'GOLDA'S BALCONY' BETTER ON STAGE THAN ON SCREEN.Byline: EVAN EVAN Expandable Van HENERSON >LA.COM (1) (Computer Output Microfilm) Creating microfilm or microfiche from the computer. A COM machine receives print-image output from the computer either online or via tape or disk and creates a film image of each page. It seems Valerie Harper Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1940 in Suffern, New York) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern-Gerard on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and its spinoff, Rhoda. so enjoyed the experience of enacting Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir that she and her producer/husband, Tony Cacciotti, elected to put her performance in William Gibson's play, "Golda's Balcony," on film. Her zeal is hardly without precedent. Tovah Feldshuh Tovah Feldshuh (born December 27 1952) is an award-winning American actress, singer, and playwright. Born Terry Sue Feldshuh to a Jewish family in New York City, she was raised in an affluent community in Westchester County and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. , who originated the role, played Meir on Broadway for nearly 500 performances, making "Golda's Balcony" the longest-running solo female show in Broadway history. Enthusiasm, however, isn't the best substitute for sound judgment. I suspect that producers' round files are lousy with one-man and one-woman shows that somebody thought would translate smoothly to the big screen. "Golda's Balcony" doesn't. Despite Harper's workmanlike work·man·like adj. Befitting a skilled artisan or craftsperson; skillfully done. workmanlike Adjective skilfully done: a neat workmanlike job Adj. 1. performance and some attempts at low-level production values, "Golda's Balcony," directed by Jeremy Kagan, feels like what it is: a filmed stage performance. As was the case on stage (Feldshuh brought "Balcony" to the Wadsworth in 2005), Harper plays the aging Meir and everyone else in her life: husband, family members, diplomats and politicians. Encased en·case tr.v. en·cased, en·cas·ing, en·cas·es To enclose in or as if in a case. en·case  ment n. throughout in the Meir makeup (by Greg Cannom), Harper
doesn't alter her appearance much to become Moshe Dayan or Henry
Kissinger. Thus we see one Harper incarnation acting opposite another,
or, on occasion, opposite two.
Short of blowing out the cast demands or dropping wads on makeup for the sake of gimmickry gim·mick·ry n. pl. gim·mick·ries 1. An array or abundance of gimmicks. 2. The use of gimmicks. Noun 1. , this is as artful an approach to filming a one-man play as any. Harper doesn't need to do much to accomplish character differentiation. The situation and the players are serious enough that nobody's going Eddie Murphy on us. But "Golda's Balcony" the play was effective because it allowed its single performer to transport us out of its one room to lands and places during a historically significant period. In the cinema, green screens and multimedia projections don't particularly cut it. For all of Harper's character- hopping dexterity, there's a certain amount of "OK, who are we now?" work in the movie that can jostle a viewer ever so slightly out of the action. "Golda's Balcony" finds a sickly Meir looking back over her life on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of the Yom Kippur War Yom Kippur War: see Arab-Israeli Wars. involving Syria, Egypt and Israel. We see what brought a passionate but somewhat private Zionist to the prime minister's chair. The one-time school teacher who looked to change the world finds herself in the munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. business instead, and at some personal sacrifice. For the record, Harper now joins the ranks of cinematic Meir portrayers that include Ingrid Bergman, Colleen Dewhurst, Lynn Cohen and Feldshuh. The character's got staying power. The movie version of "Golda's Balcony," not so much. Evan Henerson (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson@dailynews.com GOLDA'S BALCONY - Two and one half stars >Not rated: subject matter. >Starring: Valerie Harper. >Director: Jeremy Kagan. >Running time: 1 hr. 32 min. >Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Fallbrook 7, South Coast Village Costa Mesa. >In a nutshell: Why solo plays shouldn't become movies. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Valerie Harper portrays Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in the movie "Golda's Balcony," adapted from the one-woman stage play. |
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