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   Successful Women

 WINTER ISSUE 2003  SUBSCRIBE

>> Tickets for and information on Golda's Balcony.

Tovah Feldshuh

Since originating the title role in Yentl on Broadway in 1975, actress Tovah Feldshuh has compiled a celebrated repertoire. She has portrayed not just strong women—Katharine Hepburn and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland among them—but strong Jewish women—such as vaudeville legend Sophie Tucker, defense attorney Danielle Melnick on Law & Order and matriarch Judy Stein in Kissing Jessica Stein. Through roles like these, Feldshuh has drawn the line between character and caricature, breaking down the stereotype of the typical Jewish woman and creating something unexpected and different every time.

Feldshuh has appeared everywhere—Broadway, cabaret, television, film—and on nearly 30 lists of award winners and nominees (Tony, Emmy, Drama Desk, Obie, Jewish Image—the list goes on). In October 2003, she returned to Broadway for the seventh time, in Golda's Balcony, a portrait of Israel's fourth prime minister, Golda Meir. The one-woman show amassed the largest advance ticket sale in the history of Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre—thanks to an acclaimed script by playwright William Gibson and Feldshuh's transformative performance. (The New York Times said, "She does more than just resurrect Meir: She embodies an entire country.")

What were your sights set on before you started your career?
I actually studied philosophy at Sarah Lawrence. After I graduated, and while I was on the waiting list for Harvard Law, I applied for and won a McKnight Fellowship in Acting to the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre. For two years, I understudied all the leading ladies and played a lot of small roles—21 in all. The last production I did there was the musical Cyrano, with Christopher Plummer. I had 14 lines—I played the fruit seller. The production went to Broadway, and because I could sing and dance and act, I went with it. After that came my big Broadway break originating the role of Yentl...and it went from there.

Tovah is not the name on your birth certificate: Why adopt your Hebrew name instead of a more mainstream public persona?
It wasn't a career move; I changed it for love. When I was in college, I fell for a boy who said to me, "How can I kiss a girl named Terri Sue? That's a Southern girl's name, and you're a Jewish girl from New York." When he asked if I had any nicknames, I told him I had been called Tovah in Sunday school. The boy thought that was exotic. So I changed my name, informally, and Tovah stuck. It's amazing to look back and see how little I understood about that name and what it would mean for me later in life. As a Jewish actress, the problem isn't being cast as Katharine Hepburn by people not of my faith. The difficulty is being cast in such a role by people of my faith: For a lot of roles, I had to be twice as good as anybody else just to get in the door. On the other hand, some of the greatest roles of my career have been given to me because of my name and because I'm Jewish. I didn't even audition for Kissing Jessica Stein, Holocaust or Golda's Balcony.

What beliefs drive you as an actor?
I believe in acting as an opportunity for transformation. You engender in the audience the hope for their own change. Underneath that trapeze act of skill is the notion that a human being can transform himself, and that notion is the hope of the world. I also believe in never giving up: You fall down seven times, you get up eight. When I was a little girl, a horse I was riding bucked and threw me—right into a pile of manure. My father called out, "Terri Sue, are you all right?" "I'm okay," I cried, "but I'm covered in horse shit." My father looked down at me and said, "So is everybody. Now get back on your horse." That lesson stayed with me.

Have you been typecast as "the Jewish woman," or do you seek ethnic roles because you believe in portraying the stereotype positively—as a sort of advocacy for the Jewish culture?
You give me too much credit. When a role comes into my embrace, I try to infuse it with my own particular insights and intelligence—then it's perceived as not being stereotypical. I'm thrilled that the reports about Kissing Jessica Stein were so positive, saying that I broke the stereotype. I am offered tons of Jewish roles, most of which I won't even look at. I'm not interested in playing a Jewish mother from Long Island in an ensemble piece. The Jewish roles I pick have to be drop-dead phenomenal. Otherwise, offer me Mary Lincoln.

What does this role mean to you as a Jewish woman?
Every moment of my life—as an artist and a mensch—has led to the privilege of playing this extraordinary woman. Golda was a person of influence who understood the power of words and ideas: "There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews," she said, and "We will forgive the Arabs for killing our sons. We will never forgive them for turning our sons into killers." I consider this the greatest role of my career.

Your success has been a fairly steady stream over the years. Was there a time when you struggled?
I think we all struggle at various times in our lives; it's all relative. I have always been able to make my living as an actor except for the time after 9/11, when two of my big concerts in the World Trade Center were canceled. I made up that revenue by teaching a workshop, The Actor's Approach to a Song, which I enjoyed tremendously. If there's been any sadness for me as an actress it's been related to the parts for which I was not chosen or the movies I have not been asked to make, but sadness did not stem from any lack of abundance in my opportunities. Early on, I chose to stay in New York. That meant choosing live performance which, of course, does not generate the income of a TV series. Did I sacrifice money and fame for excellence? Absolutely. But here I am, halfway through my career, more than a quarter century on and off Broadway, and I can say I'm proud of 98 percent of my work.

How have you balanced your family with work that sends you all over the globe?
I was starring on Broadway when my son, Brandon, was in first grade. Six nights a week I couldn't be home to put him to bed. That year he gave me a Mother's Day card that said, "Mommy, thank you for all the breakfasts." When he started having trouble in school, I woke up and realized, "If my children aren't okay, I'm not okay." And I stopped taking Broadway shows. Did my career suffer? Of course. But that's life. Time with your parents should not be scheduled, it's not like a meeting with the psychologist. When my children turn 18, they're out of the house and I'm free to work more. My career has spiraled up since my son went to college and my daughter has become more independent. But when they were young, I was home with them. I coached their soccer teams, oversaw their music training wherever they were active, I was active.

How did you immerse yourself in the role of Golda Meir?
I'm still learning. I visited one of Golda's homes in Denver, and I traveled to Israel to continue my research: meet with her children, her grandchildren, the children of her generals, the women of the Knesset. I want to do justice to the story of this woman and her agony, a mother lion screaming for peace in the belly of war. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to now bring this story to a Broadway audience of 600 people a night.

What keeps you coming back to one-woman shows, like your "custom concerts" Tovah as Tallulah: A Match Made in Heaven and Tovah: Out of Her Mind! and now Golda's Balcony?
It's simple: I keep doing those shows because I'm a mother. When I am the show, I get to say when I perform and when I don't. I tell my producers I want to take off for Rosh Hashanah, for Yom Kippur, when my kid comes home from a trip. And you know what they say? "That's just fine".

You've been recognized not only as an actress but also as a humanitarian, especially by the Jewish community. Do you dedicate a lot of time to charitable work?
Jewish organizations honor me for one reason: Because I help the Jewish community raise money for worthy causes. I am asked to emcee or perform at ceremonies, and it's my pleasure to do so. I think you have to give yourself to the causes you believe in. Because in the end, that's what you're left with. Happiness, pride, dignity, you'll wind up with none of it if money is all you live on. Also, I function for my community by avoiding stereotyping Jewish women, which I accomplish by demanding the truth of a character and digging into her specifics to arrive at "dead right" instead of "alive and wrong".

How do you identify with the strength of some of the powerful women you've portrayed?
I learned tremendously from every one of them, especially Golda Meir because she's humble and has no vanity. For an actor to survive his life, there has to be some brazen confidence the rejections are enormous.

What's next?
I'm happily signed on to Golda's Balcony through next July. Then I hope to do something of a national scope, through TV or a movie. I'm a singer, so I'm also lining up symphonic dates for 2004-2005.

Do you have a favorite venue or medium for performing?
No, just give me a great role and I'm a happy artist.