[1] Small began singing in an extracurricular after-school program, and acted in Hebrew school and in the Jewish Theater for Children, where she was an understudy for Don Scardino.
[1] At age 10, she played Beverly Sills's daughter in The Ballad of Baby Doe (1963) at the New York City Opera.
[1] She was accepted at the Juilliard drama school, but deferred her admission for a year in order to act in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof.
[8][9] She turned down a part in Godspell to play the title character in F. Jasmine Addams, the first musical staged at Circle in the Square Theatre, in 1971.
[19] While Small had wanted to audition for the original Broadway show, she was told by the play's producers that she "wasn't Jewish enough".
[20][21] In 2007 she starred in the one-woman show Neva Small: Not Quite an Ingenue, a theatrical revue based on her musical career, at The Actors' Temple.
[25] This compilation of melodies that she sang during her stage and film career is noted for including "many generally obscure show tunes".