Barbara Heller

Barbara Heller, Messianic Moments & Cosmic Conversations

by Todd McFliker

Since leading Ms. (Jacquie) Hasko’s Drama class and serving as Ms. Lion at our high school pep rallies, the multitalented Barbara Heller has been living a dream in the spotlight. Now residing in Beverly Hills, she has appeared in films, animated series, commercials, and audio books. Barbara has written songs, hosted podcasts. made movies and directed shows. She has also educated countless students in more than 100 camps and schools over the last 25 years, teaching everything from Jewish studies and meditation to voice and improv. South Floridians were thrilled to see Barbara’s one-woman musical Messianic Moments & Cosmic Conversations at Boca Black Box on June 23rd.

SFL Music: It’s so great to be speaking with you Barb. What brought you back to town?

Barbara Heller: As you know Todd, we are celebrating our 30-year high school reunion from Olympic Heights. I realized just how much fun it would be to perform in front of my former classmates. I’ve always wanted to put on a show in my hometown, Boca Raton. Plus, my dad hasn’t seen Messianic Moments & Cosmic Conversations yet. It will be special for him to see my show in person. So, I made it happen at Boca Black Box.

SFL Music: What can you tell me about Messianic Moments & Cosmic Conversations?

Barbara Heller: I wrote the show about a year ago. I was on Mel Robbins’ podcast. She’s a New York Times Best Selling author who had her own show. When I met her, I got the opportunity to impersonate her as well. Mel loved it. Eventually, she sat me down in the hot seat and coached me for about 25 minutes. That one session became an entire episode of her podcast. It was in that series of questions that she asked me why I moved home to Florida during the pandemic. I was like, ‘I want to graduate from show business. It is so hard. I am sick of it.’ Mel responded with “Well, too bad. This is what you are great at. I think you’re going to do a one woman show on Netflix someday.” Basically, she dared me to do it. I felt like God was talking to me through her. Within a month, I moved back to California.

SFL Music: Is that when you wrote it?

Barbara: Yes. At first, I was scared of how people and critics would react. But they loved it. I won an award in Los Angeles. Then I did it at a festival in New York and I won another encore performance.

SFL Music: That’s quite impressive. I see that you’ve taken home numerous awards. You’ve been honored for everything from your various web series and documentaries to music videos and short films. Your podcast “See One Beautiful Soul” was even a finalist for Religion and Spirituality in 2022 PopCon. Where did you get all of your content?

Barbara: Before I started “See One Beautiful Soul” in 2018, I made it a point to say “good morning” to strangers on a daily basis. That’s just what I do. And I used to do it on camera and get into deep conversations about race or religious practice. I am that person that people will open up and talk to, whether the camera is rolling or not. Of course, I always have their permission to film when it’s rolling.

I realized that I’ve got these distinguished documentaries, as well as a podcast, about seeing one another as one beautiful soul. What if I used the thousands of interviews taken from when people say to me: “Shut the camera off. I don’t want this on record”? What if I took all the words that people wanted to say but couldn’t? What if I became their voices? I use the words that they wouldn’t say to me on camera to create characters in this show. The result is eight women that are based on thousands of actual interviews I did on the street and on the podcast. It’s become a one-woman original musical, Messianic Moments & Cosmic Conversations. Then there’s Finding Barb, a two-person musical that I wrote about my dating life. It went on tour back in 2014 after playing in LA for about a year.

SFL Music: Do you view yourself as a successful actor?

Barbara: I consider myself an activist, rather than an actor. I am an artist, but I have a strong desire to engage with the audience, rather than simply perform. I feel like the whole world is a classroom and I am learning with people. I don’t view my show as an entertainment piece. I see it as more as “edutainment.” I want it to be in churches, synagogues, theatres and schools in cities throughout the nation. I actually wrote the show for folks in their twenties because I feel like they are the most neglected people in the world when it comes to mental health and they are our future.

SFL Music: What do you love the most about performing in front of strangers?

Barbara: What I really appreciate is the Q&A after each show. I always have some thought leaders who discuss how mental health and spirituality can save lives. When we don’t have those two things in check, people tend to fall apart. I don’t really care about entertainment per se. I care more about the connections that I feel with audience members when I talk about these big concepts. I have heard that the people in the crowd come together, rather than dozing off or playing on their phones. For a short time while I am onstage, the people actually seem connected to each other.

SFL Music: What’s next on your impressive resume?

Barbara: As far as the future is concerned, I have two festivals coming up – one in Vancouver, Canada and the other in Manchester, UK this summer. Hopefully, I’ll be doing it in Jerusalem in a couple weeks as well. One of the main messages of my show is everybody getting along, so it is perfect timing.

SFL Music: Excellent. Barb, you rock. Is there anything else you want to share with readers?

Barbara: I have a really cool story worth telling you Todd. Dana Carvey, one of our “idols” when we were in high school, auditioned me and hired me to be on his show in 2016. I didn’t actually get a chance to talk to him. But he picked me out of thousands of people to do impressions on his television show First Impressions. They only had one season and I was the alternate. If they had a second season, I would’ve been on the first episode. They only had six episodes. But I was there for all of them, waiting in the back in case someone got sick or was rude to the judges. It was like American Idol for impressionists, and I got to do my impression of him for him. As my fellow “Wayne’s World” costar in Mrs. (Linda) Backes’ English class, I knew you’d get a kick out of that Todd.

SFL Music: Game on.

See more of the multitalented Barbara at BarbHeller.com, instagram.com/barbieheller and youtube.com/@BarbaraHellerArtistandEducator.