South Pacific at Virginia Repertory Theatre

This past summer I had the great pleasure of playing Luther Billis in "South Pacific" at Virginia Repertory Theatre in Richmond.

                                                  (with Matt Zimmerman as Lt. Cable)

The production was directed by VRT's Associate Artistic Director Chase Kniffen (who directed last summer's critically-acclaimed and award-winning "The Color Purple"). It featured music direction by Sandy Dacus and choreography by Brad Willcuts. The production starred Branch Fields (who appeared in the Lincoln Center Broadway Revival of the show), Amy Jo Phillips (who appeared in the National Tour of the show, starring Robert Goulet, as well as Broadway's "Showboat") and Stacey Caboj (fellow VCU MFA grad and RTCC Award winner for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in VRT's "My Fair Lady"). The production ran at the November Theatre from June 26-August 9th.

REVIEWS

"James Stover, as sweaty Luther Billis, presides over the show's high comic moments while still deftly steering the show through many of the story's key emotional turning points"
     -Richmond Times Dispatch

"James Stover plays Luther Billis...to great comic effect. His sweet and funny Luther provided the perfect balance between the more serious themes."
     -Richmond Family Magazine

"...adding gravitas but also humor...opportunistic comic relief character sailor Luther Billis."
     -Style Weekly

 "James Stover was also a standout playing Luther Billis. At first, he was more than a little rough around the edges, but as the show progressed his character developed more and more and he became one of my favorite characters by the end."
      -Richmond's Macaroni Kid

YANK! at Richmond Triangle Players

I directed the Mid-Atlantic premiere of the musical YANK!. The Production opened this past May and had a healthy five-week run at Richmond Triangle Players. YANK! tells the story of gays in the military in WWII incorporating both a love story and a band of brothers journey through the War in the Pacific.

I had previously performed in the Off-Off Broadway production of the show (which starred Tony Nominee Bobby Steggert and Olivier Nominee Nancy Anderson and won the NYIT Award for Best Musical) in 2007. It was a great experience to return to this beautiful show. For more information on the show visit: www.yankthemusical.com

The RTP production featured musical direction by Kim Fox, choreography by Rebecca Frost Mayer and designs by Michael Jarrett, Grenville Burgess, Curt Miller and Alex Valentine.

Our show received very strong reviews, from both critics and audience:

"Directed winningly by James Stover...Yank! succeeds most when the men share their frank quiet moments of reckoning. The young and winning cast members bring heart to Yank's broader theme..."
        -Richmond Times Dispatch

"Director James Stover and Choreographer Rebecca Frost Mayer have mounted the show with fun and flair. This appealing musical offers a lively, entertaining and sometimes touching gay angle on wartime history."
        -Sifter

"There is never a dull moment in Richmond Triangle Players exciting production of David and Joseph Zellnik's YANK!... What attracts me to the direction and movement aspects of a play most is that I can see that there are strong choices being made, and this play had a number of powerful moments that added layers to the play's meaning."
         -GAY RVA

"Director James Stover was in an early incarnation of YANK and has come to Richmond as a student and leaves his mark as an assured director. His pacing is tight and he has allowed his actors to create strong characters that entertain us while enlightening the audience about a struggle we need to remember."

           -John Porter, WCVE