4-28-19 Interview

4/29/19 On May 6 2019 “The New York Theatre Barn is honoring co-founder and board member Sheilah Rae with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her exceptional contributions to musical theatre as a writer, composer, lyricist and performer for over 50-years, and her outstanding service and vision for New York Theatre Barn for more than a decade”. Sheilah found her life path very young. During the performance of “South Pacific” 5 year old Sheilah told her mother that she was “going to do that.” Her parents arranged for her to study dance with the renowned Edna McRae. Since Ms McRae also required that her students know music, 6 year old Sheilah began piano lessons. She was soon studying dance, piano, music theory and violin at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. She got her first role on Broadway in “Fiddler on the Roof” right out of college and never stopped adding to her arsenal of talents and accomplishments. Listen to this multi-talented, effervescent woman talk about a career in which she has done everything. And hear a song from one of her musicals (“I Married Wyatt Earp,” now called The Belle of Tombstone) lyrics by Sheilah and music by Michele Brourman.

10/9/12 –Interview with Sheilah Rae

Like Austin Sheilah Rae also found her life path very young, when at 5 she saw her first musical. During the performance of “South Pacific” Sheilah told her mother that she was “going to do that.” Sheilah’s parents believed that “if you were going to do something you had to have the best teacher,” so when 5 year old Sheilah wanted dance lessons they arranged for her to study with the renowned Edna McRae. Ms McRae also required that her students know music, so 6 year old Sheilah began piano lessons and was soon studying dance, piano, music theory at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and violin. Continuing to benefit from family support, inherent talent and luck Sheilah also got her first role on Broadway in “Fiddler on the Roof” right out of college. Listen to this effervescent woman talk about a career in which she has done everything including write musicals like “Funny You Don’t look like a Grandmother!” and “I Married Wyatt Earp.” And listen to songs from “Earp” with lyrics by Sheilah and music by composer Michele Brourman.

10/2/2012 Interview Part 2

In the second half or our interview Austin Pendelton talks with humor and candor about his struggles with stuttering. How it helped him get – right out of college – his first role on Broadway; co-starring with the “breathtaking Harris” and “the amazing Jo Van Fleet” in Arthur Kopit’s enigmatic play “Oh Dad, Poor Dad.” Hear him describe the hilarious way he got the role, the ordeal of trying at the same time to, and not to stutter -which he believed was dragging the show down, and the kindness and generosity of director Jerome Robbins; who not only encouraged him to stay with it, but then cast him in “Fiddler on the Roof” – with Zero Mostel. Listen to the way he was coerced into his role in “My Cousin Vinnie,” and how that role in some way defined his career. Hear also about his time at the Hollins University and meeting Annie Glenn – the wife of astronaut and Senator John Glenn, who conquered a stuttering problem that was worse than Austin’s…

If this is the first you have heard of him – take this opportunity to hear from this funny, sweet, accomplished, remarkable man. Watch the video, and donate to, the making of the Austin Pendleton Project, co-directed by Gene Gallerano and David H. Holmes. Donate here: http://www.indiegogo.com/austinpendleton

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/47057982]