Review of AVA: The Secret Conversations at Geffen Playhouse

I was eager to see actress Elizabeth McGovern in “AVA: The Secret Conversations” at the Geffen playhouse. Not only does she star in this play, she was inspired by the book “The Secret Conversations” by Peter Evans and Gardner herself. McGovern, recently known for portraying Cora Crawley on Downton Abbey, is fabulous as the Golden Age femme fatal in her final years.

Elizabeth McGovern as Ava: The Secret Conversations. Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the play takes place in Gardner’s flat in London in 1988, two years before her death. Mentioning her impairment from a stroke, the audience watches McGovern hold up her left arm that isn’t of much use, and explain to Evans (Aaron Costa Ganis) why she needs to share her life story. “I either write the book or sell the jewels. I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels,” recites McGovern, receiving a laugh from the audience. She needs money to continue paying for living and medical expenses. Reluctant at first to take on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Evans begins working on her tell-all biography, through a series of one-on-one interviews. The intimacy these two share while writing the book changes his life.

Elizabeth McGovern as AVA in AVA: The Secret Conversations. Photo by Jeff Lorch

I’ve known of McGovern since 1986, when I was working at the theatrical talent agency, Writers and Artists. When McGovern visited her agent Joan Scott, everyone in the office was on their best behavior. McGovern started acting in the 1980, earning her first film role in Ordinary People after studying at Juilliard. One year later she earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in Ragtime.

Two months before seeing “Ava: The Secret Conversations” I was in Palm Springs during Modernism Week touring Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms estate. He lived in this home with Gardner while they were married. Our tour guide told us they loved hard, played hard and fought hard. One day, Frank came home and discovered Ava in the piano shaped pool with another man. He ran into the master bedroom, picked up the clothes on the floor, took them out into the driveway and set them on fire.

He then went back inside the home, picked up a champagne bottle and threw it into the sink, cracking it. The crack and chip are there today for all to see. If you ever get the chance to visit Palm Springs in February, during Modernism Week, be sure to take a tour of Twin Palms.

McGovern is Gardner throughout the show, and is nothing like Cora in Downtown Abbey. There are times though, when she gets a kitten look in her eyes toying with ghost writer Peter Evans (played by the wonderful actor Aaron Costa Ganis). That look is very similar to how Cora would get her husband Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) to agree in her favor.

While Evans is pressured by his book editor Ed Victor (Ryan W. Garcia) to get all the juicy details about Ava’s marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, and paramour Howard Hughes, a multi-media timeline journey begins onstage. Ganis takes on the roles of each of Ava’s lovers for a riveting theatrical glimpse into the private life of Hollywood’s biggest stars. There are only three actors in the production, and each one is brilliant, especially McGovern and Ganis. There is chemistry between the two that is so fun to watch.

Once voted the world’s most beautiful woman, we learn Ava's attractiveness seduces philandering Mickey Rooney the minute she arrives in Hollywood in 1914 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. As the top box-office attraction in the 1930s, from his role as Andy Hardy, Rooney was one of the best-paid actors of that era. This celebrity couple married in 1942 and divorced in 1943. Rooney referred his first wife as “a lady of passion – one of them rage.” I assume his philandering had something to do with her actions.

We learn a few years later she married jazz musician Artie Shaw, an intellect and difficult man to live with, so that marriage only lasted one year as well. When she met Sinatra after he divorced Nancy, and the two lived in the Twin Palms home in Palm Springs. Sinatra was Gardner’s third and longest marriage, lasting six years, until she had enough of him trying to control her. It was her last marriage, and the two remained friends until the day she died.

McGovern portraying Gardner drops a lot of f * bombs, smokes like a chimney, and drinks like a fish, yet the audience loves her. She radiates onstage pulling the audience into every scene while lounging on the stunning set by David Meyer in a variety of outfits by Costume Designer Toni-Leslie James. She dresses McGovern in a dazzling dress at the end that produces a wow factor.

Walking away from the play, we learn Ava Gardner marched to her own beat working for the studios, and when the going got tough, and the men in her life tried to control her, this confident femme fatale walked away, instead of staying and becoming a victim.

Opening Night: April 13, 2023, and the play closes on May 7, 2023. There is no performance on Mondays. Tuesday – Friday the show starts at 7:00 p.m., Saturday: 2:00 and 7:00 p.m., and Sunday: 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. The show runs 90 minutes, no intermission.
All Geffen Playhouse productions are intended for an adult audience; children under 10 years of age will not be admitted.
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $30.00 – $129.00. Available by phone at (310)208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.
Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.