TOVAH!!!!!

[1:38]Zibby Owens: Hi. This is Zibby Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest best selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't have to. Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. For more information, go to zibbymedia.com and follow me on Instagram zibbyowans. It was such a thrill that Tova Feldchu came to Totally Booked Live. She was our last event of the day. Everybody who was there gave her a standing ovation at the end because she's just so amazing. And this will be, like all of the ones from Totally Book Live, a TV episode soon on JBS. This one is for sure worth watching because just the way that she expresses herself and the accents and her body language, she is just a master. Tova was on my podcast years ago when her book came out called Mother, Daughter and Other Roles I've Played, which was a lot about her mother. But Tova is a six time Emmy and Tony nominee and has been awarded three honorary doctorates of humane letters. She has won four drama desks, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, three dramalogues, The Obie, The Theater World, and the Helen Hayes and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Actress. She has recently been nominated twice as Best Actress in a Drama in Los Angeles for her work in the play Sisters in Law, in which she originated the role of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I saw her when she did a phenomenal depiction of Doctor. Ruth Westheimer in Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. And, of course, I am watching her nonstop in Nobody Wants This as Bina, Adom Brody's mom. Listen to our podcast and be inspired. Welcome to Totally Booked Live at the Whitby. So excited to be here with Tova Feldshu. You don't even need to say her last name. Tova. Tova first came on my podcast for Lilyville. Her amazing memoir, if you haven't read, you should quickly go read that. And I also saw your amazing documentary this week, the world premiere

[4:09]TOVAH!!!!!: of your documentary, Tova, which I'm sure you all will see at some point soon. It it really isn't my documentary. It's David Cerrero's, but I was very impressed No. Because I didn't want it to be feel like a total vanity production. This French guy comes up to me and goes, I want to make a documentary about you. And I said, are you talking to me? He looked over my shoulder. But he did it and he did a good job. He did a great job. He was very lucky.

[4:34]Zibby Owens: And I hadn't even realized some of the earlier work in your career, I kind of jumped in a bit later. You have had the most amazing journey through stage and TV and film and everything. And it's just incredible.

[4:48]TOVAH!!!!!: Luck and it's corny as anything, but it's usually the synchronicity of many other exterior You know, they say coincidence is just when God wants to be anonymous, but many other exterior circumstances that conspire to help you on your way or the other way, actually. So, kindness matters. If I learned anything in my life, it's that kindness is on the same level as talent. That for patronage, you need to be decent to people. People need to feel seen and heard when you're with them. And I saw you were part of the big Carnegie Hall production this week. Tell us about that. It was a thrill. I was called by a producer, no fools she, and she said, would you like to perform at Carnegie Hall? Well, isn't a Broadway actor that wouldn't say yes to that one. And we're gathering performers to support the rebuilding of Kipbutz B'Erri. And you'll be performing with Eli Sharabi, who was in captivity for four ninety one days and only lost his wife, his children, and his brother who were murdered by the terrorists. And I said it would be a great privilege, and I showed up, Julianna Margulies, Deborah Messing, Steve Gutenberg, David Schwimmer, most importantly, Ellie Schrabbe, and these Brits came in from from The UK with a oh, yeah. Here it is. It was called Letters, Light and Love. And they're not two housewives, but they've never produced anything in Carnegie Hall. And they went to the right patron, Danny Cohn, a producer who's a British Jew or a Jewish person, a British Englishman. And he said, You've come to the right place because I am the artistic advisor to the Blavatnik family. Now, Len Blavatnik is, to put it mildly, loaded and is a philanthropist. He's a Russian Jewish philanthropist who left during the Refuznik era and has made his way in the world and does phenomenal things. He owns the Royal Haymarket Theatre, which is like the Palace Theatre. So they gave the theatre free of charge to these two women. And they did a show with big British stars that did very well. And then they brought it to America. And then we did it. And they said it went even better here. But why did it go better here? Because we're more expressive. You know, when you get a standing ovation in Britain, it's no joke. It's like it was for me and every other performer in the seventies that you got a standing ovation for your opening night. And if you were off the charts, astonishingly phenomenal. Otherwise, it was, you know, very vociferous clapping. Nowadays, people, you know, get up for a a salamander. You know?

