James Crowley

A native of Los Angeles, California, James began his work in the theatre at the age of six and has been acting, singing, writing, producing, directing and otherwise working ever since. He developed musical skills early in life and as a result, became an accomplished singer and performer of both the operatic and musical theatre repertoire in addition to being a composer and playwright. Although he was trained as a classical tenor, his first love is musical theatre.

James grew up with music in his home - specifically, the music of Mario Lanza and Rodgers and Hammerstein. His great grandfather, Dr. Julius J. Black, was a tenor and an actor as well as a songwriter and he lived for the theatre. In fact, James used one of his great grandfather's 1930s love songs in his musical adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, called "What Will the Stars Reveal Tonight?"

His musical theatre composer and lyricist credits include 14th Avenue, Benjamin - An American Opera, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Dearest Teacher and Walking With Grace. James has also written several non-musical plays including Benny Farrel Was Murdered? and The Secret of Pepper Park.

James served as Artist-in-Residence with Creighton Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona for two years and assisted dozens of middle school students in the creation and production of their own musicals. He also served three years as Producing Artistic Director for Arizona Musical Theatre Institute, a non-profit organization committed to the development and promotion of new works in musical theatre. For the past ten years, he has taught playwriting and composing both independently and through Arizona Musical Theatre Institute. He is also a professional arranger, having arranged songs and musical theatre scores for numerous professional clients as well as for his own original works.

His current composing projects include a collaboration with playwright, Robert Stempin on two separate musicals; the first, entitled Walking With Grace, is a new musical set in 1929 Brooklyn, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl and the second is Dearest Teacher, a musical about the early life of Annie Sullivan. James is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and the American Guild of Musical Artists.