James Barbour is an American singer and Broadway actor. In 2008, Barbour pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and he admitted to engaging in sexual activities with a 15-year-old on more than one occasion.
Barbour made his Broadway debut in 1993, in the short-lived production of . He has frequently played emotionally-troubled men in period musicals, including the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Billy Bigelow in Carousel,Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre, and Leon Czolgosz in Assassins. He also appeared in the Broadway production of Urinetown, and in the National Tours of The Secret Garden and Camelot. In late 2007, he performed the role of Sydney Cartonin a world premiere pre-Broadway musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Following a 60-day incarceration at Rikers Island, Barbour reprised his role in the 2008 Broadway production of A Tale of Two Cities, which closed after just 60 performances. In the New York Times, critic Ben Brantley disliked both the production and Barbour's performance in it:
If you want grotesque, look to the show’s star, James Barbour, who portrays the worthy but dissolute Sydney Carton.... is giving the kind of high-camp, hair-tossing performance New York hasn’t seen from a leading man since Robert Cuccioli lashed the air with his ponytail in Jekyll & Hyde. With a voice that combines the boom of thunder with the breathlessness of Marilyn Monroe and a leaning posture that appears to be in eternal search of a lamppost, Mr. Barbour invests every minute he’s onstage with heavy-lidded, overripe languor. Some might call his performance de trop. But hey, at least he shows signs of life, something otherwise perversely lacking in this tale of historic turmoil.
In 2011, it was announced that he would play the supporting role of Jack Favel in the Broadway musical adaptation of Rebecca. The production was plagued with legal and financial problems, and the production has been indefinitely postponed after multiple delays. Barbour played the title role in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera for nearly three years, from February 2015 until December 2017. He was succeeded by Peter Jöback.
Sexual crimes
In April 2006, Barbour was arrested and charged with statutory rape of a 15-year-old female minor five and half years prior. In the Fall of 2006, he was indicted by a grand jury in New York for said crime. In January 2008, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in exchange for a lesser sentence of 60 days in jail and three years' probation. Also, in accordance with his plea bargain, Barbour made a public allocution to these misdemeanors. He began his sixty-day jail sentence at Rikers Island on February 29, 2008. Two months after Barbour's release, it was announced that he would return to Broadway as the star of a musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities.
Solo career
He launched a holiday concert series at New York'sSardi's Restaurant in 2008. Each performance featured a guest performer, including Brandi Burkhardt, Natalie Toro, Deborah Gibson, Marla Schaffel, Marc Kudisch, and Kevin Earley. He repeated the holidays concerts in 2009 in both New York and Los Angeles. In 2010, he expanded these concerts to six cities. He followed this with a second Sardi's concert series, "Love Songs," featuring numerous Broadway classics. In March 2017, less than a decade after Barbour's arrest, his likeness was immortalized in a caricature portrait on the wall at Sardi's. He co-founded Laughing Dog Entertainment with Steve Binder.
Personal life
Barbour is married to fellow performer Dana Stackpole, with whom he has two daughters. In 2014, he gave a fundraising performance for Scientology. He has been an Artist Committee Board member of The Actors Fund of America for since 2000 during which time he has performed many charitable fundraisers in support of the Fund and Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. He has given benefit concerts for his alma mater, Hofstra University.
