The Rochester premiere of the documentary Tovah, about the award-winning thespian of stage and screen Tovah Feldshuh, combined awe, tenderness, and laughter.
Directed and produced by filmmaker David Serero, the film was screened at the Ames Amzalak Rochester Jewish Film Festival (RJFF) on Sunday, July 26 at the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman Museum, with actor Feldshuh and director Serero in attendance. The festival is screening films daily through Sunday, August 2, in two locations: the Dryden Theater and the JCC Hart Theater.
The experience at the screening of Tovah was both intimate and dazzling, an arresting view into the life of an artist who combined deep passion and dedication to her Jewish faith and identity with indelible performances as an actress. Tovah is an entertaining and enlightening compendium of the life of a performer who is incomparable in her talent and indefatigable in her mettle.
The documentary comes on the heels of Feldshuh’s role as Bina Rock, as the skeptical Jewish mother of Rabbi Noah Roklov, who is dating a goya (non-Jewish woman), in the Netflix television show Nobody Wants This. Feldshuh is best-known for starring in the one-woman Broadway show, Golda’s Balcony, which was the longest-running one-woman show ever on Broadway.
Tovah features interviews from a wide array of fellow thespians such as Oscar Isaac and Dustin Hoffman, and Broadway luminaries such as Stephen Schwartz, Kristen Bell, and Patti LuPone. The sentiments shared by all of Feldshuh’s associates create an intimacy between the viewer and Feldshuh. We see how people are moved and enamored by her.
In addition, the film features other interviews from her family, which show the all-too-common and difficult schism between maintaining a professional life as an artist and being an involved mother and wife. Feldshuh also reveals her own personal mandate to live life to the fullest, to not take any moments for granted. In this moment in Tovah, we as the audience are connected by this shared human experience of wanting to pursue one’s endeavors while being reminded of our impermanence.
The candor of the interviews is stunning; to have so many esteemed people from different moments of your life share such gratitude is no small feat. The documentary succeeds in showcasing a strong, magnetic, and intelligent woman who can tell challenging and poignant stories throughout her career and be deeply entrenched in her own humanity.
RJFF Director Marci Wiseman gave a warm welcome to the patrons inside the theater prior to the screening. A Q&A session with Feldshuh and Serano took place immediately after the screening.
The Q&A offered an uncommon opportunity for the audience to ask questions directly to the actress and director about the film and Feldshuh’s life. Many in the audience shared their adoration of Feldshuh and a desire to share stories about themselves and their personal connections to Feldshuh’s work. It was touching to see the audience connect to and interact with the beloved artist.
It was also a treat to have Serano in person, as he is an accomplished, award-winning opera singer, actor, and filmmaker. Having a multi-talented artist document the life of another multi-talented artist is a daunting task. It reminded this writer of the painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, who began his film career in the 1990s with the film Basquiat, a biopic on the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat (1996).
It is an interesting examination to see an artist tell the story of another artist and to do so convincingly. Tovah represented many intersections: the Jewish experience and show business as a lifelong and honored career requiring perseverance.
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