For the past 31 years, Mineola High School teacher Ed Murray has been encouraging students to pursue their dreams and do their best. Now, he’s taking his own advice.
Murray recently retired from his teaching career to pursue his dream of performing and directing. Murray, who has been singing and dancing since he was five years old, had been an integral part of Mineola High School; in addition to being an English teacher to grades nine, 11 and 12, he was the theater director for 26 of the school’s productions and the pioneer of the school’s physical education dance program.
“When I was five, the movie version of The Sound of Music premiered, and seeing the kids sing with Julie Andrews made me say ‘that’s what I want to do,’” said Murray. “Now I can really sink my teeth into it. I want to perform and direct. If I’m not right for a role in the telling of a story, I would still love to direct it because I have an affinity and a talent for it.”
Murray, a New Hyde Park native, graduated from Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park in 1979 before going on to CW Post to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in both theater arts and English education.
“I pursued a double major because my parents kept telling me ‘you have a brain, you graduated in the top 10 of your class and you need something to fall back on because the acting world is very hard to get into,’” said Murray.
Murray soon wondered if he had pursued teaching for his parents or for himself. But right after college, Murray got a teaching job and decided theater wasn’t his only passion.
“I realized that my real passion lies with teaching and teaching kids, particularly high school kids,” said Murray.
However, after five years of teaching at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, Murray took two years off to explore his other interests. During this time Murray did a production of Guys and Dolls alongside Casey Nicholaw, who has co-directed the Book of Mormon, and directed and choreographed Aladdin as well as Something Rotten on Broadway. But Murray soon realized he was “too young and green for the business at the time” and went back to teaching at Mineola High School, while still staying involved in local productions put on by Plaza Theatrical Productions.
Murray looks back on his teaching career with pride. One of his crowning achievements was putting on the production of Peter Pan in which Murray employed Flying by Foy to make the students fly during the production, something that had never been done at the high school level in the area before. Another of his fondest teaching moments occurred when he directed a production of his favorite musical, The Sound of Music, and was able to sing “Edelweiss” with the entire cast. Murray piloted the Mineola High School dance program in 2001 for kids who didn’t thrive in regular physical education classes. The dance classes were an outlet to move and a way to have fun using dance, said Murray.
With performing always an important part of his life, Murray created and starred in 10 original-concept cabaret shows based on his life. The experiences ranged from his childhood to his experience growing up Catholic, a show called 49 and Holding? and another called Fifty and Fabulous. Murray’s shows reflect his life through the different stages using theater songs and standard, popular songs.
This past Mother’s Day, Murray premiered his newest cabaret, Songs My Mother Loved. He will be performing it again on Nov. 5 at The Metropolitan Room in Manhattan. The cabaret will feature songs from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s sung by major singers from each era that Murray’s mother would listen to accompanied by a story relating them to his upbringing. Among the songs on the repertoire include “Bad Bad Leroy Brown,” “L-O-V-E,” “I Left my Heart in San Francisco,” and “Mack the Knife.”
“Ultimately, one of my goals is to take [Songs My Mother Loved] onto cruise ships and throughout the States because it is a perfect show for the senior citizen crowd,” said Murray.
Now that Murray has retired, he has the ability to pursue his acting dreams and goals, but he will always remember the impact that he had on his students. Many of Murray’s former students have been extremely supportive of his new dreams. Some even come out to Murray’s performances and even bring their families.
“More than a dozen former students attended my retirement party and it was so wonderful,” said Murray. “It just brought it home for me how much of an impact these students had on me. I’m very fortunate in my career in how much of an impact I’ve had on my students. I feel very blessed that I’ve had such support and continue to have that kind of support from students, faculty, and parents alike.”
Murray performs Songs My Mother Loved on Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. at The Metropolitan Room on 34 West 22nd St. There is a $25 music charge and a two beverage minimum. For tickets and reservations, call 212-206-0440.