[7:34]Zibby Owens: You're gonna have to give Toba a standing ovation after this. Right. Oh, I can't let the salamander get the leg up there. Oh my goodness. Well, let's go back to Lilyville, which I know we spoke about years ago. But in case that for people who haven't read it, talk about Lilyville. And I also, in your documentary, wish there were a few more invitations of your mom because those are my favorites. May I just read you a quick excerpt? Not from the book, but from my description of it? Yeah. Okay.

[8:06]TOVAH!!!!!: This is for next week, but never mind Oh, read that. Sibby has top billing. Toba,

[8:12]Zibby Owens: I know we were getting to that too. Toba, of course, is Bina in Nobody Wants This, with Adam Brody and Kristen Bell.

[8:20]TOVAH!!!!!: This is short, but it's let me tell you about Lilyville. My mother Lily was born on a dining room table in The Bronx in 1911. She lived till she was robust, over 103 years young. And when I told her I wanted to be an actress, she said, why don't you just go into the kitchen, get my challah knife, stick it in my heart, and twist it? When she came to Broadway to watch me in the musical Pippin, and she saw me stop the show singing upside down while simultaneously performing a full out aerial act, 30 feet in the air. She said, Talva, that you should have to earn a living this way and on a trapeze yet. When I brought her to see Golda Meir in what would become the longest running one woman play in the history of Broadway, her comment, Tova, I rate your parts by how you look. Dolly Levi was a 10. Golda Meir, zero. Welcome to Lilyville, where my mother Lily reigned supreme. And though all my parts happened on Broadway, in Hollywood, in concert halls, they all took place in Lilyville, for better or for exasperation. How do a Jewish mother who believes you cannot have it all and a daughter who lives like you can get along? They don't. Lily was born before women's suffrage. I was born in the lap of the women's liberation movement. There was a two generation chasm between us. My mother gave birth when she was almost 40. Lilyville is about the bumpy, uphill journey of my mother and me to try to figure us out. And in doing so, the memoir reflects the ever changing expectations of women for over a hundred and ten years. I couldn't possibly envision my memoir in any other format than the one I know best, as a theater piece. The book is constructed in three acts with two intermissions. So come on to the theater of my memories. I'm Jewish. We're all about schmoozing, well, schmoozing and suffering, while schmoozing schmoozing suffering and guilt. So I hope you buy this book.

[10:51]Zibby Owens: What happened when this book came out? What did you just go around and crack everybody up everywhere you went? Well, it was during COVID, so we had all these meetings on Zoom.

