Golda's Balcony- the Cliff Notes Version of Golda Meir

After a 15 month run on Broadway starring Tovah Feldshuh, the very talented Valerie Harper is now giving her best shot to bring Prime Minster Meir's 60 years of active political involvement to the stage.

Written by William Gibson, this play covers Meir's life from a motivated Russian girl to the esteemed position of Prime Minister of Israel, and has a theatrical flair with a narrative that jumps back and forth chronologically with Harper firing off names, dates and re-inacting crucial situations. It is interwoven with bits of personal experiences that take the audience back and forth so quickly that one must listen intently to grasp all the material.

It is very clear that Harper's impressive non stop narrative is meant to entertain us while she wrestles with weighty decisions and staged phone conversations with dignitaries, religious and political figures. Not to be overlooked are the numerous "conversations" she engages in with herself as the characters of her parents, her husband, her generals, and Henry Kissinger. This is acting at its strongest or weakest depending on your personal preference.

Harper's talent and spontaneity are evident of a tremendous amount of preparation and she has no doubt done her homework on Golda Meir. But, Harper's vigor for this role is inconsistent with the fact that in reality Meir is an older, sickly woman. The story is obviously told by the older Meir in the twlight of her retirement of her political life in 1974. It's quite evident that a young, thin woman has been heavily padded and is moving about quite well for the heavy smoking, aging woman suffering from a severe case of lymphoma in one leg.

The creative team fails to nail many of the complexities of Meir's personality, strengths, weaknesses and the depths of her conflicts in such a short program.

Set designer Anna Louizos adds to the serious nature of this piece with a cave like enclosure which serves as the background for the numerous projection images that accompany Harper's soliloquy. The projected images are well placed and actually break up the compelling, and at times tedious narration.

There are some touching moments such as Golda's visits to the detention camps in Cyprus to release the children, the speech from her heart that raised $50 million dollars, the candlelight naming of all 22 detention camps. There are also great moments of Golda's fierce devotion and some powerful lines such as "There will be peace when Arabs learn to love their children more than then they hate the Jews." The timley impact of much of this is lost in the confinements of a 90 minuet biographical performance.

 Golda Meir's life long commitment to her land and to her people was the paragon of human dedication. Her complete involvement, tempered with love, fired by fierce devoution, caused the world to know that she was a true mover of mountains. If the creative team took a bit more time to present a more in depth presentation, that would allow the audience to appreciate and become fully absorbed in the character and the earth shaking changes she initiated. Perhaps then, this production could be the ultimate tribute this deeply loved woman deserves.

Written by: William Gibson, Directed by: Scott Schwartz, Scenery by: Anna Louizos, Costumes by: Jess Goldstein, Lighting by: Jeff Croiter, Original Sound by: Mark Bennet, Sound by: Kevin Lacy.

Photo Credits: Merriam Theater, Press

Golda's Balcony played at the Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, Pa from February 7-12, 2006

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