Tovah Feldshuh is amazing in Golda’s Balcony!

The play opens with Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir sitting at a table in her robe.  For ninety minutes Ms. Feldshuh delivers rapid-fire dialog. She’s the only person on stage. There are no scene changes and no wardrobe changes other than removing and replacing the robe and a suit jacket. Yet this amazingly talented actress brings to life Golda Meir in stories from childhood to her last days. In these stories Ms Feldshuh impersonates as many as 40 characters including Meir’s mother, her husband and numerous commanders and heads of state including Henry Kissinger, Moshe Dayan and David Ben-Gurion.

Golda Mabovitch grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after her parents immigrated to America from Russia. As a young woman she became involved with the Jewish political movement and there she found her calling. She married Morris Meyerson under the condition that they move to Palestine so she could follow her passion. Her work took priority over her marriage and her children. She said, “It is an absolute necessity. I cannot survive without it.” From living on a kibbutz into political leadership and eventually to being elected Prime Minister, Golda, who later shortened the last name to Meir, worked to help establish the state of Israel and later fought for its very survival.

Feldshuh, an attractive 50’ish actress transforms her looks with a fat suit, wig, prosthetic nose and frumpy clothing. In preparation for the play written by William Gibson, Ms. Feldshuh researched the life of Golda Meir including travel to the Middle East to interview people who knew and worked with her. It’s easy to see why this play made history by becoming the longest running one-woman play on Broadway with 493 performances. Over the past eight years Feldshuh has also brought Golda’s Balcony to Los Angeles, San Francisco and London. In addition to winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actress for Golda’s Balcony, Feldshuh has earned four Tony nominations, four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, the Obie and the Theatre World Award.

Golda’s Balcony, playing at the Alliance Theatre through October 30^th is a historical journey through the life of one of the first woman world leaders. It is not to be missed.