James Inverne:
Writings
Plays, films, articles, books, the odd album note
About
British-born, James Inverne started early as Classical CD Reviewer for the Mail On Sunday, after which he became European Performing Arts Correspondent for TIME, a regular arts writer/commentator for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Sunday Telegraph and CNN, and the Editor of Gramophone Magazine. The author of five books (most recently for Faber), his first play, A WALK WITH MR HEIFETZ had its world premiere Off-Broadway in 2018 (Primary Stages). To date, James has written six plays (which have received developmental workshops or productions from Ambassador Theatre Group, Theatre Ariel and others) and three films, for IMAX Entertainment and others. James wrote the feature-length docu-concert films, "Cities That Sing: Paris" and "Cities That Sing: Venice" starring Renée Fleming, released in IMAX cinemas across the United States in 2022 and 2023, and another upcoming television feature for Bryn Terfel. Performers to have taken part in James's plays include, among others, Steve Guttenberg, Ben Shenkman, Henry Goodman, Julian Ovenden, Scarlett Strallen, Toby Stephens, Sebastian Arcelus, Edward Hibbert, Joe McGann, Ed Stoppard, Ella Dershowitz, Richard Topol and Alan Cox.
Play: A Walk With Mr Heifetz
"A Walk With Mr Heifetz" is James Inverne's first play. It received its world premiere in 2018 with leading Off Broadway theatre company Primary Stages, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. Directed by Primary Stages's late and much-missed Artistic Director Andrew Leynse, the cast included Yuval Boim, Adam Green, Erik Lochtefeld and Mariella Haubs. Prior to this, it received a special public 'preview' reading at London's Jewish Books Week festival, with a cast including Henry Goodman, Ed Stoppard and Yuval Boim, directed by Benjamine Kamine. The play tells the remarkable story of an encounter between composer and kibbutz pioneer Yehuda Sharett and the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz, and its effects on Yehuda and his brother, Israeli founding father Moshe Sharett (for enquiries please contact Broadway Licensing Inc. or see here).
See several short film clips of the New York production here.
AUDIO RECORDING: An audio recording of A Walk With Mr Heifetz was produced, socially distanced (across four countries!), during the COVID-19 lockdown. The recording was created to support two worthy charities, the AICF and Meir Panim. It stars Yuval Boim, Ed Stoppard, Richard Topol and Mariella Haubs, and was audio-produced by Tim Burton. Read coverage from The Times Of Israel, Playbill and Broadway World. Listen to the recording here.
Credit: Pics of the Primary Stages production by James Leynse
Play: The Song
Released as an audio production in June 2023 by Philadelphia-based Theatre Ariel, "The Song" was James Inverne's creative response to the social unrest then riling Israel (due to the government's proposed judicial overhaul). 'The Song' is a short play (20 minutes) that looks back at a little-known yet amazing true story from Israeli history - from a time when, like now, everything had suddenly seemed worse than anyone had imagined, and yet a very few years later, even more surprising, an event occurred that was better than anyone could have possibly dreamed. Funny, moving and musical, as three colleagues search for a mysterious and elusive melody, deep trauma, and an incredible political reality, are gradually revealed.
The audio recording released by Theatre Ariel features three of Israel's top young actors and can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hvDYyh62xQ
Film series: Cities That Sing, starring Renée Fleming (IMAX Entertainment)
James is scriptwriter for "Renée Fleming's Cities That Sing" produced by IMAX Entertainment and Stage Access. The first film, "Cities That Sing: Paris" was released in IMAX cinemas in the US in 2022. The release of the second film in the series, "Cities That Sing: Venice" has been announced for September 16th 2023, alongside an earlier
re-release for its predecessor.
"James Inverne's script takes us through an affectionate and sometimes riotous celebration" - Broadway World
Newspapers, journals and websites
As well as having been the Editor of Gramophone, James has regularly written for many of our finest websites and periodicals, among them Time Magazine (where he was European Performing Arts Correspondent), the Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Telegraph, Mail On Sunday, The Times, Financial Times, UK Metro, Playbill Online and The Times Of Israel. He has also been Founding Editor of customer publications such as the award-winning "Inside Sundance Institute: A Magazine for the Sundance Film Festival", and the Carnegie Hall magazine.
Contact
To contact James directly, please email james.inverne@gmail.com.
James is represented for books and plays by Neil Blair, at The Blair Partnership,
Tel: +44 207 504 2520.