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Whoa, Little Sally! James Barbour Is Lockstock in Bway's Urinetown June 13-July 6
By Kenneth Jones
22 May 2003
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James Barbour
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Jeff McCarthy, the original Officer Lockstock in Broadway's salty-funny musical, Urinetown, will take a break from the show and James Barbour steps into his shoes, June 13-July 6.
Lockstock, the narrator of the darkly comic Tony Award winning show, gets some of the choicest moments in the piece, including the "too much exposition" scene at the top of the first act. McCarthy has been embraced for his deadpan performance since the surprise-hit musical opened at The Henry Miller in fall 2001.
Barbour has a history with the development of Urinetown: Barbour played Lockstock in a workshop following its brief debut run at the New York International Fringe Festival. He would go on to star as Rochester in the short-lived Broadway run of Jane Eyre.
The darkly comic, neo-Brechtian Urinetown tells of a futuristic city where a drought and water shortage prompts a corrupt corporation to run public toilets — and charges the citizenry dearly.
In addition to his fevered role in Jane Eyre, Barbour recently played theatrical concert gigs with pianist Hershey Felder in a show (now on CD) called Back From Broadway (visit www.backfrombroadway.com ).
Prior to Jane Eyre in 2000-01, Barbour played the Beast on Broadway opposite Toni Braxton in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, a role he also played for nearly two years in Los Angeles. He was a Billy Bigelow in the Nicholas Hytner-directed Carousel on Broadway.
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Actor Tom Cavanagh, of TV's "Ed," joined the Broadway company of Urinetown May 20, playing Bobby Strong, who leads an uprising to tell the world that passing water is a God-given right, not a society-determined privilege.
The musical was a 2002 sensation at the Tony Awards, winning Best Book, Best Score and Best Direction of a Musical.
Back in 1989, when Tom Cavanagh went by Thomas Cavanagh, he appeared in the Broadway revival of the musical, Shenandoah, which starred Urinetown bad guy John Cullum.
Charlie Pollock, the most recent Bobby in Urinetown at the Henry Miller Theatre, will join the national tour, playing Bobby on the road. Hunter Foster, who originated the role on Broadway, is the new Seymour in the Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors.
Carolee Carmello joined Urinetown April 29, taking on the role of Penelope Pennywise (Victoria Clark left April 27).
The Henry Miller Theatre is at 124 W. 43rd Street. For ticket information, call (212) 239-6200.
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