[11:02]TOVAH!!!!!: And the good clients, you know, the good askers would ask for 100 books beforehand. That was the greatest. And I'd sit there signing it and sending my wonderful assistant, people like Sarah Zorn, without whom I couldn't function. Thank you, Sarah Zorn. Aw. Would go to USPS or in in a rush to FedEx and we would get these books out and somehow the then they would distribute them. So those first meetings were like that. But of course, it's now been proven that in person meetings is better for the health of your brain. Seriously. Seriously. That living in community and all these things about the blue zones have to do with people going like this and not like this with their telephone, which is both scary and wonderful. And I'm now in the third act of my four act life, and the third act of my marriage will be we just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our first kiss. Aw. On February 2026, he came backstage to Yentle 02/16/1976 for the Washington's birthday special matinee. And of course, February 16 this year fell on that Monday. So to the day, to the day we celebrated. And every day, I lean over with my five feet. I used to be five two and a half. Let's not discuss it. I lean over with my five feet and I put that leg over my six foot husband, and it's a very different feeling. It's very similar to the feeling of the first years of our marriage. That the, as they say in the in the Torah, number thy days for their days are numbered. That we have these very precious times where we're still well, we're still functioning on all cylinders. And I tell you, I'm getting so much work. I said to Patty Lupone, what's going on? Maybe everybody else is dead. You know? Swear to God. So I can't even get facework done every day. You know, I keep getting jobs, and it gives people encouragement that I have the New York City subway map on my face. So so when it came out, you know, I got a very good rating. It was number one in parent child relations on Amazon. That was a a really good thing. And the book the book, sold, and, this book is curated. It's the twenty sixth draft. When I handed in the nineteenth, my editor said, This isn't a book yet. These are pearls on a coffee table not yet strung together. It was a very good metaphor. It was then that I thought, with the help of one of my best friends, Jeff Harner, who's a brilliant, brilliant cabaret artist and director and a multi award winning cabaret artist with the Mac award and every other award you could get. In all events, he said, Why don't you do it as a theater piece? Why don't you write it? So instead of chapters, I give you scenes. Instead of sections, I give you acts. Instead of opening remarks, a foreword, I give you an overture. And instead of the last part, the epilogue, I give you the exit music. So it's constructed like that. And it has two intermissions, so you can even go to the bathroom. That was a good idea to begin with. And I wanted to make the book since I don't believe I'm an international brand, but clearly David Szaragot does believe I am an international brand. Anyway, since I'm not an international brand, said, where can I go beyond my career? I'm not going to write and I'm certainly not I wrote this book. Nobody ghost wrote So this book for if you want to be with me, read this book. I mean, it is my voice and all my education and it's a toast to the exigencies my parents put me under, academically to, achieve excellence. As my mother would say, excellence before happiness. So anyway. I went beyond my career. The career are what we call the in ones between chapters. In one is when the curtain comes down, a shallow curtain comes down in the front of the Broadway stage and somebody tap dances or does a number as they're changing the scenery behind you. So the big stage is the mother daughter relationship of two women who were at least an acre or two apart, like two beautiful trees, and eventually they bowered together because we had eighteen years without my father and my mother would live to over 103. And I had my mother till I was 65 and my brother was 70. And we had time to work everything out because time runs out. So am I in a happy moment in my marriage? I'm in an ecstatic time in my marriage and I'm so grateful I gave this I demanded to give this party the first kiss. Andy's modest and is a negotiator. My father was a litigator. They both went to the same law school, etcetera. And they're both brilliant lawyers, but Andy goes behind the scenes. He said, don't do this. I said, Andy, we have to do this. We have to stop the conveyor belt on this moment. So the party the asked for they said, your your presence, p r e s p r e s e n c e, your presence is our present, but festive red. And people came in red. People came in red. Of course, my fan base and my age limit is kinda like this now, so people listen to me. You know, people used to go up to Golda's balcony, and that was 20034, And 5 on Broadway and say, I want tickets to Toiva's balcony. And they said, no, it's it's Golda's balcony. It's gold. It's the prime minister. You're slow, Suzuki. And what is it? They say Montessori method, but you'll you'll get it. Okay. God. Anyway, I've enjoyed very much talking about the book and then you bringing it up and into my consciousness again is is great. Appreciate

[16:46]Zibby Owens: it. Of course. Today's episode is sponsored by Quince. Summer always makes me rethink what I'm reaching for every day. Lighter fabrics, better materials, pieces that just feel good the moment you put them on and look effortless. That's why I keep coming back to quints. They focus on high quality essentials. Think breathable linen, soft organic cotton, washable silk, but without the luxury markup. It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated but still easy. Quince has beautiful everyday pieces like 100% European linen pants, dresses, and tops with styles starting at $32. Denim is soft and easy to wear. I wear my jean jacket all the time. And their organic cotton sweaters are perfect for layering on cool summer nights. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just clothing. Quince has really become a destination for elevated essentials across home, kitchen, bedding, and beyond, making it easy to bring a more premium feel into everyday life. In addition to my jean jacket, I recently got a white tank top dress with a beautiful cotton skirt that is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait for it to be warm enough so I can wear it every day, but it has been a cool spring. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com/zippy for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com/zibi for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Quince.com/zibi.

[19:52]Zibby Owens: Tell us a little bit about Nobody Wants This. What has that experience been like for you? What are the actors like? It's fantastic.

