Former Goldman Sachs star takes Broadway by storm…
After 25 years in finance, former Goldman Sachs accomplice Stacy Polley has been singing a new tune.
The banker — a Goldman star who ran their fixed income gross sales — has taken Broadway by storm, performing a collection of extremely personal cabaret exhibits in latest years.
Her latest one, set for Thursday at Sony Hall, has particular resonance. She’ll be raising money for research about Alzheimer’s, which claimed her father’s life in August.
Stacy Polley has taken Broadway by storm, performing a collection of extremely personal cabaret exhibits in latest years. Fork It Fund
The show, a combine of music, dance and humorous bits, “asks what happens after you’ve checked every box but still find yourself chasing the next accomplishment instead of enjoying the life you’ve built,” Polley told The Post.
The cabaret, titled “I Can’t Stand Still,” is devoted to the reminiscence of her father — a musician who accompanied her in one of her past cabarets — and also to caregivers like her mom, who took care of the dad.
The show is an eclectic combine of modern Broadway songs from exhibits like “Hamilton” and “Footloose,” as nicely as pop and rock ‘n roll classics like Meat Loaf’s “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” Walk the Moon’s “Shut up and Dance,” a Billy Joel mashup and an authentic composition – “all woven together through personal storytelling,” said Polley, who might be performing with 4 back-up singers and a 13-piece band.
The program is about “learning how to stand still and be content” through the prism of a wellness retreat, said Polley.
“There’s a lot of humor wrapped within it,” she continued, including that the show explores “what happens when life challenges us to rethink what purpose, success and fulfillment look like,” said Polley, age 57.
She ought to know. Growing up, Polley always needed to be onstage, citing her piano enjoying father as a major affect.
This 12 months’s efficiency will raise money for the Fork It Fund that Polley (proper) co-founded with Daryl and Irwin Simon (left) via the Alzheimer’s Association. Getty Images for The Alzheimer’s Association
“I loved performing as a child and wanted to be on Broadway,” she said.
But her life’s path led her to high finance, instead – “a big career on Wall Street, raising a family, and spending 25 years at Goldman Sachs,” as she summed it up.
Still, her ardour for performing never went away, and she put on her first cabaret show to have a good time her fortieth in 2008. Over the course of 4 subsequent exhibits, she’s tackled powerful topics like divorce.
There is “humor, entertainment and a relatable message embedded within the arc of the story,” Polley said of her creative imaginative and prescient.
Each show takes about 9 months from conception to opening night time.
“It always begins with the message. What do I want people to walk away feeling, and what is the relatable truth at the center?” Polley said. “The stories, songs and humor all grow from there.”
Daryl and Irwin Simon. The Fork It Fund has donated over $4 million to Alzheimer’s research to date, with an further $1 million-plus anticipated by 12 months’s end. Fork It Fund
In 2016, Polley’s father was identified with Alzheimer’s. That 12 months, he accompanied her on piano at her show and then got here on stage and “did a little dance” with her.
“It was early in the diagnosis, and he was able to do it. I knew it would be the last time, as he was already showing signs, which is why we got him to get diagnosed,” she said.
Polley — who grew up in Queens as the daughter of two New York City Public faculty lecturers — hopes that through her exhibits, she is instructing as nicely as entertaining.
“No matter how sophisticated people are at the shows, it’s amazing how little people know about the disease,” Polley said.
Polley’s path led her to high finance, instead – “a big career on Wall Street, raising a family, and spending 25 years at Goldman Sachs.” StockMarketVisuals – stock.adobe.com
She also said she once regarded out at the group and realized “there were a lot of wealthy people in the room.” Guests over the years have included Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein and Ashok Varadhan and The Carlyle Group’s Harvey Schwartz.
This 12 months’s efficiency will raise money for the Fork It Fund that Polley co-founded with Daryl and Irwin Simon via the Alzheimer’s Association. The fund has donated over $4 million to Alzheimer’s research to date, with an further $1 million-plus anticipated by 12 months’s end.
The death of Polley’s father makes this 12 months’s show “even more meaningful,” she said, including: “It’s been a long journey.”
This time, she’s shedding mild on the “often-overlooked” caregivers like her mother.
The efficiency might be “a nod to all of us who play the caregiver role, especially in the sandwich generation” – referring to adults who are sandwiched between taking care of their ageing mother and father and their children.
While raising awareness, Polley said she’s discovered a lot from her viewers.
“The shows are filled with humor and entertainment, yet I’ve learned that audiences connect most with the vulnerability – the moments when I share something from my own life that they may be feeling, too,” she said. “I hope people leave entertained, but also reflecting on their own lives.”
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