Summary
Based on Peter Evans’ book, this play chronicles the real-life interviews between Hollywood icon Ava Gardner and Evans in 1988. As they collaborate on her autobiography, the play delves into Gardner’s tumultuous life and relationships.
Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 8:00 PM Jul 31, 2025, 8:00 PM
This is achingly close to being a pretty excellent two-hander. (Maybe it still is? I feel like I’m being too critical.) Elizabeth McGovern is pitch-perfect as Ava Gardner across various points of her life, and Aaron Costa Ganis is perhaps even more impressive as the various men she encounters. (He switches from an insanely good Sinatra impression to a British accent mid-word! What the heck?)
Together they tell an interesting story about beauty, exploitation, power dynamics, and manipulation—unfortunately, it’s disrupted (early and often) by leaning excessively on “turn to audience and talk about what’s going on to a disembodied voice” narration and overly-stylized video projection.
What’s really interesting is that Elizabeth herself wrote the play—it’s as if she doesn’t trust herself, standing up there doing some excellent acting, to tell a story on stage.