James A. Rocco is an actor, singer, director, choreographer, and founder of Thirty Saints Productions.  Rocco has performed and directed Off-Broadway and performed on Broadway.  Broadway credits include: Wind in the Willows, Cats, The Wizard of Oz; Tours of Oliver (with Ray Walston), Carousel (with John Raitt), Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Into The Woods.  He has sung back-up for Frank Sinatra, and toured as guest vocalist with Herbie Hancock. His Off and Off-Off-Broadway credits include:MORALITY (1973), HENRY STREET HENRY (1973), RAFAEL BLANCO’S TISTOU (1973), NEAR MISS (1974), DARCY DEAN AND FRIENDS (1979), THE HUNGRY YEARS (1981), NITE CLUB CONFIDENTIAL (1982), WINNER TAKES ALL (1989), FANTASMA (1990), (1999), SWEENEY TODD (1999), A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000), STREAKIN’ THRU THE 70S! (2003), LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE (2002), WATER FROM THE MOON (2002), EVERYBODY’S GETTING IN THE ACT (2003), NOT QUITE WHAT YOU EXPECTED (2003), THINGS TO DO IN THE DARK (2005), INSTA-MACY (2020), THE INFERNO (2021),MALADIES (2023).  When twelve, Rocco made his recording debut on the Frank Sinatra Watertown album.  He has also sung at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Theatre Du Chatelet, and toured with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and the Duke Ellington Band.  From 2005-2017 Rocco was the Producing Artistic Director and Vice President of The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Minneapolis, producing some 30 musicals and plays .  He was the Producing Artistic Director for the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma 1995-1997.  Called ‘a master showman’ and ‘a powerhouse talent,’ he was cited by Broadway World as Twin Cities Vocalist of the Decade in 2021.  In 2019 he was recognized by the Broadway League and Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds for his 30 years of craft, dedication, and contribution to the theater.  Rocco also performed in the movie Child’s Play.

As a young boy, James A. Rocco went to a dance class with a cousin, was seen by a talent scout there and went on to appear with (Art) Linkletter’s Totten Tots choreographed by the June Taylor Dancers.  He never looked back.  Continuing his childhood career, by 17 he was directing.  He loved the movie, The World of Henry Orient when the musical based on that film, (Henry, Sweet Henry) flopped, he decided to take a crack at it and switch the focus to the experience the two children were having in the big city of New York.  Friends from the original production gave advice and soon he was casting it with an ad in Backstage.  He took his graduation money and began rehearsals for this version at The Mercer Arts Center.  While in rehearsal, the Mercer Arts center collapsed, and his father helped him rescue the set and costumes from the rubble.  A woman named Veronica, a friend of his, at the Actors’ Equity reception desk called the Lamb’s Theatre and got him a spot there to reassemble his show which subsequently was a success.  His career in musicals and love for the music of musical theater gave Rocco wide knowledge of the field.  He put shows together, NEAR MISS (songs cut or were never done), THE SONG BOOK LIVE (origins of popular music), THE BROADWAY SONGBOOK (the evolution of the Broadway musical), NITE CLUB CONFIDENTIAL (a jazz Noir musical), to name a few.  With Broadway Asia he toured Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Tokyo, and formed Thirty Saints Music Licensing to do so.  He has also licensed some thirty shows for productions all over the world.