Photo by Joe Henson

If you are looking for Debra Barsha, you will find her hop-scotching across the boundaries of contemporary music. Gleefully defying classification, Barsha is that rare talent that sees show business itself as a medium. Singer, songwriter, actress, composer, pianist, raconteur, Barsha is just as comfortable fueling the grooves on a George Clinton album as she is writing an Off-Broadway musical about a pop-art icon (Keith Haring-Radiant Baby). With a career that includes television soundtracks, children's musicals, one-woman shows, and national tours with post-mod British pop-stars (Thomas Dolby), Debra Barsha manages to put the undeniable stamp of her own musical personality on the full spectrum of her work.

In 2002, Debra Barsha won the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award for the score to Radiant Baby, which was produced at the Public Theater in 2003, directed by George C. Wolfe. Radiant Baby received 3 Lucille Lortel nominations including Outstanding Musical. As a co-lyricist in addition to composer, Debra worked alongside The Life’s Ira Gasman (lyrics) and Forever Plaid’s Stuart Ross (Book & Lyrics) to create not only to write a musical inspired by the life of pop artist Keith Haring, but to conceptually capture the spirit of 1980s New York club scene. “Throbbing melodies” (The New York Times), “a bright, boisterous lullaby” (Theatre Scene), a “show-stopping hedonistic inferno” (CurtainUp) were words that described Debra Barsha’s pop/soul/disco/funk infused score.  

Additional composer credits include Sophie based on the life of Sophie Tucker, (Jewish Repertory Theater), NBC’s Policewoman Centerfold soundtrack, and Barsha's one-woman show Go To Your Womb, which was produced at The Triad, Don’t Tell Mama and The Hudson Guild Theatre (all in New York City) and at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY. It was also seen at NYC's Town Hall in An Evening of Uncommon Women sponsored by The Legacy Foundation.  

As an actress, Debra originated the role of Topeka Abotelli in the Off-Broadway production of Swingtime Canteen  (Charles Busch) and appeared as Celeste Romano in the original cast of Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding, both of which she was also the musical director.  She was also the musical director for the Broadway production of Oh! Calcutta!

Barsha has won an ASCAPlus Award each year from 1995-2002 and her songs have been recorded by Jackie Mason and Marty Balin among others. The title cut on George Clinton’s CD, T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. (The Awesome Power Of A Fully Operational Mothership) was written by Barsha, who also played keyboards and sang on Thomas Dolby's Flat Earth Tour and can be heard on Prince's compilation album 1-800-NEW FUNK.  She has recorded with Bootsy Collins, Dave Stuart, Patti Austin, Thomas Dolby, George Clinton and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Her own CDs, Women in Windows and Barsha Raw! (Live at Ars Nova) were also recently released. 

Her children’s musicals, The Moral of the Story, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and The Emperor’s New Condo (with Maggie Harth) have been performed annually in schools throughout the country. Currently, her music can be heard in New York Theater Workshop’s Songs From an Unmade Bed.