{"id":64802,"date":"2021-12-09T15:55:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=64802"},"modified":"2021-12-09T15:55:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:55:48","slug":"tovah-feldshuh-prepares-to-become-dr-ruth-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/tovah-feldshuh-prepares-to-become-dr-ruth-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Tovah Feldshuh prepares to become &#8216;Dr. Ruth&#8217; (again)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON, <em>Special to the CCJN<\/em><\/p>\n<p>With innumerable acting awards and plaudits to her credit, Tovah Feldshuh has continued to ply her acting craft during the current pandemic, a time when even she admits thriving in theatre has been challenging to say the least.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_64845\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64845\" class=\"wp-image-64845 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_.jpg 1000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64845\" class=\"wp-image-64845 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BecomingDr.Ruth_.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tovah Feldshuh in the role of Dr. Ruth Westheimer in &#8220;Becoming Dr. Ruth.&#8221; (Photo by Carol Rosegg)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ever the pragmatist, Feldshuh used some of her recent industry downtime to compile and finish a tribute to her forceful and indomitable mother. The result is &#8220;Lilyville,&#8221; a book that tells her journey as an actor through her own prism with her mother in a prominent and starring role.<\/p>\n<p>Published in April by Hatchett Books, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/tovah-feldshuh-creates-tender-portrait-of-her-mom-in-lilyville\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Lilyville&#8221;<\/a> has kept Feldshuh busy in a series of cross-country personal appearances and book signings coupled with her virtual and in-person acting career. The book was the subject of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/tovah-feldshuh-creates-tender-portrait-of-her-mom-in-lilyville\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an earlier CCJN feature article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Feldshuh approached the literary project like she might any new role \u2013 with purpose and vigor. Her mother was 40 years old when she brought Tovah into the world \u2013 a separation of almost two generations \u2013 and the actress quipped in an exclusive CCJN phone interview:&nbsp; &#8220;We didn&#8217;t have a generation gap; we had a generation chasm.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_60713\" style=\"width: 207px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60713\" class=\"wp-image-60713 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville-197x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville-197x300.png 197w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville.png 318w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 197px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 197\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60713\" class=\"wp-image-60713 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville-197x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville-197x300.png 197w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lilyville.png 318w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-60713\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feldshuh&#8217;s &#8220;Lilyville&#8221; released in April of 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Feldshuh continued: &#8220;My mother gave me a lot of skills for later in life, which I didn&#8217;t appreciate growing up, but which were painful to me as a young child,&#8221; she confided. This came from her mother&#8217;s own life experiences and fears. Lily&#8217;s desire to protect her daughter gave Feldshuh a generous proportion of resiliency and preparation she has used throughout her career in an industry with more than its share of potential pitfalls.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of her acting career, she was given very little encouragement, but through sheer determination and drive, she kept busy, learning her lines and always being ready. The qualities were drummed into her by her mother.<\/p>\n<p>As she proudly proclaims, &#8220;within 18 months of having just 14 lines in a red dress&#8221; in her Broadway debut (in the short-lived&nbsp; Christopher Plummer musical &#8220;<em>Cyrano<\/em>&#8220;), she was the star in the titular role of &#8220;Yentl&#8221; at the Eugene O&#8217;Neill Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was an extraordinary journey \u2013 a most unexpected one \u2013 and one that totally delighted me,&#8221; she said beaming. &#8220;It was a big shock and a w<em>onderful<\/em> shock.