Ava: The Secret Conversations Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...McGovern, whose choice to tour this show strikes me as personally courageous and something that Gardner herself would have adored, has an innate understanding of how her celebrity subject hardly was alone. Watch McGovern in the show and you can see Judy Garland at times, even as many others come to your mind. They haven't always been played by one who seems to understand so well."

Stage and Cinema - Somewhat Recommended

"...An aging, reclusive movie star strikes up a relationship with a struggling writer. It may sound familiar but this isn't Sunset Boulevard, more's the pity. The star in question is screen legend Ava Gardner, who, in the late 1980s, contracted British journalist Peter Evans to ghostwrite her autobiography. The conversations between them, as documented in his posthumously published book, form the basis for the identically titled AVA: The Secret Conversations, now being performed in the Studebaker Theatre, its old-world charm and beauty making it a perfect setting for the production."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...They don’t make Hollywood stars like they used to,and based on Elizabeth McGovern’s play Ava:The Secret Conversations, based on the book “The Secret Conversations” its a damn shame. McGovern herself plays the title role, bringing the brash no holds bar star back to life in her London apartment on the beautiful Studebaker stage."

Around The Town Chicago - Recommended

"...Tonight, we were witnesses to a play about a film star that I found quite a sex symbol. Her name , Ava Gardner. Since she passed away 35 years ago at age 68, many young people will not be drawn to this powerful story about a woman who made many a young man fall in love. Ava was born to a farming family, but at the age of 17 while visiting New York, she is spotted, her photo taken, and then her new life begins."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...AVA: THE SECRET CONVERSATIONS is a treasury of entertainment, information and guilty little secrets. Two extremely talented actors set the stage on fire with every scene, giving their all in portraying these two strong, real life artists. The performances by Elizabeth McGovern and Aaron Costa Ganis are both top-notch and electrifying. Together the pair enkindle tiny sparks that grow into a bonfire that lights up the stage."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Elizabeth McGovern's embodiment of Ava Gardner in Ava: The Secret Conversations, now playing at the Studebaker Theater inside Chicago's storied Fine Arts Building, is a riveting study in fragility, fire, and fierce self-preservation. Written by McGovern herself, the play peels back the layers of Gardner's tumultuous life and career beginning with the tale of her debilitating stroke - when the spotlight had dimmed but her spirit refused to flicker out."

Third Coast Review - Somewhat Recommended

"...I remember Ava Gardner as a glamorous and talented actress from the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was voluptuous and exuded a simmering passion in her onscreen demeanor. I didn't know much about her private life except from the television movie Sinatra (1992) with Jeanne Tripplehorn as Gardner. Peter Evans wrote an autobiography published posthumously in 2013. He listed Gardner as an author, but it was more of an "as told to" type of book. In 2023, Ava: The Secret Conversations premiered in Los Angeles. The playwright is Elizabeth McGovern, who also stars. The play is directed by Morris Von Stuepnagel. The play premiered Saturday at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building."

PicksInSix - Recommended

"...There's a lovely drawing room set designed by LA scenic designer David Meyer. Projections abound here, too, covering the entire set in neon and streetlights and old film clips, all designed and assembled by Alex Bosco Koch. The entire experience was directed by Broadway veteran Moritz von Stuelpnagel. And as for the actors, well, it's basically a two-hander and a real challenge for any performer. Mr. Ganis offers a huge versatility and gameness for tackling what could have been a thankless role to play and even gets to sing a Sinatra staple, Fly Me To The Moon. Ms. McGovern, always the star here and playing almost the entire show barefoot (as was Ms. Gardner's real habit), has a real gift for dialogue and scene creation as a playwright and a proud Southerner from the beginning."

MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended

"...From the moment she walks onstage, Elizabeth McGovern owns this play. That makes sense because, besides her arrestingly brilliant portrayal of Actress Ava Gardner, McGovern wrote the stage version of Ava: The Secret Conversations. She based it on The Secret Conversations, a book that emerged from the time Gardner spent with Peter Evans, whom she’d hired as her biographer. McGovern’s dramatization is produced with the support of the Ava Gardner Trust."

Splash Magazine - Not Recommended

"...However, the biggest problem affecting the play's credibility is the impoverishment of style- everything is presented through a backward lens. This is a purported recounting of events- there is simply no sense of events developing in actual space and time. Much of the intent is transmitted to the secondary character, Evans, from an offstage voice. If we can't see the agent, where is the agency- and why? Aaron Costa Ganis as Evans was consistent as a character, but that character was totally one-sided, smarmy and self-absorbed. In fine, this is a play about an opportunistic man who attempted to blow up a legend- and the play lets them both down. The conversations should've stayed secret.""

BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended

"...The audience feels as though they are sitting in Ava's apartment listening to the history of this fascinating woman. Miss McGovern has brought Ava to life again. Yes she went against the rules and broke up a marriage but she never denied any of it. It's her story and she likes it. It is quite a story. The Studebaker is the place to go to hear this account. Sit back and relive the Golden Age."