Tovah Feldshuh has played so many unforgettable characters over the years, from her role as the original Yentl on Broadway to prosecutor Danielle Melnick in Law & Order, politician Deanna Monroe on The Walking Dead, and, most recently, the adorably controlling matriarch Bina Roklov in Nobody Wants This.
But one heroine who holds a special place in her heart, no matter how many characters she plays, is Golda Meir, whom she portrayed in the one-woman show Golda’s Balcony. Now, a filmed version of that performance will be shown on December 8 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, in an event that will include a conversation with Fauda star Lior Raz, who costars with Feldshuh and Dustin Hoffman in the recent comedy, Tuner.
The showing of this filmed version of Golda’s Balcony will coincide with the film's premiere on the international streaming platform IZZY, which showcases Israeli films and series.
“I’m thrilled about the Golda’s Balcony screening,” said Feldshuh, in a Zoom interview ahead of the event, which marks Meir’s yahrzeit.
“I did this performance a very long time ago… Now I’m about the age Golda was as prime minister. The character has grown in me like good wine – and this is the performance we captured.”
William Gibson’s landmark one-woman play chronicles Meir’s life, from her early years in Kyiv and Milwaukee to her leadership during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Feldshuh’s tour-de-force performance earned her a Tony Award nomination and led the show to become the longest-running one-woman play in Broadway history.
'Idea was born after I met David Fishelson': Nati Dinnar
Nati Dinnar, founder and CEO of the IZZY Media Group, said, “The idea was born after I met David Fishelson, the producer of the legendary Broadway production. David recently made aliyah, and as someone who has been a longtime fan of IZZY, he immediately saw the importance and the symbolism of bringing Golda’s Balcony to Israeli and global audiences through the IZZY platform.”
When they realized that the date aligned with Golda Meir’s yahrzeit, and that they had the opportunity to host Tovah Feldshuh herself in Jerusalem, everything came together naturally, Dinnar said. “Bringing this iconic performance to the cinematheque, and to viewers around the world on IZZY, felt like a meaningful cultural moment we couldn’t miss.” The filmed version of the play, which was made in 2019, has been screened at two dozen film festivals.
Feldshuh spoke to The Jerusalem Post about Golda’s Balcony from a most unusual location: Baku, Azerbaijan. “I’m on a peace mission with Rabbi Marc Schneier, head of The Hampton Synagogue,” she said. “We are doing very well in Azerbaijan – if only the whole Muslim world were like this country.” She said the country has hosted thousands of Israeli tourists in recent years and has vowed to protect and preserve its Jewish community. She would be heading to Israel after her visit to Baku, she said.
Feldshuh has had a distinguished and distinctive career, moving between theater, films, and television, while making time to raise a family and build a life on the Upper West Side, a neighborhood that has been her home base most of her adult life. When she started out, she used the name Terri Sue, but changed it to her Hebrew name when a boyfriend told her it didn’t really suit her.
Going by the name Tovah, she has embraced her Jewish heritage onstage and off. Golda’s Balcony became one of her career-defining roles, and Feldshuh still remembers her initial reaction when she was offered the part in the late 1990s.
“I said to my manager, Jean Fox, ‘Oh God, another Jewish mother,’” she recalled. “And she said, ‘What are you talking about? This is the mother of a state.’ That changed everything. I dove into it. Now that I’m in my 70s and have been on Broadway for over 50 years in various parts, I’m not afraid at all about being typecast.”
The physical transformation was famously elaborate: the fat suit, the prosthetic nose, the wig with two hidden microphones (“Very Jewish – always have a plan B,” she quipped). But for Feldshuh, the deeper challenge was finding Meir’s emotional and ideological core.
“I went to Milwaukee. I went to Denver. I went all over Israel. I even went to Kiev,” she said. “Her worldview was formed very early – her belief in education, in helping those who had less, in Zionism as an expression of responsibility,” she said.
Meir’s parents wanted her to quit school and run their store, but she left to live with her sister and continue her studies. “Understanding that girl who ran away from her parents’ candy store to go to high school in Denver was the key to understanding the prime minister.”
Her empathy for Meir grew as she studied the 1973 Yom Kippur War and Meir’s resignation that followed.
“She didn’t run from responsibility,” Feldshuh said. “She went to funerals where people screamed ‘murderer’ at her. She faced them. That kind of courage stays with you.”
Feldshuh had hoped to revive the play in New York after October 7. “I said, ‘We have to do this again,’” she explained. “But some producers – Jewish producers – felt we’d be boycotted, that there would be demonstrations, that it could be dangerous. That’s when I really felt how intense global antisemitism has become.”
For her, the Jerusalem event and the release of Golda’s Balcony via IZZY has come at the perfect time.
“It feels karmic,” she said. “Her values – and our story as a people – will be available worldwide. I want people to watch it. I want people to understand what it means to build and defend a state and still yearn for peace.”
Dinnar said the timing is no accident.
“In moments of rising antisemitism, storytelling becomes more than entertainment, it becomes a form of cultural resilience,” he emphasized. “A platform like IZZY gives people around the world access to the real Israel: its complexity, creativity, humor, struggles, and humanity. When audiences connect with Israeli and Jewish stories, they connect with the people behind them. That connection breaks stereotypes, counters misinformation, and builds empathy. Our role is to make those stories accessible, proud, and global.”
IF GOLDA’S Balcony showcases Feldshuh as one of history’s most complex heroines, Nobody Wants This lets audiences see her comic instincts and timing as she plays a very different kind of Jewish mother: Bina Roklov, a controlling Russian immigrant whose son, a young rabbi, has fallen in love with a gentile woman.
“She’s more conservative than I am in many ways,” Feldshuh said. “But my job as an actor is always to be in my character’s corner, to stand on her side of the tennis net. When I see Bina, I see my mother, I see the non-assimilationist – and I also see wisdom. You have to find the soul of the character, even when she’s driving her family crazy.”
We talked about her appearance in an episode of the second season in which she strides onto a basketball court all dressed in black, as rap music plays in the background, and she has just been compared to a mob boss. “It’s hilarious,” she said. “I’m very grateful for that entrance.”
Told that Israeli fans quickly binged the second season just after it dropped, she said, “I’m very grateful; I’m honored. We’re going back to shoot Season 3 in March, so I’ll be doing a lot of traveling.”
I asked what it meant for Feldshuh that Golda’s Balcony will reach Israeli audiences at the cinematheque event, and people all over the world on IZZY.
“It means the world to me,” she said. “The message is the same as when we opened the show: We want to live. We want to live in peace. And we will do everything we can, with whatever years we’re given, to protect that life.
Then, slipping into a slightly wicked smile that would be perfectly at home on Bina Roklov, she added: “And if we can make people laugh along the way – even better.”