Golda Meir's Inspiring Life Story Hits the Stage in Flushing

Golda Meir was elected prime minister of Israel in 1969 after stints as the country’s Labor Minister and Foreign Minister. Strong-willed and straight-talking, she was the fourth female in history to lead a country and she presided over an extremely tumultuous time that included the Yom Kippur War.

But Meir’s life before getting into politics was just as inspiring. Born in Kiev in modern-day Ukraine, she fled anti-Semitic violence and ended up in Milwaukee, where she went to high school and teachers college before moving to a kibbutz in Palestine in the 1920s. She then held various political and civic positions before, during, and after the creation of Israel in 1948.

This weekend at Flushing’s Goldstein Theatre, four-time Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh brings Meir’s story to life in Golda’s Balcony, a William Gibson play that ran on Broadway from 2003 to 2005, becoming the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history. Feldshuh, who has four Drama Desk awards, has played this part for countless years in countless theaters.

Details: Golda’s Balcony, Goldstein Theatre, Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, May 16 at 8 pm and May 17 at 2 pm, $35-$42.

Photo by Kupferberg Center for the Arts