My Road to THE ROAD TO QATAR, Part 1

JAMES BEAMAN WILL STAR IN THE NEW MUSICAL, "THE ROAD TO QATAR," BY DAVID KRANE AND STEPHEN COLE, AT THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY IN NEW YORK BEGINNING JANUARY 25!

I received the best of all possible holiday gifts this year. Just before Christmas, I was offered the leading role of 'Michael' in the new musical, The Road to Qatar, which will have its Off-Broadway premiere in January at the prestigious York Theatre Company. Aside from the enormous blessing of having an actual job in New York (the last time I performed on an NYC stage was the fall of 2007), I will also have the incredible experience of originating a terrific part in a new show.

The Road to Qatar is written by David Krane and Stephen Cole, and is based upon their true life story of a bizarre series of events in which they were commissioned by the Emir of Qatar to create a Broadway style musical to be presented in a soccer stadium in Qatar. The two writers, who had never met nor collaborated before, found themselves whisked away to the Middle East where they wrote the musical Aspire in just five weeks. Check out the two part documentary of their true life adventure here.

David and Stephen took their wild adventure and turned it into the hilarious musical comedy, The Road to Qatar. Fortunately for me, the show is about "two short Jews who write musical comedy!" It is rare that a short, gay, Jewish character actor gets to play a lead in a musical, so you can imagine my delight when I was offered the part of Michael. Michael is sort of the 'Oscar' half of the odd couple of Michael and Jeffrey, based on Krane and Cole themselves. I am also delighted that I will be directed by Phillip George, who was my director in my very first New York show, Howard Crabtree's Whoop-Dee-Doo!, back in the early '90s. Phill, who staged Forbidden Broadway for many years, is a clever and ingenious director and I am excited to work with him again.

We begin rehearsals just after New Year's, so be sure to tune in as I blog the whole adventure. For more information on the show itself, visit the authors' website. For tickets and performance information, visit the York Theatre Company's site. What a great way to start 2011!