Every classical singer dreams of performing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
Later this year, that dream will become a reality for Zachary James. The out bass will sing the role of The Scribe in the company’s premiere of Philip Glass’ 1983 opera “Akhnaten,” running in repertory at the New York City venue Nov. 8-Dec. 7.
A South Philly resident since 2018, James can be heard closer to home in Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges,” presented by Opera Philadelphia as part of its O19 Festival. On Dec. 13 and 15, he’ll sing the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” for Wilmington Concert Opera.
PGN spoke with James about his busy international schedule, his former career as a Broadway performer and his decision to put down roots in Philadelphia.
PGN: I understand you live in Philly full-time now. How did that come about?
ZJ: I’ve been working here off and on since 2004, and I have a lot of friends here. I’ve had this long romance with Philadelphia for 15 years, and I’ve been saying I was going to move here someday forever. Last year, the timing was just finally right. To be frank, I was going through a divorce and needed a place to go. Philadelphia just called to me and made the most sense. Philadelphia is one of my top-five favorite cities in the world, and I’m very happy here.
PGN: You’re going to be returning to Opera Philadelphia this year as well. Can you tell me a little bit about the project and your role?
ZJ: “The Love for Three Oranges” is a totally crazy piece. I’ve been calling it “Alice in Wonderland” — it’s a fantastical, farcical tale with lots of twists and turns and many magical elements. I play a cook, and the cook is both a giant and a woman. It’s my first drag role! I’m very excited about that. As a bass, I don’t often get to play the ladies. I’m usually a father, a villain or a murderer.
PGN: How do you think audiences are going to react to this opera?
ZJ: I think people are going to absolutely love it. It’s such a surprise, and very few people will know what to expect going in. The music is extraordinary, and it’s a musical vocabulary we’re all familiar with — whether you know the piece or know Prokofiev by name. The Overture is very famous, and it was featured on a popular radio show from the 1940s. [Ed. Note: The March from “The Love for Three Oranges” was used as the theme song for the CBS radio drama “The FBI in Peace and War,” which ran from 1944-58.] It’s an enormous piece to put on, so it says a lot about Opera Philadelphia that they’re willing to do it — they know what kind of base they have, and that they’re going to show up for cutting-edge work.
PGN: You made your debut with Opera Philadelphia in Missy Mazzoli’s opera “Breaking the Waves,” right?
ZJ: I did. It was such an amazing experience to do a world premiere here. And the 1970s costumes were so much fun! I grew this crazy handlebar mustache for the role, and walking around the streets of Philly; it was the first time in my life I was called “Daddy.” I’ll always remember that — “Breaking the Waves” was the first time I was called Daddy, and it’s never stopped. It took an opera for me to know how I was classified in the gay world!
PGN: Speaking of debuts: I know you have a big one coming up right after “The Love for Three Oranges.” What is it like to prepare to sing at the Met for the first time?
ZJ: I’ve been involved with this production of “Akhnaten” since 2016. We premiered it at English National Opera, and it won an Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production, which was really stunning. We also did it at Los Angeles Opera, and we brought it back to ENO earlier this year — it’s been so wildly successful there. The Met picked up the production, and we were all just over the moon to bring it to New York.
PGN: How did you become involved with the piece?
ZJ: Strangely enough, it was through doing “The Addams Family” on Broadway that I was pulled back to opera. The director of that production, Phelim McDermott, works with Philip Glass all the time. He said they were doing this weird new opera about Walt Disney, and he asked me to audition for Abraham Lincoln — the robot version at Disney World. I said of course, and I got the call to go to Philip Glass’s house. They hired me for that piece where I played a malfunctioning Abraham Lincoln robot. It was a really cool piece that wasn’t terribly successful, but we got to do it in London, Madrid and Brisbane. And that’s how I got back into opera full time as a principal performer. That relationship continues, because Phelim is the director of “Akhnaten,” and this will be my seventh Philip Glass production.
PGN: Do you have an opera role you’re dying to sing, and do you have a role that you’d be willing to go back to musical theater for?
ZJ: The only musical theater role I’m dying to do that I haven’t done is Javert in “Les Miserables.” It’s “Les Mis” — you’ve got to do it at some point in your life. In opera, I really want to play Wotan in a full Ring cycle, and Boris Godunov [in Mussorgsky’s opera of the same name] is another dream. But I’ve been really lucky to do so many world premieres and new projects, in both musical theater and opera, and there’s nothing like that. To do something that doesn’t even exist yet and could be beyond any fantasy is always enticing.