Golda's Balcony

"Golda's Balcony" is a play by William Gibson.

It follows the trajectory of the life of Golda Meir from Russian immigrant to American schoolteacher to a leader of international politics as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Much of its focus is on the period surrounding the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria. Gibson's drama suggests Meir threatened Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger with the launch of nuclear weapons against her enemies, conceivably starting World War III, unless the U.S. came to her country’s aid.

Gibson first explored Meir in 1977 in his multi-character work "Golda", which was produced on Broadway with Anne Bancroft in the title role. Never fully satisfied with the piece, he decided to tackle the subject matter once again, this time in the form of a one-woman play.

After fourteen previews, "Golda's Balcony", starring Tovah Feldshuh and directed by Scott Schwartz, opened on October 15 2003 at the Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 493 performances, making it the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/23719/edition_id/470/format/html/displaystory.html] .

Feldshuh was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.

In 2006 the play was adapted into a film of the same title, starring Valerie Harper.

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=13535 Internet Broadway Database listing]
* [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9C00E1DD163EF935A25753C1A9659C8B63 New York Times review]