From Shakespeare to classic musicals, from Off-Broadway to our finest regional theatres, from an award-winning cabaret career to starring in the national tour of one of the most successful shows in Broadway history, James Beaman has run the gamut in his twenty-plus years in show business.  And he's only just getting started.

 

Jamie was born into the biz--the son of a set designer and a playwright/director/actress--and he started acting as soon as he could speak. He cut his teeth on Shakespeare, playing Arthur in King John when he was only 12, and in his teens he learned acting, dance, mime, singing and all aspects of theatre at his mother's theatre school, The Acting Place, Inc., in his hometown of Beverly, MA.  He left high school early to attend Simon's Rock College, the nation's premier early entry college.  While there, Beaman acted in, directed, and designed plays by Shakespeare, Wilde, Synge, Strindberg-- and earned his A.A. degree when most kids his age were getting high school diplomas.

 

After earning his B.F.A. in acting at Boston University, Jamie stayed on in Boston, teaching, acting and directing at Boston Children's Theatre, where his mother had become artistic director; he also worked at the region's finest theatres including The Huntington, Worcester Foothills, and The Lyric Stage.  In 1993, he launched his cabaret career with his hilarious original cabaret Bacall: By Herself, playing the formidable (and atonal) star Lauren Bacall.  Producer Harriet Yellin brought the act to New York, where Beaman caught the eye of the creative team of the groundbreaking musical revue, Howard Crabtree's Whoop-Dee-Doo!, which brought him to New York City.