boots,” he says. “Some kind of hat, like a floppy little kid’s cowboy hat. My first musical I was a cowboy.”
Fast-forward several decades and Newman was a cowboy again. Except his cowboy boots had rhinestones on them. In 2013, he took over the part of the Cowboy in Village People. “I only had one pair of chaps. Cow print cowhide chaps. I had all kinds of jeans. It’s a disco cowboy, right?”
Newman wears another big hat when he’s on stage in the musical Mamma Mia, which is now showing at the Orpheum. He plays writer Bill Austin, one of the three men who could be the father of Sophie, played by Alisa Melendez, in this delightful show that runs through July 28th.
Newman describes his character as “commitment phobic.” Austin doesn’t like to settle down. He just wanted to have a fling with Donna (Christine Sherrill), not become the father of her child. “He’s very lighthearted. He’s got the least amount of angst of the three dads.”
So, it’s shocking news when Austin learns he could be Sophie’s father. Austin “never put down roots,” but he “likes this child.”
Newman is enjoying the role. “It’s always nice to play a joyful character,” he says. “It makes your life lighter.”
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Newman remembers “as a child of four always trying to get attention from two working parents.”
And, he says, “Like every little kid, I wanted to be a movie star.”
So, performing in a play was perfect for him. “It fit my personality 100 percent.”
The Little Jake role seemed to be custom-made for Newman, who was “so little” and had a “very high voice” in high school.
He sang “Doin’ What Comes Naturally” in the musical, which was apropos because singing and acting apparently came naturally to Newman. He wanted to pursue theater, but, he says, “I lived in Alabama. It was all about sports.”
His dad attended his shows. His mom went to most of them, but she “didn’t understand why you would start singing in the middle of a show.”
Newman, whose teacher inspired him to continue acting, moved to New York after he graduated from college when he was 22. He began appearing in Off-Broadway plays before moving to Broadway. His repertoire now includes Hands on a Hardbody; Curtains; Minnelli on Minnelli; Tommy; Kiss Me, Kate; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Newman, who wasn’t the original Cowboy in Village People, describes his experience playing Cowboy as “very joyful. People come to the show already loving it.”
Newman has been enjoying the ride. Like, he says, when acclaimed actress Helen Mirren came up to him and said, “Excuse me. Can I get a picture with you?”
