Funny Girl Star Tovah Feldshuh on Sharing the Stage With Lea Michele and What the Talmud Says About Gossip

Theater veteran Tovah Feldshuh has performed in 10 Broadway shows over the last five decades, garnering acclaim and Tony Awards love for “Yentl” and “Golda’s Balcony,” among others. But there’s a unique thrill to her current role on stage, as the endearing mother of Lea Michele’s Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl.”

“I get entrance applause at the top of the stairs,” she says. “It’s kind of fabulous.”

The crowd at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre has been nothing short of euphoric ever since Feldshuh and Michele joined the company of “Funny Girl” in September. And the stakes couldn’t have been higher. The revival, which opened 60 years after Barbra Streisand’s star-making turn in the beloved musical, was plagued by negative reviews, bad buzz and wilting ticket sales.

Adding to the drama: Beanie Feldstein was originally cast as Fanny Brice instead of Michele, who has a long-publicized obsession with “Funny Girl.” One thing (criticism about Feldstein’s voice) led to another (Feldstein’s early exit from the show), resulting in Michele finally getting to take the main stage. The 73-year-old Feldshuh replaced Michele’s former “Glee” co-star Jane Lynch, who initially played Mrs. Brice and left with Feldstein. Throughout the casting choices, surprise departures, and critical pile-on, there’s been no shortage of headlines to dine out on the on- and off-stage gossip.

“There is a reason it’s the most publicized show in New York,” Feldshuh says over tea and fresh fruit at her Upper West Side apartment on a recent fall afternoon. “It has a kernel of the American dream. Lea finally got the part she was destined to play in the first place, and she’s brilliant in it.”

Feldshuh’s certain kind of maternal energy — and she’s played her share of Jewish mothers on stage and screen in “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” — seeps into real life as she interjects her musings about the theatre to make sure her company is well fed. “Had we been cast in the first place,” she says, taking a sip from her mug, “this would not nearly have been as interesting a story.”

There’s another reason that people have been clinging to the well-documented saga. It’s a shot at redemption for Michele, who largely stepped back from the spotlight in 2020 after former “Glee” co-stars accused her of bad behavior on set. Feldshuh brushes off the idle chatter. “I have no interest in reading about or knowing about it,” she says in a way that, nonetheless, suggests she’s acutely informed of the spectacle surrounding Michele. She adds, “The Talmud says it’s forbidden to gossip.”

Spoken like a true Jewish mother.

What has it been like to be back on Broadway?

It’s a thrill. This thing fell into my lap. Forget just coming back to Broadway. What is it like to be in “Funny Girl”? It’s like performing with The Beatles. Our performances, thanks to Lea Michele, are theatrical events.

Next year marks your 50th year on Broadway. How will you celebrate?

I want to have party. We need to stop the conveyor belt and celebrate this accomplishment. I’m so grateful I can do eight shows a week. I am an athlete. I am fit. I weigh 111.4 pounds, which is what I weighed in seventh grade. And you don’t want to mess with me.

I was at your opening night, and the energy in the audience was electric. What was it like for you?

It was absolutely phenomenal. Basically the audience is saying to you, the second you step on stage, thank you. I feel very good about my work in the show. [The producers] let me say “Oy,” and they let Lea say “Oy gevalt,” and they’re letting me go, “toi toi toi,” which now gets a good laugh.

Has the reception been that enthusiastic every night?

We had no idea we would get that kind of reception. We’ve only been doing it for five weeks, but that’s the reception we get.

How were you first approached for the role?

I got this call from [producer] Daryl Roth saying “Would you be interested in playing Rosie Bryce on Broadway?” I said, “I wouldn’t be uninterested.” I went to see the play, looked at the part and said, “Maybe I can do something with this.” I accepted the offer and saw the play innumerable times. Fanny Brice is most startlingly brilliant role for a woman in the American musical theater. The rest of us are her spokes. But we don’t have to be wallpaper. We function to bring out various assets and liabilities of Fanny Brice’s character. So I said yes. [But] how can I distinguish this part? Well, I got one advantage: I’m Jewish. And I’m the first actress of the Jewish religion to play this part on Broadway in 60 years.

That’s surprising to learn. What is gained by a Jewish actor playing Fanny’s mother?

