Critics

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Tovah Feldshuh is a scene stealer in a uniformly outstanding performance

...vet Feldshuh proves pic’s strongest asset.

One of the most refreshing aspects of the film is Lillian, played with effective understatement by Tovah Feldshuh.

There are words invented to describe people like Tovah Feldshuh. Incomparable. Inimitable. Formidable. Inestimable.

...The songs and sketches in the well-made program, directed by Jeff Harnar, cover every age group, and Ms. Feldshuh adopts the perspectives of men, women and children. What knits it all together are Ms. Feldshuh’s forceful personality and keen intelligence...

...In the words of Monty Python: and now for something completely different. This applies to Aging Is Optional, an encore of a previous outing of the show at Feinstein’s/54 Below in which Tovah Feldshuh presented one of the delightfully quirky cabarets she’s known for. The singer/actress came dressed for action. In a simple, basic deep-blue pair of slacks with a matching long-sleeved top, Feldshuh, the multiple award-winning star of stage, screen, and TV created magic—and a fascinating story arc—with perfectly selected costume props...

...Feldshuh is personable and warm. It's a testament to her sincerity and finely honed characterization that we overlook warmth in what emerges as a raw singing voice (neither out of tune nor technically inadequate, just raw.) Patter about her children (for whom she took a sabbatical from show business), is followed by a tender rendition of "New Words" (Maury Yeston). The song overflows with unconditional love. One can practically see the kids...

Tovah Feldshuh's performance of Regina deserves a place in theatrical history books.

As Bessie Berger, Ms. Feldshuh's smart, unsentimental performance freshly brings to light what is singular about Odets's version of the suffocating mother. Feldshuh has taken the most hackneyed traits of the domineering Jewish mother and turned them into steely weapons in a one-woman war against poverty.

...Her mother (played by the national treasure Tovah Feldshuh) sings a ballad of nagging that includes the line “Are you using the lotion that I sent you? / If you’re not gonna use it, I’ll return it to the store.”...

...For single Jewish women, the show hits another nerve: Rebecca’s mother, a perfectly cast Tovah Feldshuh, finds many ways to hint that her daughter should be married...

...Throw in a trip back to Rebecca’s hometown and another guest turn from the incomparable Tovah Feldshuh and, baby, you’ve got a sitcom stew going...

"Yet miraculously, the funniest girl at the August Wilson Theatre isn’t the title character, but the great Feldshuh. In a role that’s harder to make stand out than a beige accent wall, the veteran actress has the crowd in stitches with almost every line. And she never, ever overplays a single word. Her Mrs. Brice, often subdued, is grounded in reality — and is freakin’ hilarious for it. She takes the bits on Henry Street, Brice’s Lower East Side nabe, and elevates them from functional transitions to cherished moments. She’s a marvel."

"And fellow newcomer Tovah Feldshuh is a delight, replacing Jane Lynch as Fanny’s feisty mother, a Brooklyn saloonkeeper with infallible instincts about life and love and showbiz.

Feldshuh is a tiny dynamo in the role, cracking wise and silencing her gossipy Henry Street cronies with just an acerbic word or two. It doesn’t seem an idle boast when she sings of Fanny’s comic timing, “Who Taught Her Everything She Knows?” But she’s also a rock to her daughter, offering unstinting support even when others doubt her."

That Feldshuh manages to make Meir believable and likable is a testament to the actress’ skill as a storyteller. She’s also a natural comedian, a talent that lets her make the most of the play’s few yet choice moments of humor...it is Feldshuh’s portrayal of the indomitable Meir that will remain in your mind long after the curtain has come down.

Tovah Feldshuh gives such a fiercely committed performance as Golda Meir in the one-woman show now at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater that she does more than just resurrect Meir. She embodies an entire country, its hopes and paranoia and anger...