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Title details for Lilyville by Tovah Feldshuh - Available

Lilyville

Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played

by Tovah Feldshuh
Tovah Feldshuh
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This heartwarming and funny memoir from a beloved actress tells the story of a mother and daughter whose narrative reflects American cultural changes and the world's shifting expectations of women.
From Golda to Ginsburg, Yentl to Mama Rose, Tallulah to the Queen of Mean, Tovah Feldshuh has always played powerful women who aren't afraid to sit at the table with the big boys and rule their world. But offstage, Tovah struggled to fulfill the one role she never auditioned for: Lily Feldshuh's only daughter.
Growing up in Scarsdale, NY in the 1950s, Tovah—known then by her given name Terri Sue—lived a life of piano lessons, dance lessons, shopping trips, and white-gloved cultural trips into Manhattan. In awe of her mother's meticulous appearance and perfect manners, Tovah spent her childhood striving for Lily's approval, only to feel as though she always fell short. Lily's own dreams were beside the point; instead, she devoted herself to Tovah's father Sidney and her two children. Tovah watched Lily retreat into the roles of the perfect housewife and mother and swore to herself, I will never do this.
When Tovah shot to stardom with the Broadway hit Yentl, winning five awards for her performance, she still did not garner her mother's approval. But, it was her success in another sphere that finally gained Lily's attention. After falling in love with a Harvard-educated lawyer and having children, Tovah found it was easier to understand her mother and the sacrifices she had made during the era of the women's movement, the sexual revolution, and the subsequent mandate for women to "have it all."
Beloved as he had been by both women, Sidney's passing made room for the love that had failed to take root during his life. In her new independence, Lily became outspoken, witty, and profane. "Don't tell Daddy this," Lily whispered to Tovah, "but these are the best years of my life." She lived until 103.
In this insightful, compelling, often hilarious and always illuminating memoir, Tovah shares the highs and lows of a remarkable career that has spanned five decades, and shares the lessons that she has learned, often the hard way, about how to live a life in the spotlight, strive for excellence, and still get along with your mother. Through their evolving relationship we see how expectations for women changed, with a daughter performing her heart out to gain her mother's approval and a mother becoming liberated from her confining roles of wife and mother to become her full self.
A great gift for Mother's Day—or any day when women want a joyous and meaningful way to celebrate each other.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 13, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781549187797
      • File size: 298180 KB
      • Duration: 10:21:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author/narrator Tovah Feldshuh's memoir is a highly entertaining look back at her life as a successful stage and screen actor, as well as an unsentimental remembrance of the force of nature that was her mother, Lily. As Tovah was growing up, Lily was generous with criticism but stingy with praise. Tovah longed for her mercurial mother's approval. Feldshuh offers witty reflections on her early life as a privileged Westchester teen, her mother's snide put-downs, and her more than 40 years doing stage and screen roles. Feldshuh won four Tony nominations and two Emmys, and earned critical raves for her performance of the title role in YENTL. Feldshuh's career and her prickly relationship with Lily make this top-notch listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from April 1, 2021

      Feldshuh, a storied and celebrated actor of stage and screen, shares an intimate, entertaining memoir of her life and career. In this uniquely structured book, she reflects on her life as if it were a theatrical production; the central character is her mother, Lily. Feldshuh's relationship with her mother is a complicated and boisterous one that transforms throughout the years, especially alongside the rise of her career. Feldshuh's portrayal of Lily is striking; her thoughtful understanding of their dynamic and Lily's influence on her life and career, infused with her mother's candor, will delight readers. The heart of this book lies in the author's captivating writing--she is a dynamic storyteller with an actor's skill for articulating small moments that occur in everyday life. She captures growing up in New York, Jewish culture, and the entertainment industry with equal enthusiasm and detail. VERDICT A vivid, charming memoir and reflection on an expansive career and family, which will delight memoir fans. This book will appeal to performing arts enthusiasts and fans of witty family memoirs. Readers who enjoy peeking into the personal and professional lives of performers may also enjoy Home Work by Julie Andrews. --Kate Bellody, SUNY New Paltz

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      February 1, 2021
      A stage and screen actor remembers her many roles, including her most cherished one as the daughter of her complicated mother, Lily. Feldshuh (b. 1952) credits Lily, who "was born on a dining room table in the Bronx on April 18, 1911," for passing down the ability to make a "memorable entrance." However, for most of the author's life, their relationship was fraught and complicated, characterized by an emotional divide that lasted for decades. A glamorously beautiful but judgmental traditionalist, Lily lived for her husband. Her love for her children, writes Feldshuh, "was never verbally expressed." As the author nurtured her love of singing and theater and grew into a privileged adolescence, she became increasingly resentful of Lily's fault-finding ways. Even after she won a prestigious McKnight Fellowship to study theater at the University of Minnesota, Lily, who considered acting a "trade" rather than a reputable profession, could only ask, "What did I do wrong?" Nonetheless, Feldshuh was dedicated, and she worked her way up from bit parts to the lead role in the play Yentl in December 1974. Despite this success and the recognition that followed, Lily only seemed to approve of her daughter once she married a Harvard-trained lawyer. Their combative relationship persisted through Feldshuh's moves to Hollywood and permanent return to New York and up until Feldshuh's beloved father died in 1996. Only after that tragic loss did Lily finally begin to express the "rich, emotional life" that finally healed the rift with her daughter. Interspersed throughout with anecdotes about Barbara Streisand, Patti LuPone, and other luminaries as well as the author's late-life role on The Walking Dead, the book serves as a pleasant retrospective of a storied life that Feldshuh's fans and those interested in the NYC theater scene will no doubt appreciate. A warm, heartfelt memoir for Broadway and Hollywood enthusiasts.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      March 15, 2021
      Lilyville is Feldshuh's mother's sphere and the setting for this lively and engaging narrative. The Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actress skillfully spins stories of her mother's life, her own career, and their evolving relationship against a backdrop of half-a-century of a changing society and women's expanding roles within it. Born Terri Sue Feldshuh and raised in Scarsdale, New York, during the 1950s, Feldshuh has a lot to say and does so with aplomb, whether revisiting her suburban teenage roots or recounting her adventures as an aspiring performer. With a r�sum� that includes television roles in the miniseries Holocaust, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and The Walking Dead as well as Broadway turns in Yentl, Pippin, and Golda's Balcony, here her personal life takes center stage. In a look-back that is always intense, often hilarious, and sometimes fraught she writes, "the greatest role of my life has been the role of Lillian Kaplan Feldshuh's daughter--a part I never auditioned for, and I couldn't have been luckier to get." Readers will feel lucky to encounter this delightful memoir.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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