As Katharine Hepburn said, “God exists in the details.” You want to come to any part you’re playing as a sharpened pencil, a really fine point. And there’s a difference between an Italian mother, an Irish mother, a Jewish mother, a Swedish mother… A lot of Rosie Brice is not on the page. It’s not some bravura roll. How do you lift it off the page and make it deep, true, real and Jewish? This is a Jewish story about a Jewish girl. What makes it different, being a Jewish mother, is the manner in which a child is loved, cared for, touched. It’s very demonstrative. The manner in which a Jew often catastrophizes first, which is written into Fanny’s part — “Where’s the torture?” she says. The manner in which all is not always well, or all is not ever totally well; the Jew epigenetically has the specter of the possibility of extinction.

Did you do any research, or do you have enough experience from having a Jewish mother and being a Jewish mother?

— and a Jewish grandmother. And no divorces in our family. I researched on Wikipedia that [Fanny’s mother] came here when she was 10 years old from Hungary. Had I been in the original production, I would have asked to explore the Hungarian accent. But I was a replacement, and to come in with that kind of a change would have been too drastic for the production. So I let it go. Other than that, it’s not that I didn’t do research. I have enough in my memory bank.

What’s it like working with Lea Michele?

Lea never talks about herself. Never. The word diva doesn’t even apply to her. It doesn’t come close. She’s a working actress. She’s very good for the community.

What would surprise someone to know about her?

Her fans could enjoy the fact that her greatness of talent is coupled with her decency as a human being. And those who are not her fans, let me assure you, she is a dream to work with. She’s certainly wonderful to me. She calls me “mom.”

You were also in “Yentl,” another show that’s closely associated with Barbra Streisand. Do you know each other?

She saw “Kissing Jessica Stein” and loved it, so she called me.

Have you spoken to her since you’ve joined “Funny Girl”?

I have not. I emailed her and said, “Dearest Barbra, I’m finally playing your mother. Love, Tovah.” I don’t know that she’ll come to see it. We all hope she will see it. I don’t know. She’s in California, and she’s 80.

How do you prepare to perform each day?

Would you like some of this apple? You should try some, it’s really good… I get to the theater early. I like to close my eyes. I put my mask on and my earplugs on and listen to Headspace. I wake up at hour call. Just recalling the image I’m starting to yawn. I change into the beginning of my costume and go to the stage to warm up my body and voice. By that time, it’s the half-hour mark. I get into my corset. I’m one of two people who wear corset in this show. I love wearing it. It makes me stand up straight. And then I start to go over the scenes.

How do you come down after a show?

The curtain call is so insane. It takes a while to relax. I ride my bike to the theater most nights. Now that we’re in a hit [show], everybody’s flocking to the theater. So very often, we’ll go out for a bite and then I’ll bike home. I have a neon vest, and I bike up Central Park West. I’m very careful. Sometimes I go to bed at 2 in the morning. I take Sleepytime Extra tea and melatonin. It takes tremendous discipline to calm down my mind.

It’s a pretty long show. How do you spend time in between your scenes?

Could you pass the berries? When I was following Jane’s track, the dresser would say, “And now Jane goes into the stage management office and sits and chats.” I said, “You got the wrong actor here.” I do not sit. I do not chat. I study my script, like every good Jewish girl.

Is there a plan to record a cast album?

I hope so. What makes me sad is we’re not eligible for the Tonys. I hope they create something special for us.

You’re also in James Gray’s new movie “Armageddon Time.” What was it like working with Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins?

Fabulous. Jeremy Strong as a real standout in that movie. He’s a superb artist and a wonderful man. When he works on set, he’s in the tunnel. And, frankly, so are most of us. Tony is a gas. He’s hilarious. He can tell a dirty joke right before they say “action” and then do the part. And Anne Hathaway is like Lea Michelle, just a superb human being. She’s very well brought up, very kind, very warm. Working for James Gray was pretty exciting because, who knew we were going to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival?

What was it like to go to Cannes?

It was exquisite. I was walking home — Andy [Levy, Feldshuh’s husband] and I rented a beautiful apartment near the Croisette — and I met Julia Roberts. She’s a foot taller than me. She threw her arms around me and said, “I have loved your work all my life.” She started to name my theater credits. I said, “You should run for president of the United States.”

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