[19:59]TOVAH!!!!!: Why is it fantastic? Because the showrunners are kind and the kingpin, which is Kristen Bell, is a Michigan kid with her feet on the ground. That kid, for her looks and her talent, and in the old days, she could be a real one could be a real creep when the star system was in action. That no longer exists. You know, once we started to get email and Instagram and Facebook, the world closed down into one exigent, one demanding shtetl where you could be witnessed, where we witness the terrible wars that are going on. Not to get un ecumenical, but there was a saying, not when I was a child, but I heard it floating in the air, If you start with the Jews, it never ends with the Jews. And look where we're at now. We have conflict in Pakistan, in India, in Mexico, in The Ukraine, and Russia. And of course, we have a full out war now in The Middle East between The United States and Israel against the terrorist regime of Iran. And if you ever want to get happy, just go visit a Persian American now. They're just thrilled out of their minds that there's a possibility that they could get their cloaks off and come back into their Chanel and their various incredible I don't know if you've ever been to a Persian wedding, but as I said to my daddy, because he represented the Persians, the Alganian family, we went to a bat mitzvah at the Waldorf and I said, Daddy, are we at a coronation? I've never seen, you know, 600 people. You know, they get offended if they're cleaner and their hairdresser and the person who, you know, they invite literally 600 people. So anyway, I was I don't know what I'm talking about. Nobody wants this. Nobody wants this. So anyway, Kristen Bell it's funny. I always go global. I have to control myself. Okay. Kristen Bell is a fantastic human being. So the happiness comes down from the top. Most most very similar to when I did The Walking Dead. Andrew Lincoln would get to the set early to thank the gardeners for mowing the lawn. That's and then the last day that I was on the series, he showed up. I said, Andy, you're not working today. He said, I wanted to be here to watch your work. I wanted to learn. I wanted I said, What? The person who has the most to do and has the biggest billing and gets the final bow is generous. You got it made. That that community has it made. That team has it made. So that's my situation. And also, the actors now are being siloed. It's not like the beginning of my career where I played Julia, Three Kings of Three Queens of Henry the eighth, was offered to play Anne Boleyn and Little Princess Elizabeth the first before she became queen by Richard Rogers, where I two of my nominations are for two Catholics, Maria Morelli in Lend me a Tenor and Sara Vaugh, Brazilian woman, Donna Flor. That you have to fight for. That, if you're not Brazilian, you don't get that part anymore. So I've been siloed and have been the Jewish mother in the last twenty four months of Leah Michelle, Anne Hathaway, Oscar Isaac, Rachel Bloom, and Adam Brody in two years. And so if anybody needs a mother, I am here for you. I'm so excited. I'm coming out in another series called MISSING IN ACTION, which is about the drug culture in Miami, and I get to play a sleeper agent who runs a seedy motel, and then you'll see what I'm capable of and how I train the young agents. It's like, what? So I wore a wig. I was so excited, you know? I'm a redhead in that thing. But usually you get siloed. So the idea if part of being siloed is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom I've had the honor of playing, Ruth Westheimer and Golda Mae Eeyer, I'll take it. I'll take it, you know?

[24:06]Zibby Owens: What does performing do for you?

[24:09]TOVAH!!!!!: I love it. I love being with you. And I'm at a point now in my in my dotage, in my that I don't have a quickened pace in terms of my pulse. It's interesting, the syntax of an older person and word retrieval. I used to speak like Mrs. Maisel. Now I don't speak so much like Mrs. Maisel. So the difference in my pulse are you okay, honey? Come on in. Come in, honey.

