When Julie Waldman-Stiel was just nine years old, her mother dropped her off at the local movie theater to see Funny Girl. For young Julie, this was supposed to have been just another afternoon of moviegoing. Instead, the film changed her life.

"Back then, a mom could do that — you know, just drop me off to watch a movie and then pick me up later," said the 47-year-old California native who now lives in West Orange. "And I was looking forward to this movie. But I had no idea what it would come to mean. I was changed by it. That movie became a turning point for me. I just knew after watching it that I'd be in the theater. It was a sign. And it got me on my way."

Later this month, that episode comes full circle for Waldman-Stiel: She will star as the one and only Fanny Brice during most performances of Funny Girl staged this month at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne.

The show is a production of Broadway Ala Carte, the professional theater-in-residence at the Y.

"This will actually be the fourth time I'll be in a production of Funny Girl," she said, "but it's truly special to do this. There just aren't that many roles like this out there anymore. I like roles that are quirky and more ‘in the character,' more scrappy than sweet. You know, something with grit. I'm really not an ingenue."

Ingenue or not, Waldman-Stiel is an accomplished actress, not someone who walked off the streets of West Orange and got a big break. Growing up in California, she did community theater and eventually got her equity card. From there, she acted in dinner theaters, sang on cruise ships, and performed at Tokyo Disneyland, where she played Mary Poppins, among other characters.

In subsequent years, she performed in Fiddler on the Roof opposite stage and screen legend Topol, went on a national tour of Cats, and later was seen opposite Tony Award-winner Michael Crawford in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, a tribute to the composer. She played starring roles in such other shows as The Music of the Night, There's Nothin' Like A Dame: A Richard Rodgers Birthday Bash, and Brush Up Your Shakespeare before she put her thespian ambitions aside to start a family; she and her husband, Jeffrey Stiel, a recruiter in New York, have four children ages six, eight, 10, and 11 — clearly a busy household.

One aspect of her life in the theater has been, as she said, "very tricky."

As an observant Jew, she must balance certain requirements, chiefly maintaining Shabbat restrictions, while appearing in shows.

Waldman-Stiel said she became more religious in 1989, while she was dating her future husband, who is observant. She was performing in a traveling production of Fiddler on the Roof (Topol, she said, would ask her, "Why don't you go marry that nice Jewish boy?"). At that time, she started keeping kosher and taught herself to read Hebrew, later taking on more mitzvot.

Since her marriage, when she performs, she makes accommodations that allow her to observe Shabbat — preferably with her family. "Shabbat is about making the day different and special," she said. "I hate being away from my husband and children on Shabbat." When she is in a show, whenever possible, she walks to the theater — sometimes to make a curtain that goes up after sundown on Saturday. When she was part of the cast of a recent staging of Angels in America at the Community Players in Chatham, in order for her to get there in time for performances, she stayed in a hotel near the theater — with her family. "My kids and husband and I made Shabbat in the hotel; I would rather be home, but it was a lovely time."

Even for the current show at the Y in Wayne, because of its distance from her home, she will stay near the theater for Shabbat.

She is willing to "walk this tricky line," she said, because "the gift that I have was given to me by Hashem, and I need to express it creatively. I'm glad when audiences like me, but I do it for me."

In fact, she said, acting for her is now "a hobby. I just perform for the fun of it. I've done some performances at schools and community theater and the West Orange JCC, for instance. And Funny Girl is an opportunity to stay involved, because eventually I do want to return on a full-time basis. But right now, it's just for me. I don't need anyone's approval. It's my little secret life."

MetroWest residents, in fact, may recognize Waldman-Stiel, who is a member of the Orthodox Congregation Ohr Torah in West Orange. She has performed numerous times in productions at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, in West Orange, including appearances as Nancy in Oliver, the Queen in Once Upon a Mattress, and Maisy in Seussical.

Her return to the stage is welcomed by Stephen Kantrowitz, executive producer at Broadway Ala Carte, which also runs an educational arm for young, aspiring actors. Waldman-Stiel, he said, "has a Broadway belt — she really can belt out a song. We knew we wanted her from the start. She's a very generous performer and gets standing ovations everywhere she goes."

All of which makes Waldman-Stiel blush just a little, but she certainly doesn't mind the encouragement. "My plan is to raise my children and, when the last one is out the door, go to Broadway and play the old broads, the character parts, and go on tour — and take my husband with me."