Elizabeth McGovern proves herself as accomplished a playwright as she is a gifted actress in Ava: The Secret Conversations, the Academy Award nominee’s fascinating look at the life and loves of screen goddess extraordinaire Ava Gardner.

Aaron Costa Ganis costars as Peter Evans, the Londoner Ava has hired to ghostwrite her life story following a health crisis that’s left the Hollywood legend strapped for cash.

Despite Ava’s suggestion that “we start the book with me in diapers” (she’d suffered a stroke two years earlier), Peter does manage to persuade her that the very beginning (her childhood in the unfortunately named Grabtown, North Carolina) would be a very good place to start.

Still, Ava’s earliest memories, informative and amusing as they may be, pale in comparison to her tales of Tinseltown, where a freshly arrived Ava Lavinia Gardner is quickly sent to elocution class to eliminate a drawl so thick, only a fellow Grabtownian could make sense of the gobbledygook coming out of her mouth.

Memories of the first of Ava’s three husbands, reigning MGM “teen” star Mickey Rooney, not only transport Ava back in time to the early 1940s, they give Ava: The Secret Conversations the first of its many flashbacks, provide projection designer Alex Basco Koch the opportunity to light up the walls of Ava’s suite with a rapid-fire video montage of photos and film clips of the real-life Miss Gardner and the men in her life, and allow leading man Ganis to morph magically from posh Peter to manic Mickey.

As Ava’s memories turn from the movies’ Andy Hardy to Husband Two (clarinetist-band leader Artie Shaw) to Hubby Three (love-of-her-life Frank Sinatra) to billionaire suitor Howard Hughes, ghost writer Peter finds himself increasingly drawn to Ava despite her more advanced years and precarious mental and physical health.

It’s compelling stuff indeed, and made even more absorbing by the fact that Peter Evans and Ava Gardner did indeed end up co-authoring a book, albeit one published a year after Evans’s death, and twenty-five years after he found himself unceremoniously fired for …

As for the reason Ava chose to cut of all ties with Peter, well for that you’ll have to head on over to the Geffen for as terrific a bio-play as I’ve seen, and one made all the stronger by playwright McGovern’s decision to forego the solo show route of Barrymore, The Belle Of Amherst, Mark Twain Tonight, and a recent one-woman-show about Ava, and give the actress multiple scene partners to play off of.

Elizabeth McGovern may be best known these days from her Golden Globe/Emmy-nominated role as Downtown Abbey’s Lady Cora but even her most die-hard fans will be blown away by McGovern’s physical, vocal, and emotional transformation from naïve North Carolinian to gravelly-voiced, sadder-but-wiser Hollywood superstar, a spectacular star turn honed under Moritz Von Stuelpnagel’s incisive direction.

A sensational Ganis proves himself a bona fide acting chameleon, transitioning from besotted Peter to lovestruck Micky to jack-of-all-trades Artie, and most stunningly, to a Sinatra so authentic, if shut your eyes you’ll swear it’s Frank’s speaking/singing voice you’re hearing.

Not only that, but the chemistry between McGovern and Ganis (in all his guises) is off the charts.

Completing the cast, Ryan W. Garcia does fine, mostly off-stage work voicing Peter’s editor Ed Victor in addition to understudying Ganis’s role(s).

Scenic designer David Meyer’s elegant hotel suite, Toni-Lesie James’ bevy of Ava outfits, Amith Chandrashaker’s vibrant lighting, and Cricket S. Myers’ pitch-perfect sound design are Broadway caliber all the way as is everything about the Geffen Playhouse World Premiere.

Ava: The Secret Conversations is produced in association with Karl Sydow with the support of the Ava Gardner Trust. Rhonda Kohl is associate director. Ron Carlos is dialect coach. Olivia O’Connor is dramaturg. Julie Ann Renfro is production stage manager and Gabrielle J. Bruno is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Phillis Schuringa, CSA.

Ava Gardner’s roles in such MGM classics as Show Boat, Mogambo, and The Barefoot Contessa made her a Hollywood legend. Elizabeth McGovern’s Ava: The Secret Conversations does a legend proud.

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.
www.geffenplayhouse.com

–Steven Stanley
April 14, 2023
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Tags: Ava Gardner, Elizabeth McGovern, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review