Interview: Shelly Goldstein of NAMI Benefit - Catalina Jazz Club

• Shelly Goldstein  is a very popular performer  in the cabaret scene in both London and Los Angeles.

• She is also one of the busiest writers of high profile award shows in Hollywood, New York and the UK.  She frequently works punching up screenplays and writing special material, comedy and song lyrics for performers. Shelly has doctored scripts or written special material for such artists as Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Sharon Stone, Jimmy Kimmel, Liza Minnelli, Larry Wilmore, James Earl Jones, Kathy Bates, Billy Connolly, Samuel L Jackson, Richard Kind, Jay Leno, Morgan Freeman, Laraine Newman, Hannah Einbinder, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Princess Caroline of Monaco and Yoko Ono. Recently, Shelly is known for writing  Sherlock & Daughter (2025), Legend of the Bog (2009) and Flying with Byrd (2011).

• Shelly directed "The Vic & Paul Show" a comedy revue with music at the Push Cabaret. She also opened the show with a cabaret set culled from her most popular shows. She has written lyrics for theatre, cabaret and TV - including the them lyrics for the animated series "Shelldon" and "Flying with Byrd" a show where she wrote original lyrics for songs in many episodes. She also wrote lyrics for Shawn Ryan's comedy special "One Night Stand Up" on Logo TV'.

SHELLY sat down with BROADWAY WORLD to answer TEN QUESTIONS IN TEN MINUTES on her leaps and bounds in Film, TV, and Legit theater.

What constellation was traipsing across the sky when you made your first entrance into the biosphere?

Constellation Cancer, I was born in July, the hottest and most beautiful month to spend in the city of Chicago. I arrived 3 weeks before the doctor’s prediction, resulting in a lifelong pattern of always showing up early. (Birthday buddies with Tom Cruise) 

Can you share your earliest semblance of attending a live performance and who brought you there?

Yes! God bless my parents who started taking me to professional theatre when I was about 3. That may sound insanely young, but as wildly

rambunctious as I was as a child, in the theatre I was always captivated. I’d already started singing by then, and acting our stories I made up in head, so they were smart enough to see that theatre might be meaningful lol to me. Boy, was it!

Throughout my childhood, they took me to every single road production that hit Chicago from Broadway, as well as lots of local theatre. One of my favorite memories was the Chicago production of HAIR’s National Tour (the

cast included two young actors in what I think were their first big roles:

Andre De Shields & Joe Mantegna.) There was an older woman on the aisle,

by herself. I sat next to her. My Mom and sister sat next to me.

The show began with the opening number, “Aquarius.” Young actors burst

onto the stage and into the house. As the cast of wildly talented hippies

writhed through the aisles singing about, “Harmony and understanding,

sympathy and trust abounding…” the older woman next to me grabbed a

passing actor by the sleeve. In a voice that projected to the back of the

lobby, she asked, “Young Man…What time will this be over?”

Another memory of that day. During the final number, “Let the Sunshine In”

the cast invited the audience onstage to dance and sing along. I may have

broken the sound barrier making my way to the stage. About 3-feet tall, the

youngest by many years, I sang, danced (Well, there was enthusiastic

gyration…Was it dance? History will someday decide) and felt the light on

my face. I was home. Perhaps this explains one of the first song parody lyrics I wrote and

performed for my first cabaret show, “The Middle Age of Aquarius.”

When did you realize you wanted to be on stage and how supportive were

your parents and siblings?

I was performing in my parents’ living room…or in the school yard…or

walking down the street as soon as I could sing. Again, about 3. It was

never quite a realization, it simply “was.” I started going to theatre school

and performing in summer stock at about 7. My parents were both wildly

supportive. My sister is very supportive of her crazy baby sister. She’s a

business/math whiz. We’re a very symbiotic right brain/left brain

dichotomy.

Where did you learn your craft on the bumpy road or on a brick & mortar

campus?

Both. I wrote my first play at 7 & railroaded my 2nd grade teacher to let me

present it during what otherwise would’ve been a spirited lesson on the

Appian Way. (Northwestern:  Stephen Colbert, Nicole Sullivan, Laura Innes)

What was your first paid gig in performing and writing?