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her career has taken her to a great many legitimate theaters and onto both big and small screens with regularity. Over the course of the last two decades, some of of her more famous stage roles have largely been studies she has painstakingly conducted, which have breathed life into the deceased characters of hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She&#8217;s also had the opportunity to portray Holocaust survivor and sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer in Mark St. Germain&#8217;s play &#8220;Becoming Dr. Ruth, &#8221; a joint virtual production between North Coast Rep and Bay Street Theater this past summer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_64804\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64804\" class=\"wp-image-64804 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1.png 976w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64804\" class=\"wp-image-64804 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BDrRuth_MJH1.png 976w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64804\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tovah Feldshuh in the North Coast Rep&#8217;s joint streaming production with Bay Street Theatre. (Photo by Aaron Rumley)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I work very diligently,&#8221; she admitted. &#8220;It&#8217;s a very wonderful way to learn period \u2013 self education. You get asked to do something. You have a deadline. I&#8217;m reading books about Ruth Westheimer that I&#8217;m getting to now. I&#8217;m studying more of the German because that was her lingua franca, that was her first language.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, unlike the others, Westheimer&#8217;s depiction in&nbsp; &#8220;<em>Becoming Dr. Ruth<\/em>&#8221; was not a role she had originated. The process by which Feldshuh and other method actors turn a character from the printed page into a character on a stage is oftentimes a collaborative process with the playwright and the director.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bay Street Theatre&#8217;s artistic director Scott Schwartz is serving as the director on the project and it is a fortuitous coupling for the two of them. He directed Feldshuh in &#8220;<em>Golda&#8217;s Balcony<\/em>&#8221; on Broadway 18 years ago.&nbsp; A release of her Off-Broadway performance of the William Gibson play filmed just prior to its being moved to the Helen Hayes Theatre was not released until 2019.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_64849\" style=\"width: 276px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GoldasBalcony.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64849\" class=\"wp-image-64849 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GoldasBalcony.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"266\" height=\"190\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 266px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 266\/190;\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64849\" class=\"wp-image-64849 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GoldasBalcony.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"266\" height=\"190\"><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feldshuh in &#8220;Golda&#8217;s Balcony.&#8221; (Photo courtesy Scott Schwartz)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This Off-Broadway limited run of &#8220;<em>Becoming Dr. Ruth<\/em>&#8221; is Feldshuh&#8217;s return to a New York City stage since her last turn on Broadway eight years ago as a replacement for Berthe in the Tony Award winning revival of &#8220;<em>Pippin<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact he crafted it more than a decade ago for another actress,&nbsp; St. Germain has enjoyed Feldshuh&#8217;s recent outing in the role for North Coast Rep and has been actively working with Feldshuh and Schwartz to expand the work for its upcoming premiere on December 16 at the Edmond J. Safra Hall of the Museum of Jewish Heritage &#8211; A Living Memorial to the Holocaust at Battery Park in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mark St. Germain is great to work with; he\u2019s very easy going,&#8221; Feldshuh added. &#8220;We have changed the opening. We have changed the ending. He has written new stuff for me and I am very grateful to him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This supports her belief that the collaborative process is never fully realized. &#8220;The journey really never ends,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;The idea of freezing a show to me is crackers. You never really freeze a show. You keep exploring and looking and making several changes. You keep excavating, hoping to give deeper, more profound, more connected meanings for the audience to the river of common human experience so that the audience can run their experience as they\u2019re watching your experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And what&#8217;s more for those that make it to the theater, Feldshuh promises not only a thoughtful and humorous depiction of Westheimer, but an additional bonus for her fans: she&#8217;ll be signing copies of &#8220;Lilyville&#8221; in the lobby.<\/p>\n<p><em>Directed by Scott Schwartz, Tovah Feldshuh appears in the one-woman show &#8220;<strong>Becoming Dr. Ruth<\/strong>&#8221; by Mark St. Germain beginning with opening night slated for Thursday, December 16 in the Edmond J. Safra Hall of the Museum of Jewish Heritage &#8211; A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Park in New York City. <a href=\"https:\/\/mjhnyc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tickets are available here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Tovah%20Feldshuh%20prepares%20to%20become%20%27Dr.%20Ruth%27%20%28again%29\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":64845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7122],"tags":[11329,8790,8795,11904,8788,11903,11451],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64802"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64853,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64802\/revisions\/64853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}