at The Broadway Theatre after a tryout in Seattle. For this role he won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal. He departed the cast after one year in the role and was replaced by Ben Crawford. James starred in the Broadway play Time Stands Still, which began preview performances on January 5, 2010, and officially opened on January 25 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show ended its limited run on March 27, 2010. For this role he won the Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised the role of Dan Goodman in the Broadway company of Next to Normal at the Booth Theatre. He replaced J. Robert Spencer on May 17, 2010. James ended his limited engagement on July 18, 2010, and was replaced by Jason Danieley. On July 19, 2010, James performed in front of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House, which also aired on PBS October 20, 2010. He returned to Time Stands Still when the show returned to Broadway. It closed on January 30, 2011. James was part of the cast of the NBC musical series Smash. NBC officially picked up Smash as a series on May 11, 2011. The program made its series premiere on February 6, 2012. He did not return to the show as a series regular for its second and final season. James starred in Torstein Blixfjord's 2012 short film Bird In A Box. He co-hosted the 57th Drama Desk Awards with Brooke Shields on June 3, 2012. He performed at the 29th birthday celebration of The New York Pops, titled "Journey On", celebrating the work of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens; he performed "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime. James starred as Bick in the musical Giant which ran at the Public Theater from October 26 to December 16, 2012. For this role James received nominations for the Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical and for the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. He played Banquo in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Macbeth, which began previews in October 2013 and officially opened at the Vivian Beaumont