James Wolpert

James,Margie and Rachael

LancasterOnline interviewed Margie Wolpert,mother of James Wolpert and Julie Groff, mother of actor-singer Jonathan Groff.

Read:Full interview

Margie Wolpert says the thought of performing on stage is nightmare-inducing for her. She didn't seek fame for James; she says she couldn't even imagine it.

"James is doing this because he loves it. He's absolutely in love with music."

She played the clarinet when she was younger, but says James inherited his musical talent from his paternal grandfather, George Wolpert, who sang with an orchestra. (As the story goes, the elder Wolpert lost out on a spot on "The Amateur Hour" radio program to young Frank Sinatra and his band from Hoboken, N.J.)
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It took James Wolpert some time to figure out what his passion was, his mother says.

He'd played the drums as a youngster; he sang in the school chorus; he even tried out for basketball at one point. But he was "kind of flailing," Margie Wolpert says, until he started to play the guitar in high school.

It quickly became clear that he had a gift for playing the guitar. He joined a band started by some friends at Lampeter-Strasburg High School, and won roles in school productions. He played the lead character, Troy Bolton, in EPAC's production of "High School Musical," and, in 2008, placed fifth in an ABC reality show, "High School Musical: Get in the Picture."

As James made his way through one round after another on "The Voice," it became increasingly nerve-wracking, his mother says.

The full weight of what he was doing hit her just before the show's "blind audition," when James was to be introduced to the NBC audience. "This is the first time that America - America, not 2,000 people - is going to see your artist, your son," Margie Wolpert says. "I thought, 'Holy cow, I hope they like him as much as we like him. … I know how nice, how special, he is. Will they see that?' "

He had left Carnegie Mellon University to devote himself to music, and he'd quit his job at an Apple Store in Pittsburgh to compete on "The Voice." "He put it all on the line," his mother says.

It's not easy to let a child do this, she says. But "you see that they're passionate about it. You want them to be happy."

James Wolpert says he knows his mom wasn't thrilled that he dropped out of college, but "miraculously, she was always there to support me even if I was being stubborn. She's been to California and back so many times in the past few weeks that it would make your head spin. She's undergone late nights, early mornings, countless interviews and, of course, my embarrassingly lacking communication skills - and she's proud of me … despite it all."

In an email, he notes, "I'm humbled by how far she's willing to go for me to help me achieve my dreams. She's a worrier, but I'm certainly glad she is."


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