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Ava: The Secret Conversations
What happens to beautiful women after Hollywood chews them up and spits them out? Ava Gardner, whom the studio labeled in a promotion for The Barefoot Contessa (1954) as “The World’s Most Beautiful Animal,” worked in the industry, and mostly on TV, until a stroke in her 60s.
After her illness, she clawed her way back into functioning health to sit for a series of interviews with author Peter Evans, whom she asked to ghostwrite her autobiography. In Ava: The Secret Conversations, at New York City Center until September 14, Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern channels Ava Gardner in a riveting performance that mesmerizes, ably assisted by Aaron Costa Ganis playing Peter Evans and Ava’s husbands.
The play, written by McGovern, doesn’t offer new revelations about Gardner. But for those who haven’t read Evans’ book on which McGovern based her script, the play includes many surprising details.
Gardner and Evans both had achieved success when they sat down in her apartment in London. An iconic actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age, Gardner lived her life to the fullest, including marriages to Mickey Rooney, band leader Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra. Her relationships with many other men alluded to in the play indicate she greatly enjoyed her femininity and sexuality. Journalist Evans had been recommended to her by a friend as someone who had written biographies of Peter Sellers and Aristotle Onassis to name a few. Together, he and Gardner brought excitement, experience and expertise to the project.
A Two-hander
Essentially a two-hander, Ava: The Secret Conversations displays the Gardner/Evans relationship, with conflicts about how the actress wanted to present her legacy, and a split that caused the shuttering of their project. The production features film clips of her husbands (projections by Alex Basco Koch, sound by Cricket S. Myers, and lighting by Amith Chandrashaker).
David Meyer’s scenic design and Chandrashaker’s lighting effectively present Ava’s lush apartment, with minimal sets and spots representing Evans’ writing study and other settings. The technical elements serve director Moritz Von Stuelpnagel’s vision of the push and pull between Gardner and Evans. They depended upon one another for a hoped-for profitable outcome, which never happened.
Gardner and Evans Never Lived to See Their Books Published
Instead, Gardner wrote her own autobiography, published shortly after her death in 1990. As for Evans, from the interviews he cobbled together, he wrote Ava: The Secret Conversations, (reviewed here), published in 2013 after his death. So neither was alive to see their work’s success.
As we watch these individuals with their colliding attitudes and values, we recognize that their interactions took place in a more gracious, decent world than today’s current media circus.
In a prologue, Gardner ominously calls Evans in the middle of the night and tantalizes him like a siren. She mentions she’s thought about assisted suicide, using the organization Exit. The scene switches and Evans faces the audience. As he talks to his agent Ed Victor (Chris Thorn’s voice throughout), he questions where to begin the “play.” In a surreal moment we realize the characters are discussing “the play” as a framing device. What follows becomes a series of layers which unfold to a core of intimate moments shared between these two individuals, each remarkable in their own right.
During the uninterrupted span of 90 minutes we watch how Evans engages his subject to be authentic and even raw in her descriptions. For her part McGovern’s Ava tugs at the image of her glittering celebrity and overlays it with her humanity. For example she discusses some graphic details of her rehabilitation after her stroke. The glamor vanishes. In its place, we appreciate Ava’s beauty in mortality.
Identifying with Gardner’s Humanity
Allowing us to identify with the star as a human being reinforces the theme that the human need for community and warmth increases with age and for a celebrity may be even harder to come by than for others. Gradually, the portrait of Gardner clarifies so we understand the extent to which she experienced heartbreak, loneliness and regret. We also learn that in exchange for her status, she allowed the studio to dictate her decisions about having a family.
Between discussions, projections, and re-imaginings of conversations between Ava and her famous husbands, Ed Victor presses Evans for salacious details. Commercialism, ever-present today, rears its ugly head. Of course “the dirt” fascinates readers. Evans has thoroughly researched Ava’s life and attempts to confirm rumored sexual tidbits. Sometimes Ava obliges, enthralled with her own history. Then she realizes she is taking the honesty and authenticity too far. How will she ultimately be viewed if Evans uncovers this earthy, untoward portrait of her, brought to life beyond a two-dimensional screen?
A Push for Commercial Success
On the other side of Evans and Gardner’s relationship stands Victor. He wants the book to become a bestseller and assumes that will be a slam-dunk. But Evans’ scruples and perhaps fears of lawsuits take over. And then Ava makes a decision about the project, guided by an important influencer in her life. Abruptly, Evans and Gardner never speak again. However, she does leave him a sign he is in her thoughts, a promise she once made when they first met.
Ava: The Secret Conversations challenges one’s expectations about celebrity without using tired clichés. Once the conflicts emerge between Evans and Gardner, the pace picks up. When Evans steps into the characters of Rooney and Sinatra, he does so winningly. With Sinatra he gives McGovern’s Ava emotion to respond to. Toward the last half of the production, the play pops. Toni-Leslie James’ costuming as McGovern dresses for a red-carpet appearance enhances the fading star’s glamor. For most of the play Ava has been sitting around in track suits. Putting on her long-sleeved white gloves, McGovern dons Ava’s skin. Regally, she convinces us that Ava is every inch a star, even in her 60s after a stroke.
Ava: The Secret Conversations runs 90 minutes with no intermission at New York City Center until September 14, 2025.
