About Paulie

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”
-Judy Garland

Paulie Pecorella is a Sicilian-American NYC-based entertainer, composer/lyricist, and actor. Born in Buzau, Romania, he was soon adopted to the one place worse: Staten Island. Paulie grew up about ten minutes outside of JFK, where he took to piano lessons from a young age. His parents instilled in him a love for all things old Hollywood and show business, which informs his neo-vaudevillian sensibility to this day.

Paulie earned his BFA in musical theatre performance from Long Island University (LIU) in 2016, an experience that taught him a lot about acting, less about working. At LIU, Paulie developed his storytelling ability, something his Nana always insisted he had, and wrote and composed an original, semi-autobiographical musical called "Daniel,” a piece about his first two loves and experiences around addiction. "Daniel" was an Academy of New Musical Theatre L.A. finalist in 2013, and has since been workshopped and presented in concert all over.

Paulie then studied in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU, where he earned his MFA in 2018. At NYU, he found his voice as a composer, lyricist, and librettist, and wrote his next musical, "Mamma Laudicina,” a retelling of King Lear set on a family vineyard in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. He workshopped this piece, which he describes as the musical lovechild of "Nine" and "Sweeney Todd”, at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and continues to develop…(it lives on!)

Paulie is also an experienced and accomplished singer/songwriter, with an extensive catalogue of tunes inspired by the great jazz standards, which he has recorded and performed around New York. Select titles include: "Two Tremendous Assholes from Long Island”, ”Sad Joke”,  “Champagne and Truffles”, “What He Does To Men", and “Mr. Bourbon Eyes”. Paulie is a frequent collaborator of composer/lyricist Sean McCabe, with whom he co-wrote the song “One Day”, recently named by the Drama League as the “Anthem for the Future of Theatre”.

Paulie was fortunate to be mentored by the late-great Tony Award-winning composer William Finn (Falsettos, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), who invited him to present a concert of original work at Barrington Stage Company in 2019, alongside songwriter Jacob Fjeldheim.

To put food in the dutch oven, Paulie has worked as a music director all around New York and across the world, including with MSC, Holland America, and Azamara cruise lines. Nowadays, Paulie continues to write, play, and perform, wherever he can…but he’s always happiest to do so at home in New York.