Ann

Ann, the one-person biographical play about Texas governor Ann Richards, as written and performed by Holland Taylor, begins auspiciously with a short film clip of the real Richards. She is delivering her famed keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 during which she reminds the cheering throng that she is only the second Texas woman since Barbara Jordan to deliver a keynote speech at this convention. "Two women in a hundred and sixty years is about par for the course . . .if you give us a chance, we can perform."

It's a humdinger of a performance that Taylor gives of the formidable and just as often feisty and funny woman who realized that "A funny woman is tricky in politics," but also reminded noted that "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did, she just did it backwards and in hi-i-gh heels!" There's only a bit more speechifying to come from the former governor of Texas as the screen disappears and we see Holland as Richards warmly welcomed to the stage of the auditorium of a fictitious college where she will address the graduating class. We hear the strains of Chariots of Fire theme as Richards, sartly dressed in a stylish white suit with gold buttons, ignores the podium, and instead uses the breadth of the stage making personal and persuasive contact with her audience.

A staunch Democrat despite her signature look, the immaculately coiffed white "Republican hair," (as it was aptly described by newspaper columnist and fan Molly Ivers) Taylor, like the woman she portrays, puts the audience (us) at ease from the get-go. "I notice that most you guys who tease me about my hair don't' have any." Richards is clearly not someone who is going to stick to or even consult her notes (although they are in evidence), but rather plunges right into her story-telling mode. The stage is therefore not a platform for a persuasive speech, but rather a field of dreams fulfilled for one of the most astonishing women to have ever exceeded her expectations. The size of the Vivian Beaumont Theater's stage is no hinderance to the feeling of intimacy that is created by Taylor. The way she effectively uses both the center as well as the outer reaches of the stage to corral everyone's attention is commendable

Literally, figuratively and certainly politically coming out of the left field, Ann Richards was not the candidate most likely to win the election in 1990 that made her the governor of Texas, only the second woman to gain that office in the most right-est state in the union. Despite a reality check that could define her as a former alcoholic and divorcee with strong feminist views, Richards wowed them in the lone star state with her often scathing humor and her cut-to-the-chase politics.

Despite serving only one term, it was enough for many of us to see what this astonishing woman was made of and stood for. She was definitely not to the manor-born, or as she was to describe her successor George W. Bush - "born with a silver foot in his mouth." She did come to the American people with an agenda, one that she apparently addressed in her autobiography Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places.

Taylor has a lot invested in this play that she based on Richard's writing, interviews with member of her staff, friends and family, film records, news publications, anecdotes, and imagination. Her heaviest investment is in portraying Richards with a loving informality and in a deliberately unpretentious manner. Well known for her work in such TV sitcoms as Bosom Buddies and Two and a Half Men as well as a long and significant stage and film career, Taylor easily disarmed us from the start with a well-honed Texas drawl. But it is spunky, sassy down-home image that she affixes to Richards that is most affectionately created.

Credit Taylor for capturing both the wizened harder-edged woman that Richards was to become as well as the embodying the uncommonly energized, optimistic younger Ann determined to measure up to the high standards set by both her father and mother. Filled with funny anecdotes, Ann makes no apology for the humor for which she became known. "My daddy was the greatest story teller. Awful, bawdy stories just the worst. It's why I developed such a taste for dirty jokes." You can be sure we are offered a sampling.

Although the play is book-ended by the graduation speech and marked initially by a recap of her family history and a touching epilogue, the centerpiece is the governor's office (a handsome setting by Michael Fagin) that glides forward. Richards is seen as fast talker who not only gets the first but the last word in the numerous phone conversations she has with various staffers and politicos during the course of one day.

Richards' description of herself as "strong as mustard gas" discards her shoes in order to get into full stride as Richards decides whether to sign a stay of execution, has brief chats on the phone with Bill Clinton and also gives hell to her speech writer and others as she aggressively paces around her desk.

The actress like her subject, keeps control of the ever coiling cord with the skill of rancher with a lasso. But this bit of officiating tends to become a little wearisome and try our patience as does an over-cooked through-line regarding the playing of charades, deciding who is bringing the ham and who is baking the pies for a proposed family outing.

The core of the play, affably directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein, allows plenty of time to cover Richards'struggle with alcoholism and the unforeseen dissolution of her marriage to civil rights attorney Dave Richards. Most exhilarating is her response to a pro-choice advocate, "tsk, tsk, tsk, we're going to make you have more children you can't afford."

Ann succeeds in some measure as a cornucopia of quotes from its eminently quotable subject, it succeeds as a testament to Richard's indomitable spirit — and to Taylor, the fine actor who has lassoed it to a chariot of fire.

Ann
Written and starring Holland Taylor
Directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein

Vivian Beaumont Theater at LCT, 150 West 65th Street
(212) 239 - 6200
Tickets: $75.00 - $125
Performances: Beginning March 11: Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at2pm, Sunday at 3pm.
From 02/18/13 Opened 03/07/13
Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 03/06/13