Sharon Ruben: Living her dreams
Singing and selling.
Selling and singing.
This is the dichotomous life being lived by Sharon Ruben, who Broadway legend Howard Keel dubbed the Sarah Bernhardt of his cast when she performed in the road company of “Carousel.”
She said it”™s in her “neshama,” her soul, to do what she does.
Ruben is one neat colorful package, petite, but filled with tons of surprises, not unlike the ones that are sent out as part of the direct mail business she and her husband run. Ruben is president of the Money Mailer of the Connecticut Gold Coast, which is based in Stamford.
While she can”™t see Broadway from her office window, it”™s always in her heart. And it”™s also in her voice, which needs no amplification. It comes with the territory. That forceful voice has landed many a client and many a singing gig.
She doesn”™t take “no” for an answer. That”™s why she titled her May 30 appearance at Feinstein”™s at Loews Regency in Manhattan “Yes.”
She has sung on the stage and at political and sporting events.
She doesn”™t hold back or perform at half-power, even if it”™s at a family bar mitzvah in the bayous of Louisiana.
You never know who”™s in the audience.
On one particular occasion in 2005, Ruben was doing a medley of Gershwin tunes. Unbeknownst to her, one of the guests was the vice president of Centaur Records in Baton Rouge.
He loved her voice and asked her to record a CD.
Recorded in January and February of 2006 at PPI Recording in New York City, the aptly named “It”™s About Time” includes 15 personally chosen songs ”“ from Broadway (“If Ever I Would Leave You”) to cabaret (“Arthur in the Afternoon”) to just plain funny (“Jews Don”™t Camp”).
Ruben started singing, dancing and playing the piano at age three in her parents home in Mount Vernon, where she still lives today. “I loved the attention.”
She was a novelty act at a young age, singing “Fir mir oys tsu der bolgeym.” The Yiddish version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
She kept singing through grade school and high school, honing her craft. She auditioned and was accepted into The Juilliard School, which brought out the classical side in her singing. She went on to the University of Michigan where she earned a degree in early childhood education and music and also her first “equity” job in the summer stock performance of “Carousel.”
She met her stage-door Johnny ”“ husband Stu, affectionately called Stewey ”“ at a “hot party” at his apartment in Lefrak City in Queens. She came with a date, but spotted Stu and knew something was there. Call it kismet.
“I couldn”™t leave without saying something. So I went up to him and told him I live in Mount Vernon.” Ruben pauses for dramatic effect and then smiles. “He showed up at my door the next day.”
Shortly thereafter, Hal Prince hired her for the national show of “Fiddler on the Roof” that was being staged in Las Vegas. She was in love with her Stewey and knew she had to make a choice. “I wanted a house with a picket fence and roses and cooing children.”
She left the stage and started raising a family. The sales genes got passed along. Her son, Todd, heads up Lucky Direct Marketing in Westchester. Her daughter, Tara Ruben-Ciscone, is an account executive with WGN America. Ruben is proud to point out that her son-in-law, Dom, is a hands-on dad for another love of her life, her grandson, Jax.
Ruben and her husband bought the Money Mailer franchise in 1987. She says they have been going strong ever since landing major clients along the way.
Ruben never stopped performing. She developed a cabaret act that has taken her from New York City to points across the nation to Italy.
She is now preparing for the big event in May.
Just as Carnegie Hall is the pinnacle for classical musicians, she said Feinstein”™s is considered the top of the line in the world of cabaret.
She has been working toward this all of her life.
Nothing has ever stopped her, even a closely held secret that only family and very close friends know of.
As a little girl, when playing the piano and singing and dancing meant everything, one of the most dreaded illnesses that affected thousands, including a president of the United States, struck Ruben.
Polio hit her when she was 4 years old. Her right arm was affected. Playing the piano would be difficult.
But she persevered.
“It truly made me a cock-eyed optimist. It wasn”™t going to stop me.” It even added to her depth of understanding as an actor when assuming a role.
“It”™s a part of my life. It made me go after what I wanted more than ever.”
Count on her being at Park Avenue at 61st St. in New York City on the evening of May 30.