...A few days before thanksgiving
LA Cubana and I went to see "Golda's Balcony"
the award winning Broadway one woman show
starring Tovah Feldshuh
about Golda Meir
this was a win win sitch
for moi honeys....
as not only am i a life long fan of Golda
but ive always really adored the totally under-appreciated Tovah
Back when I wrote my interview column for "The Flatiron News"
called "My Dinner with Rossi" in which I would take out
generally B level celebs or celebs about to "pop"or celebs in a dry spell..to dinner and interview them over
food and usually several cocktails
i had the pleasure of interviewing Tovah..
This was during a time in her career when she was not exactly dancing in the main stream
all though she was dancing in a small Jewish Theatre in Manhattan
I took her out to hmm the Irridium I think..no idea how to spell that dears
and don't make me try...
she was simply put a gas....
I was knocked out by
not only how charming and approachable she was
but how much she ate
and drank
a huge steak
lots of sides
many drinks...i think beer...
screw the calories honey..i love it!
she had gusto
after the mag came out she sent Me a card
thanking me
and signing it
your fan,
Tovah
this from a woman who's resume reads like
who's a who of great theatre
and independant film
but that's not the Tovah i wanted to interview
no i wanted to meet the hot
wild young woman
who played the Czech freedom fighter
in the late 70's (or was it early 80's?) mini-series
"The Holocaust"
oh honey
she was hot
especially to someone like me
who'd grown up with nothing but the
passive images
of my people walking into death camps
seeing a woman fighting
back
even if it was TV...
was great
course the Tovah i met'
was not young and hot
although she was very cute..
she was hmm a woman shall we say at a certain age
with kids
a house in the suburbs
looked a bit like a soccer mom with great legs
but she had class
and chutzpah
she was the first person i interviewed for my column which i proceeded to pen for several more years interviewing many great actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Idie Falco, Aaron Eckhart...just dropping a few names here...don't mind me
but no one was as accessible, up front, don't give a shit honest as Tovah..
now
in "Golda"
she is getting the attention she deserves
and my god
does she deserve it
for the entire play
think its like an hour and half
its just her on the stage
no intermission
no distraction
no side cast
just her
taking us into the mind
and the life
of Golda
making us feel what it was like
to make those painful decisions
about war
death
the blood of her people
it reminded me of
how alone Israel was in those early days
how all its enemies surrounded it
ready to destroy or enslave
or exile everyone inside
how Zionisn
does not equal racism
and never has
Zionism
equals
survival
the refusal to be genocided
the refusal to die
the refusal
to swallow
or abandon one's own faith
one's own soul
and how timely
how amazingly timely this play is
because here we are once
again
with the whole world
seeming to care nothing for the survival of Israel
and the whisperings of anti-semitism
grow to shouts
grow to the burning of synagogues
Tovah..a woman of class
portraying Golda
the woman who saved Israel on more than one occasion
but who only focused on her failures
on her regret for having listened to her military advisers
and being caught so terribly off guard for the Yom Kippur War..
it was a powerful night of theatre
and resonates in me still
so much to think about
the theatre crowd gave Tovah a standing ovation and refused to stop clapping
until she had come out to bow three times
i looked at Tovah's legs..they had taken stockings and filled them with some sort of material to make her legs looked swollen and old and suffering like Golda's had been
she had been so ill...and yet stood proud and strong always in public
Golda..the grandmother who cooked chicken soup for her soldiers ...in the play...Tovah says..."but at the bottom of the pot is blood.."
I thought of Tovah...not a Hollywood actress, not an actress who seems to have played the game or seems even to know or care how...who is now at a point in her career when most actresses...are only seen at charity benefits...or the occasional info-mercial...but she is standing up and standing out
for me
this was a night to celebrate babes over 50...
hell golda didn't become prime minister till she was 70..!!
so here's to the all grown up babes
who make their second halfs
a ripe, robust
rich
and radiant
burst of
in your face glory
Bravo!
