Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Taylor's 'Golda Meir' filled with small details

In Renee Taylor's one-woman show, "An Evening with Golda Meir," which hit town for two shows Sunday, the 80-year-old Israeli prime minister tells the story of her courtship with her husband, and her exhilaration leads into a brief, silent waltz. What was amazing was that we could see how the memories were transforming not Taylor, but Meir. We were watching an old woman suddenly feeling young, not a performer stepping out of character to deliver a romantic scene.

The work of the 71-year-old actress -- directed by husband Joseph Bologna -- was full of this kind of detail. She never tried to get by on her comic persona, never shortchanged the character by getting cute on us. She crafted a solid, three-dimensional creation that may have surprised those who know her only from TV's "The Nanny" -- but not those of us who have been enjoying her versatility as a writer and actress since the '60s.

Using a set of only two flags (American and Israeli) on opposite sides of the stage, and a scrim that occasionally projected simple images, Taylor gave us an interesting portrait of the woman who had as much to do as anyone with the birth of modern Israel. The script places us at the nation's 30th birthday celebration in 1978, where Meir, dressed in a simple dark blouse, skirt and jacket, is making a speech.

After a few words about the then-current state of affairs, she takes us on the journey of her life. Taylor used no props or fancy sound effects (just snippets of music and a machine gun blast now and then), but you left the theater feeling as if you'd experienced many of the events spoken about: the emigration, as a child, from Russia to Milwaukee; the move to Israel with her new husband and the tough years spent plucking chickens; the devastation of the end of her marriage, due to her loving Zionism more than her man; her attempts to save children from postwar labor camps; the joy -- and danger -- on the day Israel became an independent nation; her slow rise up the political hierarchy; her traumatic decisions as a leader during the Six Day War; her reconciliation with her ex-husband on his death bed.

Taylor's delivery sounded off-the-cuff. You never felt you were being lectured. And her writing didn't "saint" Meir; it didn't worship her. It just made her seem like the kind of person you'd love to chat with.

The show's major problem is that the script has no core, it's simply a distinguished stateswoman explaining her life. Since Taylor is a lively writer, and the stateswoman is a real-life character who remains, 27 years after her death, an enormous influence on current events, the remembrances are never dull. But they're not dramatic.

If there were something at stake for Meir -- if, for example, her speech was an attempt to clarify something for herself, resulting in a discovery -- then this enjoyable history lesson might be able to grow into the legitimate play it deserves to be.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com.