Tovah Feldshuh Brings 'Golda's Balcony' to Westhampton Beach

After making history for having the longest-running one-woman play on Broadway, four-time Tony award-winning actress Tovah Feldshuh is now taking her show, “,” to the

On July 31, she will star as Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, a character she has been playing since her long Broadway run, from 2003-2005.

“It’s the first time that Golda’s Balcony is coming to Eastern Long Island,” said Feldshuh, during a phone interview from Washington, D.C. where she was vacationing with her family.

“I’m grateful to be invited to the Hamptons—I love them all,” she said, when asked if she has a favorite.

She said while in the Hamptons she will be staying at the East Hampton home of filmmaker Patti Kenner,  and also at the Quiogue home of Ellen and Jerome Stern, patrons of the arts. While here, she says he enjoys swimming and runs on the beach, to keep up the stamina she needs for her all-encompassing roles.

This will not be the first time Feldshuh has performed in the Hamptons, since she did her show, “Tovah: Out of Her Mind!” at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, and also at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts center. She also did a piece on Tallulah Bankhead at Bay Street Theatre, and she performed at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton, at a cabaret convention, with pieces on artist Frieda Kahlo.

On August 27, she plans to attend the Guild Hall Gala along with Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson.

Feldshuh is no stranger to playing strong women, from Tallulah Bankhead to Irena Gut Opdyke, the 17-year-old girl who rescued 13 Jews from the Nazis in World War II, who she played in “Irena’s Vow,” on Broadway in 2009. Of playing the strong, determined Golda Meir, Feldshuh says, “The nature of this role was remarkable—she was the only female prime minister to date in Israel.”

The play, “Golda’s Balcony,” tells the story of her surprising rise to power, from her birth in Kiev, Russia, to her immigration to the states with her family at age 8, to her humble roots as a Milwaukee school teacher, to her passion for the Zionist movement and the politics of Israel.

“Few people get to dream something and live out their dream, but she did it,” said Feldshuh. Golda Meir was prime minister from 1969 to 1974, when she ran into conflicts with the Arabs and finally resigned from office, and died in 1978, at the age of 80.

Feldshuh did all she could to research Meir’s character. She traveled several times to Israel, including with a camera crew to make a documentary film, “The Journey to Golda’s Balcony,” which will be available in the lobby of the WHBPAC on July 31.

When she was offered the role in 2003, Feldshuh said she only had time to go to Milwaukee and Denver for research, and she also went to the Museum of TV and Broadcasting in NYC, where she studied tapes of Golda Meir.

“I stayed three to four hours in preparation, trying to get as much knowledge as I could,” she said. “It’s important that I become my characters.”

In her extensive research, Feldshuh also met Golda Meir’s children and grandchildren, and went to her home, in her hometown of Ramat Aviv, in Tel Aviv.

“I enjoy studying, research and history—it gives me a justifiable claim of the life of another human being, so I can deal with ownership and embodiment, and I can become them,” Feldshuh said.

“Golda’s Balcony” first enjoyed a great success off-Broadway, at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater in Soho, and then it went to Broadway, at the Helen Hays Theater, for three years. After the show closed in 2005, Feldshuh and her camera crew completed their documentary film, tracing Meir’s steps with ex-prime ministers and generals.

Feldshuh now spends a month each year traveling around the country doing “Golda’s Balcony.” She did it in Chicago, Toronto, Desert Springs, Calif., Cleveland, and other places. She will be taking it to the Alliance Theater in Atlanta for a month.

Recently, she wrote a new, humorous piece called, “Aging is Optional,” which she will be debuting at Yale University July 23, before taking it to Cambridge and Cape May. Feldshuh has taught “The Actor’s Approach to a Song” at the Yale Cabaret Conference.

For tickets to “Golda’s Balcony,” call the WHBPAC box office at 288-1500 or click here.