Singer-actress Shannon Daley, 2023 MAC Award nominee for Best Female Debut initially pursued a career in acting on the stage. She studied at SUNY New Paltz and her regional musical credits include, Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, Sheila in Hair, Mallory in City of Angels and Johanna in Sweeney Todd as well as 
roles in Children of a Lesser God, Picnic and various Shakespeare works. Daley paused her career to raise a family, returning in 2022 with her cabaret solo debut Anybody Have A Map? in NYC, a show show took audiences on her journey through becoming an empty-nester and rediscovering and pursuing her dreams during a pandemic.
Currently, she is performing in Love and Let Die: Confessions of a Bond Girl, a fictionalized account of Bond Girl, Sylvia Trench’s memoir of her on again/off again affair with 007. Love and Let Die: Confessions of a Bond Girl plays at Don’t Tell Mama on Tuesday, June 25 and Friday, June 28, both at 7 PM. For tickets, visit www.donttellmamanyc.com
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Shannon Daley (SD) Six Questions:
NLE: Your latest show, Love and Let Die: Confessions of a Bond Girl, is about the world of espionage, specifically James Bond’s milieu, as seen through the eyes of Sylvia Trench. How did you get the inspiration to write this show?
SD: My father was a big James Bond fan, so I grew up watching these movies with him. In fact, with each sporty car he bought over the years, he always took a picture of himself standing beside them in the driveway in a tux. He collected a few sports cars over the years, including a 1964 Sunbeam Tiger and a 
1969 Jaquar E-type convertible (his pride and joy). Later as an adult, I continued to enjoy going to see these movies. I loved the outrageous action—the crazy situations Bond would get himself in and out of—his sense of humor, the cars, the gadgetry, the fashion and the exotic locations. I also loved living vicariously through the different women and observing how they evolved and changed over time. When Spectre came out, I had a realization that most theme songs were sung by women and almost all of them were about Bond himself. I wondered, if you put them all together, what would they ultimately say about him—and a story began to take shape from there. Telling the tale from each Bond girl’s perspective seemed too disjointed, so it evolved into being the story of just one Bond Girl, Sylvia Trench.
NLE: Is Sylvia Trench your alter-ego? How closely do you identify with her, if at all
SD: Yes, in this show I take on the persona of Sylvia Trench as the protagonist of this story, as she recounts her memoirs of her relationship with James Bond. She is the first Bond Girl we met onscreen in Dr. No and was originally developed as the 
recurring girlfriend of James Bond, who was always being left behind while he went away on his missions. This premise was continued in From Russia with Love but was later abandoned in Goldfinger. It was an easy jump to believe that their on-again/off again affair continued through the years, in between his other entanglements. I think it’s easy to relate to Sylvia, as someone who is infatuated with a charming and fascinating character, who showers her with affection and attention when they are together, but somehow still remains at an arm’s length. He is unable to commit fully – whether that is because of the nature of his job or because he is just incapable, is hard to determine. Regardless, hope springs eternal that circumstances will change, and they will ultimately be together—so she continues to hang on to this relationship. I think everyone has that one relationship in their past where they fell in love with the wrong person and stayed too long, in the hopes that things may change, so people can sympathize with that.
NLE: Have you written other shows or generally exercised your writing skills in other areas?
SD: I wrote all the patter and four parodies for my debut show, Anybody Have a Map?, which was performed in 2021-2022 and nominated for a MAC Award for Best Debut in 2023. I’ve always had an interest in writing and was always writing short stories, plays and poems as a kid. I wrote a full-length play/performance piece in college. I also wrote a full-length spec screenplay
based on the life and characters of author, MaryAnne Sadlier. I was advised that I should flush it out into a full novel, so that I would retain the rights to the story. I wrote about 10 chapters—over 100 pages or so—and my computer died and I lost everything! I still haven’t gotten over that loss. Someday, I will revisit that and pick it up again.
NLE: What musical material attracts you the most? How do you build your repertoire?
SD: I come from a musical family with a classical and jazz background. Some of my Dad’s favorites were Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite or Rites of Spring, as well as Stan Getz and Dave Brubeck on the other side of the coin. As a result, I tend toward dramatic, complex music in minor keys; add a powerhouse vocal and I’m sold! No wonder I gravitated toward the Bond themes!
NLE: You studied acting at SUNY New Paltz and began to build a career, starring in many regional theatrical productions. You left the business to raise a family. Tell us about that experience—and we presume, no regrets.
SD: I was very focused and driven in those years, both during my years of study and my regional work. I learned to overcome my innate shyness and developed my voice and learned to dance; I just loved being part of that world—it felt like home to me. I love nothing more than bringing characters and their stories to life, whether by song or dialogue. I knew I always wanted to come and perform on stage (in NYC), although I thought it would be in a play or musical! I came here in 1995 and was actively auditioning and getting call-backs, so it got off to a good start.
However, I always knew th
at I wanted to have a child someday, too, so when I met and married my husband and got pregnant with my eldest daughter a mere two years later, there was no question that I would temporarily lay my acting and performing aside. Two more kids later, that “temporary break” turned into 20 years, give or take. Absolutely no regrets, and now that they are older, I have a chance to go back to performing again.
NLE: What called you back to the stage, in this case, the cabaret stage? Has it been a fulfilling journey so far?
SD: The calling was always there; it never left. As I told some friends recently, I’ve sung all my life, whether there’s an audience or not, so during my entire hiatus from performing, I was still creating content—posting songs and videos online. I even choreographed a musical at a local high school. Eventually, I ended up reconnecting with a friend of mine that I knew back when I was acting, and she introduced me to cabaret.
I started out with classes and then progressed to Cablabs with Singnasium and contests and to finally doing my own solo shows. I like that there’s a close-knit community in cabaret, and that you have the power to create whatever it is you are moved to create, without having to adhere to a prewritten script or score. I would love to revisit working on plays and musicals again, but I definitely feel that I’ve found another home here in cabaret, and I hope to be a part of it for a long time to come.
Top three photos by Helane Blumfield
