Barbara Minkus

BARBARA MINKUS began her show business career in NYC in Julius Monk’s review, Bits and Pieces. She went on to receive rave reviews touring as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl throughout the United States. She played Lucy in the original NY recording cast of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. On Broadway, Barbara starred in The Education of Hyman Kaplan, directed by the great George Abbott. 

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On television, she was a regular for six seasons on Love, American Style, played Gittel the Witch in ABC’s Curiosity Shop, and was the voice of Ms. Pacman in the ABC cartoon series, Pacman. She had numerous television appearances over the years on The Danny Kaye Show, The Tonight Show, and made a record 20 appearances on The Merv Griffin Show.

 

After taking time out to raise her family, Barbara returned to the stage at The Santa Monica playhouse to appear in Funny, You Don’t Look Like A Grandmother. She then brought Picon Pie to the Playhouse, playing Molly Picon – a role she helped research – and later reprised the role Off-Broadway. In both LA and Florida, she starred as Jennie Grossinger in the musical Saturday Night at Grossinger’s.

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Barbara presented From This Moment On – Minkus Sings Porter at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and returned to present The Songs of Irving Berlin. Other musical theatre performances include Miss Lynch in Grease at the Muni Theatre in St. Louis, as well as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof at both the Muni and the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City. She also starred in the LA and Off-Broadway musical, Don’t Leave It All to Your Children. 

 

Along with frequent collaborator Susan Morgenstern, Barbara co-wrote and starred in I’m Not Famous: A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus at the Santa Monica Playhouse for a 5-month run, which was later re-worked and re-titled, 18 Minutes of Fame: a Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus.  This one-woman show was presented at The Pico Playhouse and had its New York debut at the Triad Theater in 2018, before returning to LA for performances at The Braid in 2019. 

 

In 2020, Barbara launched her own YouTube channel and created her About Life shows, a video series featuring stories and songs from her distinguished career. Barbara will resume touring with 18 Minutes of Fame for the 2022-23 theatrical season.