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Arts & Entertainment

Borts Has More Than a Song in Her Heart

Syosset Broadway performer moonlights as activist and minister.

Syosset native Joanne Borts is multi-talented in every sense of the word. She has shared the stage with actress, singer and cabaret star Eartha Kitt in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. She sang a duet with singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka at Carnegie Hall. She performed in concert with the Grammy-winning Klezmatics, who achieved fame singing in several languages, mixing Yiddish tunes with contemporary music. Her numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl and the critically acclaimed On Second Avenue.

"I have been very lucky in my career. Working with Eartha Kitt was amazing," says Borts. "She was beautiful, regal and very political." She added, "Neil Sedaka was the nicest man. He is a genius. Rehearsing with him at his Park Avenue home was fascinating. It was an 'Oh, my God!' moment."

Growing up in Syosset surrounded by music, Borts admits she was destined to perform onstage one day.

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"My father was a barbershop singer," Borts says. "Music was always around me."

She credits her years at Syosset High School as an instrumental learning experience and still fondly remembers her teachers.

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"Lydia Esslinger and Elliot Bean were great teachers," Borts says. "I am very fortunate to have had a community that really supported my dreams."

Syosset is also where her husband of two years, Michael Ritz, grew up.

"It's funny because he lived right around the corner from me," Borts says. "We knew of each other but we weren't friends. In school, I was the drama girl and he was the jock. We didn't connect until we bumped into each other at Central Park."

A graduate of Binghamton University, Borts has performed all over the United States, Canada and Europe.

"I love being onstage and traveling,"she says. "Doing Fiddler on the Roof, I got to see so many cities I had never been to before, like Memphis. There is so much history there like Elvis Presley and the Civil Rights Museum. It's nice to explore a city, especially when you are performing there eight [times] a week."

The Manhattan resident also is the director, co-author and co-star of Kids and Yiddish, an annual Broadway family show.

"I want people to know that Yiddish is not a dying language," Borts explains. "Speaking Yiddish was a part of my home growing up. My parents sent me to a Yiddish school. Yiddish is a great language that doesn't belong to the older generation. With Kids and Yiddish, I am showing the younger generation how wonderful the Yiddish language is. I get to dress up as a giant chicken, French archeologist, a kooky-acting teacher. It's a lot of fun."

Inspired by her grandfather, who was a writer for the Jewish Daily Forward and vice president of the Printers Union, Borts is an advocate for actors. She serves as chair for the Center for Social and Economic Justice on the National Executive Board of the Workmen's Circle.

"I make sure that theater actors are treated fair," she says. "Most theater people don't have pensions and health benefits. They are so focused on being up on that stage that nothing else matters. Actors need to be protected and deserve fair pay and health benefits," she said.

In addition to her other career endeavors, Borts marries people. Her official title is Ordained Clergy Person.

Says Borts, "I like to put my fingers in a lot of pies and it's been working out for me. I love what I do." 

For more information about Borts, visit www.joanneborts.com.

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