Feature: The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day Thirteen - The BFFs

The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude

Day Thirteen: The BFFS - James Jackson Jr., and John-Andrew Morrison

What do you get when you take two of the most outrageous, original, and over-the-top people in the business, in the city, on the earth and put them together?  It’s not a riddle because the answer lives in James Jackson Jr. and John-Andrew Morrison, more commonly known as JAM.  You get two things: two best friends for life and two wonderful onstage cohorts.

James and JAM met many years ago (according to JAM “Back in the day”) doing one of Michael R. Jackson’s concerts, appropriate since Mr. Jackson’s A STRANGE LOOP put the besties on Broadway together and put a few awards on their respective mantles.  JAM remembers that a stranger who was present at the concert’s soundcheck was loquacious about the high level of talent involved in the show, and when James said, “Sir, this is New York, if you’re not talented your feelings are just going to be hurt,” JAM knew that they would be friends.  Well, he was right, and after years of friendship and crossing paths on stage and in the industry, an interesting thing happened.  James and JAM started an online chat show.  It took a pandemic to get them fired up to do it, but it happened.

5 QUESTIONS WITH JAMES AND JAM is a ZOOM chat show that the boys created while in quarantine with a simple enough premise: they would get their friends from Broadway and beyond and interview them around the structure of five questions.  The show was popular and so were James and JAM, and as soon as the quarantine was lifted and the clubs were re-opened, John-Andrew Morrison and James Jackson Jr. took their act to the cabaret stage and premiered a live version of their show, featuring big (BIG) musical numbers, much madcappery, and special guest Patti Murin.  The show was a hit.  Eventually, the two chums were putting up another live episode AND performing sold-out solo shows on their own at 54 Below and Chelsea Table + Stage.  James and JAM were an official brand on the cabaret circuit, spreading glee, a lesson or two, here and there, (but mostly glee), making music, and putting butts in seats - including each others’ because, doncha know, when one is on the stage in a solo show, the other is in the audience, cheering.

There are a lot of businesses where close friends can venture out as a team and make lightning in a bottle but personal friendships translating into professional success is a particular part of the lore of show business.  It can be difficult to make the magic that happens in real-time also happen up on the stage but in the case of James Jackson Jr. and John-Andrew Morrison that is precisely what is happening.  James says, "There are things I continue to learn to this day — grace, respect for the craft, patience, an always-seeking-the-truth-in-every-scenario thing that I continue to marvel at, and technique.  If I tell the truth in your face, JAM knows how to tell it through the work.”  And JAM says that hosting the Curtain Up opening ceremony in Times Square was one of the moments that made them feel like they had arrived... as well as interviewing Ryan Reynolds.  Whether together or apart, whether on Broadway, online, or on the cabaret stage, James and JAM are making it happen and the cabaret-goers are showing up in droves to get a look at their Broadway buffoonery and actor’s antics.  They bring out the best in each other and then they put that best to the test, every time they step into the light.  They are silly, they are sensational, and they are special.  They are James and JAM and they are favorites at Broadway World Cabaret.

Read a Broadway World Cabaret review of James and JAM HERE

James has this coming up:  "I’ll be doing a lot of work next year with my connections to Provincetown and the always-growing, ever-diversifying (if I have anything to say about it!) cabaret scene there.  I’ve been performing there the past few years between The Provincetown Theatre and The Post Office, and there will be several great events I’m honored to be planning there for next season.  All of the info will end up on my website, and on social media."

John-Andrew Morrison is appearing in A Christmas Carol at Hartford Stage until December 24th.

James’s pronouns are he/him/his.

JAM's pronouns are he/him/his. 

5 Questions With James and JAM has a website HERE.

5 Questions With James and JAM is on Facebook HERE and YouTube HERE.

James can be found online at the following links:

Website:  HERE 

Instagram:  HERE 

Facebook:  HERE  

JAM can be found online at the following links:

Website:  HERE 

Instagram:  HERE 

Facebook:  HERE  

Twitter:  HERE   

LikedIn:  HERE

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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