Audiences at Sleepy Hollow Park next week will learn about a life.

The life of still-living, still-working songwriter Ellie Greenwich, 66, of New York.

Greenwich, best known for a myriad of 1960s tunes including "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron

Ron" and "Leader of the Pack," went through good and bad, a nervous breakdown, divorce,

the hurdles of being one of the first female rock music producers and so on.

Along the way, Greenwich wrote songs that reflected those life chapters.

And in the 1980s, she helped create a bio-play-musical of her life, "Leader of the Pack"

- which earned a Tony Award nomination for best musical, a Grammy nomination for best

cast album and the New York Music Award for best Broadway musical. And it will be Sleepy

Hollow Theatre's second show this summer when it opens for a five-day run at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday at Sleepy Hollow Park, near the intersection of 26th Street and Divide Avenue.

"It's heartwarming and very touching," said Sam Ivory, 24, of Grand Forks, a recent

University of North Dakota theater performance graduate who is directing the 10-actor

"Pack" cast.

Greenwich's personal manager, Bob Weiner, of New York, said Tuesday in a telephone

interview that Greenwich started creating songs as she played the accordion as a little

girl.

"It became a passion for her," he said.

Weiner said he grew up with her music and as a teenager that's what he listened to.

Weiner said she's best known for those 1960s hits, but "she's done a lot of things way

beyond that."

Greenwich, while writing and co-writing hits, also was a session singer and vocal

arranger, working with such artists as Dusty Springfield, Lesley Gore, Ella Fitzgerald,

Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra. She helped re-arrange the background vocals on Aretha

Franklin's "Chain Of Fools." Greenwich also became a successful jingle writer and singer

through the 1970s and 1980s.

Weiner admires how "real" she is - that while Greenwich has show-biz friends, her core

group of friends remains the ones she went to high school with.

In recent years, she has worked with Desmond Child, Nona Hendryx, Cyndi Lauper and Paul

Shaffer, and in 1991, was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall Of Fame. In 1997, the No. 1

dance and pop record in England and Australia was her song, "The Sunshine After The

Rain."

"She truly did have a nervous breakdown, was one of the first female rock producers,"

Weiner said about things depicted in the "Leader of the Pack" musical. "She was also very

pretty … She had to fight that off at the same time," he said about the challenges she

faced.

Sleepy Hollow's cast has had challenges as well.

Take, for example, cast member Becca Lebak of Bismarck who plays the role of the young

Ellie Greenwich.

Lebak - also a cast member in Sleepy Hollow's first show this summer, "Joseph and the

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which closes Saturday - started learning how to play the

accordion Monday. That gives her about a week to somewhat master it before she and the

instrument hit the stage.

Tuesday, in an interview, she laughed about it.

"One of the hardest parts was to learn all of the keys because I don't even play the

piano," Lebak said.

When she was tiny there were a few piano lessons, but they're not helping her now -

especially because of the special aacordion challenges.

"Playing upside down or sideways is a lot harder to do," she said.

Her first attempt at playing while singing resulted in many wrong notes, but by Tuesday,

with a lot of stickers on the keys to remind her which keys to push, it should all work

out. That's the plan, anyway.

While some of the teen cast members had never heard Greenwich's songs, Nikko Raymo, 17,

wasn't one of them.

He's a Greenwich fan. He knew all the lyrics to most of the musical's songs before he

even got the part.

Raymo said he doesn't listen to today's music. "I like the oldies, '70s, show tune music

and I really really like jazz," he said.

Ivory said he thinks Greenwich "is one of the most influential people to ever hit the

charts of pop-rock music.

"Her songs have dominated music in movies, TV, commercials and radio since the sixties.

I grew up listening to her music and most of the time I didn't even realize it," Ivory

said.

Greenwich's younger years are depicted in the musical and then it moves on to 20 years

later.

Through hard times, divorce and disaster, she emerges as a strong woman.

The question is, will Lebak emerge as a strong accordionist?

For the answer to that question and others, "Leader of the Pack" will hit the stage at

8:30 p.m. Tuesday through July 28.

General admission prices are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $9 for

children. Children under 5 get in free. Prices are $1 higher at the gate. Reserved

tickets are $25.

Gates open at 7 p.m. and the shows start at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday through July 28.

Tickets are available at Herberger's, Eckroth Music and Gallery 522.

For information, or to make reservations for the tapas meal and show, call 319-0894.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@bismarcktribune.com)