Following the May 13 evening performance of “Funny Girl,” Tovah Feldshuh delivered remarks to the audience in honor of the 50th anniversary of her Broadway debut. Feldshuh plays Mrs. Brice in the revival of the musical about comedy legend Fanny Brice. Feldshuh, a four-time Tony Award nominee, saluted colleagues and fans as she acknowledged the milestone moment.
“I want to thank all of you in the audience today for the privilege of having spent more than two-thirds of my life in your presence,” Feldshuh said. “Thank you for coming with such enthusiasm to the campfire that we call theater to hear a story well told.”
Despite a career that has spanned Broadway, television and film over the last five decades, Feldshuh claimed that she’s only just beginning.
“I plan to work ’til they carry me out of here because I believe, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, that our lives belong to the community and that as long as we shall live [and] it is our privilege to do for it whatever we can,” Feldshuh continued. “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. The longer I work, the more I live. Life is no grief candle to me. It is this splendid torch that we have pulled up for just one moment in time. And I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
Prior to “Funny Girl,” Feldshuh last appeared on Broadway in the 2013 revival of “Pippin” as Berthe. She made her Broadway opening night debut on May 13, 1973 as an ensemblist in “Cyrano” starring Christopher Plummer. Feldshuh has also been seen on the Main Stem in “Dreyfus in Rehearsal,” “Rodgers & Hart,” “Yentl” (in the title role), “Saravá!,” “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Golda’s Balcony” and “Irena’s Vow.” She earned Tony nominations for “Yentl,” “Saravá!,” “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Golda’s Balcony.”
Watch her full curtain call speech below:
