I was again a lucky girl and had a friend ask if I'd accompany him to yesterday's matinee of Ann, which opens tonight at Lincoln Center Theater. I was very interested to see the show - I generally enjoy one-person shows, especially when they're about people who intrigue me. And Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, certainly was intriguing! I'm also a really big fan of Holland Taylor. I had a great time at the show, though I'm still not quite sure how successful it is as a play. An affectionate and well-delivered tribute to an interesting lady, but as a piece of theater? Well...
Written and performed by Holland Taylor, Ann has a framing device that has Taylor as Ann Richards directly addressing the audience. The framing device segues in and out of flashback scenes that take place in Ann Richards' gubernatorial office. Her dialogue in the office scenes mainly consists of phone conversations, though she does chat with her (unseen) office assistant (voiced by the ever hilarious Julie White). I definitely felt the framing device scenes worked much better - I enjoyed the rapport Taylor immediately had with the audience. I do recognize it would be hard to get a two act play out of that device, but the way the character was conveyed was much more interesting via direct address. At least to me. In the office, the phone conversations were much more awkward and the script seemed more cliched.
As portrayed by Taylor, Ann Richards was a no-nonsense, high-spirited gal with a passion for political inclusiveness. I found much of what she said (and I don't know how much was taken directly from transcripts and how much was made up by Taylor) to be very warm and true. There were a lot of laughs and I teared up quite a few times at the lovely honesty being portrayed, not to mention at the thought of how far women have, and haven't, come. And, for some reason, I kept thinking of my grandmother. I'd never considered my grandmother to be remotely like Ann Richards before, but there was just something about the plain-spoken quality and the aura of love and fun that surrounded her (as so lovingly depicted by Taylor) that made me long for another conversation with my grandmother. And when Ann had a phone conversation with her granddaughter? I was gone. :)
Holland Taylor has charm out the wazoo, and whether it's her own personal charisma or a manifestation of Richards', who cares. She's really ridiculously good and commands the stage like nobody's business. Holland Taylor AND Ann Richards are wonderful ladies to spend a couple of hours with. Taylor has us completely in the palm of her hand for over two hours. Before the show started, I saw in the Playbill that there would be an intermission. I rather thought that a 90-minute intermissionless piece seemed better for this kind of bio-play, and I do still feel as if one act would've been enough, but I wasn't bored in the company of these ladies for one instant. The audience burst into applause several times throughout the afternoon, I think both for the terrific things said by this feisty character, and to acknowledge the huge commitment by Holland Taylor to get this production on stage. Thumbs up from me - it's a terrifically entertaining experience. Whether or not it's a complete play, well, I guess that's not really for me to say...
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