Ava: The Secret Conversations @ New York City Center's Stage I

-


The Play: Ava: The Secret Conversations; a too-lightly fictionalized recreation of the testy relationship between the midcentury movie star Ava Gardner and the journalist she hired to ghostwrite her memoir

Written by: Elizabeth McGovern        Directed by: Moritz von Stuelpnagel

One good thing: The video projections of scenes from Gardner’s movies and the photos of the actress with her many famous husbands (Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra) and other lovers convey a sense of the star’s mystique

One not-so-great thing:  McGovern, who also stars as Gardner, and Aaron Costa Ganis—playing the journalist and all three of the husbands—work hard but are unable to make it clear why we should care about either of these people or their woes

 

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Call Me Izzy @ Studio 54

-
Image
The Play: Call Me Izzy; a one-person show about a rural woman who tries to use her gift as a naturally-talented poet to escape her life as a longtime battered wife Written by: Jamie Wax        Directed by: Sarna Lapine One good thing: Jean Smart, who’s won all kinds of awards for her TV work especially in the HBO series “Hacks”, makes an equally praiseworthy return to the New York stage for the first time in 25 years One not-so-great thing:  The play seems somewhat gratuitous since it offers no fresh insights about domestic abuse and its ending is particularly unsatisfying    
Read more

Romeo + Juliet @ Circle in the Square

-
Image
The Play: Romeo + Juliet; this 21st century spin on the classic love story, which features inclusive and gender-bending casting, music by the hip producer and frequent Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff and Gen-Z idols Kit Connor and Rachel Ziegler in the title roles, is designed to appeal to young theatergoers and other young people the producers obviously hope to attract  Written by: William Shakespeare        Directed by: Sam Gold One good thing: Connor is everything you’d want in a Romeo: swoon-worthy, suitably sensitive and able to speak the Bard’s language beautifully One not-so-great thing: All the double and triple casting— one example: Juliet’s Nurse and the hothead Tybalt are played by the same actor — makes it hard to follow who’s doing what to whom, especially since costume changes are so rare and so random     
Read more

The Imaginary Invalid, a Red Bull Theater production at New World Stages

-
Image
The Play : The Imaginary Invalid, a trimmed-down version of the 17th century French farce about a hypochondriac whose obsession with his health blinds him to all the machinations that are going on around him Written by: Moliere      Adapted by: Jeffrey Hatcher        Directed by: Jesse Berger One good thing: The cast includes some of the funniest theatrical clowns in the business, including Mark-Linn Baker, Arnie Burton and Stephanie Styles One not-so-great thing: The pacing is sluggish, which can be the kiss of death for a farce      
Read more