[24:36]Zibby Owens: I got a text that you were great, so

[24:39]TOVAH!!!!!: Thank you. Where did you come from? The bathroom? Yeah, right. Right. Remember that from from Crazy Ex? Where's the bathroom? Where's the bathroom? I need to use your bathroom. Tell me that. You have this bathroom. In the hovel, you go home. That's how that starts. Anyway You can dance too. Absolutely. That'll come next. I have no quickening of pulse from there to there. I'm as excited to see you out there as I am in here. Am I a little, adrenalized? Yes. But I'm delighted. I'm not frightened. And the trick is to do that when you have to sing. Right? Because you'll read in the book, my mother walked in when I was 16, and I was next to our Steinway. I think at that time it wasn't even a grand, it was a spinet. And she said, Terry, my birth name is Terry Sue. She said, Terry, don't you have to be born with a voice? So that did it for me for about three or four decades. And finally, kept getting cast and, you know, one of my nominations as best actress in a musical. And I guess it's that my motto is I will not be defeated. I will not be defeated. That's why I know that the State Of Israel and the Jewish people, we may be they may pick on 15,800,000 people globally, but we are fantastic at survival. We have been honed by our enemies for thousands of years to survive and we will survive. So what projects, aside from starring, is more people's moms? What are you excited about? Well, I'm excited about doing MIA where I'm a sleeper agent and she's lethal. She knows how to put a knife through somebody's arm. I mean, is woah. And for The Walking Dead, I did have to go to a gun range and learn to shoot bullets, and then that thing happened to dear Alex Baldwin. I mean, that was that was a cloud he did not need, and I actually refused to shoot a gun that's even loaded with fake whatever now. It's too dangerous. But I'm excited about that project. I'm excited about being hired, Yes, unless you think I'm some we all work for nothing at Carnegie Hall, of course. But being the emcee of the big, big gala dinner for the Magin David Adom I say Magin David Adom, but my Ashkenazic stuff was corrected firmly by the Israelis for the ambulance squads and the first responders, and that's at the Breakers Hotel on March 26 in Palm Beach. So nobody wants this, has excised me from that need to film those days. They've been very good. After all, this is about a Christian girl, Erin Foster, converting to Judaism and falling in love with a Russian Jewish boy. This is Erin Foster's life. And if you wanna talk about an Aryan, I mean, put us under your bed if there's a war baby. She just totally she looks like she's from she looks like she's from Denmark. She looks like she's from Scandinavian. And she's a great gal. So she's writing about the fundament of her life. And I think, you know, Zibby, as a writer, the most important thing is to write from which you know. That's why when I changed this memoir into its theatrical form, I kind of got the courage to to go forth and write it. I'm so glad that's the photographer and not a person leaving the house. Anyway, so I'm excited about doing that. I basically do charity work. I work to enhance the Felt You Fund for Women's Health, which is early detection of ovarian and all reproductive cancers. And that happened thank you. That was born out of the fiftieth anniversary of my fiftieth year of my work on Broadway, which was 2023. I made my debut in 1973 with Chris Plummer in Cyrano, the musical of Cyrano at the Palace Theatre on forty seventh and Broadway. It's a while to come into New York on Broadway because I came from Minneapolis where I was holding spears and understudying the leading ladies for two years at the Guthrie. And then got a break, got a lucky break. So I'm looking forward to those individual gigs, of which I have a few. And when I'm not working, I love to travel. I want to go to Patagonia. I've been to 95 countries. And I don't mean, I've been to 95 countries. I mean, I've been to 95 countries because I love to look at stuff. And the most exciting trip I've ever done in my life is tracking the gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda. Now the plumbing and the road situation and the clarity and cleanliness of the society is better in Rwanda. Know that. So if you only have a choice to go to one or the other, go to Rwanda. The guides are better. And they probably have it all down now. I was back in the day where you really had to walk sometimes five hours to find the alpha males and their family. But we should be so proud to be related to those animals. They fight for forty seconds. George W. Bush sends people into Iraq, and and our boys get killed for weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist there. So it's a very big difference between the homo sapien and the great apes, but that was a thrill. Okay.

[30:11]Zibby Owens: Alright.

[30:13]TOVAH!!!!!: Am I off the track? Toba?

[30:17]Zibby Owens: Okay. Let's end this with a standing ovation for Toba, Thank you so much.

[30:24]TOVAH!!!!!: Thank

[30:29]Zibby Owens: you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibby, formerly moms don't have time to read books. If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram at Zippy Owens, and spread the word. Thanks so much. Oh, and buy the books.