I started selling stories to local papers when I was a teenager. Lots of

onstage performing as a kid, for very little money. I wasn’t AEA yet.

But my first “real” performing job was in a PSA for WTTW, Chicago’s PBS

station. It was a group of multi-ethnic kids standing in a circle, talking (as

kids do when standing in a circle…) The message was “brotherhood.” Very

“We are the world, we are the children.” Each kid had a single line on

camera, as we came to a magical discovery: although we looked different,

we were all “alike” and could all be friends. Everyone had the exact same line

with only our personal identifying attribute changed, “So if you’re the only Black kid

on your block…” “If you’re the only Chinese kid on your block…” “If you’re the only

Mexican kid on your block…” My line? “If you’re the only RICH kid on your block…”

Hmmm…To me, I always felt they were alluding to something else.

You travel across the pond quite often, what is the creative vibe like in

London. Is there a difference between London audiences and U.S. audiences

when performing live?  How does your song list change from continent to

continent?

I love London audiences. Theatre, cabaret, music, ballet, opera is in their

blood. The only discernible difference is cultural literacy.

I don’t do major changes of material over there. Occasional minor

adjustments, again to make a point from their perspective. One example: In

my Groovy shows I essentially live in the era of 1963-1974.

In the US, I define it, “From Camelot to Watergate.” In the UK, I call it,

“From Profumo to Punk.” London was Ground Zero for Groovy

-so it’s a joy to perform there and I’m thrilled they’ve embraced GroovyShelly.

I’ve also been doing a lot of work with a group of West End Singers who do

tribute nights to great composers. We also did a concert for the 50th

Anniversary of GODSPELL. That was a dream come true!

Do you think Tuesday night cabarets are going away? An affordable night out

on the town has gone away but what 's next AI cabaret? Do you prefer a three

piece jazz set to augmented music tracks?

Far too much cabaret is going away. Far too much theatre is going away.

Far too much joy is going away. Most of it is the economy but hardly the

only reason.  It grows more difficult every day, but I do my best to avoid

anything A.I. I have no interest in singing, acting, music, performance,

writing that didn’t come from one of those old school, “humans.” How quaint.

What makes art successful & necessary is its reflection of the human soul.

Not plagiarism by means of tech. I prefer humanity creating art. In an infinite

variety of forms.

Pop singers sell tickets when cast in Broadway shows but is this only a fix-it

patch to stop the hemorrhaging at the box office or is this a trend which will stick

around for awhile?

I don’t see it going away. In every medium, the echoes consistently grow

thinner.

Who are five of your favorite cabaret performers and five stand-up

comedians working the grind today?

Wow. That’s an impossible question to answer. I’ll go with what first sprang

to mind although it’s more than 5. I’m blessed to be a member of The

Fabulous Chickies, a group of “Chick” singers brought together by the

great Ilene Graff. The women in this group are to quote Jerry Herman

“friends, sisters and pals!” They’re also impossibly talented, fun and

supportive. Every single one is a masterclass in how to be brilliant onstage:

Eileen Barnett

Michele Brourman

Nancy Dussault

Julie Garnye

Ilene Graff

GroovyShelly

Dana Mellar

Karen Morrow

Valerie Perri

Joan Ryan

Lisa Vroman

Now…if you have a few minutes, I’ve got a few hundred more names to

add…

You are on the international road often but what LA venues are on your to do list?

Hoping to have my new show, GROOVY BROADWAY, up early in 2027. I’ve

been having a lot of fun at Catalina’s, so I’m guessing its LA debut will be

there. I’m at Catalina’s on Nov 1 in the 4th Annual NAMI Benefit concert (National

Alliance for Mental Health.) Produced by Dianne Fraser, MD’d by Brad Ellis.

Terrific line-up! Some night, before my final curtain falls, I dream of singing

onstage at the Hollywood Bowl and the Palladium in the West End. Who knows? We can

all dream! And I love love love cabaret, but I’m hungry to do a play or musical. It’s

been a minute. I’ve written several that have gone up, but I’d like to be in

one and definitely doesn’t have to be written by me!