Tovah will tell us all about her new memoir- Lilyville.
Seeing your favorite Broadway stars live on a Broadway stage may not be a reality for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them live from your screen. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews twice weekly.
Watch as he chats with beloved star of stage and screen Tovah Feldshuh, who just released Lilyville- a heartwarming and hilarious memoir exploring the mother-daughter relationship that challenged shifting socio-cultural expectations of women and shaped a magnificent career. Order it today!
"One decent thing that came out of this pandemic is that I could completely re-vamp Lilyville, and that's what I did 5-6 hours a day, looking at my garden, through three seasons," she explained.
"I made this incredible discovery a year ago that I would write Lilyville from the place I knew best, which was the theatre. I wrote it as a theatre piece- three acts to intermissions. Instead of chapters you have scenes, instead of a prologue, you get an overture. I hope it amuses you all! I thank everyone by celebrating them at a cast party instead of just listing acknowledgments."
watch to find out even more about the new book and highlights from Tovah's incredible career.
Tovah's first major role in Yentl earned her multiple awards and a Tony nomination, paving the way for a robust theater career and acclaimed television performances in Holocaust, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and The Walking Dead. She has never shied away from strong characters or demanding commitments, playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, headlining the longest-running one-person show in Broadway history, and celebrating her 60s by swinging from a trapeze 30 feet off the ground. Yet, perhaps Tovah's most influential, challenging, and, eventually, fulfilling role was one she never auditioned for: Lily Feldshuh's daughter.
In her own way, Lily was a force of nature too. As the epitome of a 1950s housewife-impeccably dressed, a master of etiquette, and completely devoted to her husband-she expected perfection from her only daughter and often believed that as a mother, it was her duty to point out Tovah's every mistake. Tovah, headstrong and free-spirited, found herself constantly torn between living a life on her own terms and a desperate need to gain her mother's approval. Despite all of Tovah's success on-stage and on the screen, it ultimately would take the birth of her own children and the death of her beloved father to truly bring the two women together.
In LILYVILLE: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played, Feldshuh reflects on her extraordinary life in the best way she knows how: as a play. Tovah immerses readers in a journey through the acts and scenes of her personal and professional life, from her tomboy childhood in the refined community of Scarsdale, New York, to becoming Broadway royalty alongside Christopher Plummer and Barbra Streisand-all held together by the twisting thread of her often-complicated relationship with Lily.
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