LILYVILLE

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.