‘N/A/’: Ana Villafañe & Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

N/A
By Mario Correa
Directed by Diane Paulus
Through September 1, 2024
Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
https://natheplay.com/
 

By Scott Harrah

This explosive, provocative one-act two hander never mentions former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and young superstar New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez by name—draw your own conclusions by the play’s title, N/A—but there’s no doubt “N” (the incredible Holland Taylor) and “A” (Broadway veteran Ana Villafañe) are thinly veiled composites of two of the most famous and feared women in Washington politics.

The show opens as “A” is livestreaming a video on social media from the office of “N,” when “N” was still House Minority Leader and “A” had just won a primary against a moderate Democrat. Don’t come to N/A expecting a bona fide biography of the two women because this is, after all, a fictionalized account of what Nancy Pelosi and AOC might have said over the years behind closed doors. It’s doubtful the real Ms. Pelosi ever said anything as condescending as “you arrived on our shores like the Beatles; they were a band” to Ms. Ocasio Cortez.

Mario Correa’s account tells us much of what we already know about the real-life women on which the characters are based. Ms. Pelosi had decades of experience in Washington and embodied everything about the so-called Washington “establishment:” She’s white, she came from “privilege,” she’s a centrist who negotiates with lobbyists and Republicans and compromises to get things done and produce “results” for her voters, but she’s also a strong woman and a trailblazer with a reputation for putting the men who tried to silence her in their place.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, as we already know, is a Latina woman from the Bronx who represents the far-left progressive wing of the Democratic party. She considers herself an activist for such issues as climate change, single-payer healthcare and fighting income inequality for working people. She is portrayed here as idealistic, while Ms. Pelosi is a moderate, seasoned political woman willing to cut deals and make concessions with Republicans in order to get the work done in Congress. The two women have different ideas on how to govern but the two things they have in common are passion and guts. Both are examples of the popular new feminist slang term “girl-boss.”

Scene changes in N/A are depicted by designers Possible and Lisa Renkel with colorful projections on a screen of six time periods over four years, from 2018 to 2021, showing the 2018 midterm elections and ending shortly after the January 6, 2021 insurrection. “N” and “A” argue about everything from ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to how to pass legislation on divisive issues.

The script is sharp but at times uneven and contains witty banter that likely never took place between the two women. Playwright Mario Correa’s story of imagined one-on-one meetings between the two political powerhouses is far from perfect, but N/A is still an evening of compelling theater, thanks to the outstanding performances of the two actors.

Holland Taylor may not be as glamorous as the real Nancy Pelosi, and Myung Hee Cho’s costumes don’t exactly capture the high-end fashion panache of the ex-House Speaker (the pink power suit “N” wears in the show looks nothing like anything Ms. Pelosi would ever wear). However, Ms. Taylor is incandescent in every scene and brings the right amount of spunk and hard-edged determination to the character. Ms. Taylor has perfect comic timing for many of the show’s droll one-liners, and she is acerbic in all the right places. Ms. Taylor, as “N,” is hilarious when she talks “baby talk” on the phone to her young grandchild, then hangs up and springs back to her usual tough persona.

Ana Villafañe is best known for playing pop star Gloria Estefan in Broadway’s On Your Feet! Ms. Villafañe has now captured the essence of another Latina icon, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.  From the gleam in her eyes to the manic energy of “AOC,” Ms. Villafañe gives a Hollywood-style interpretation of the far-left political legend. She more than resembles the woman she portrays, and she’s more charismatic and likeable than the real “AOC,” and that’s not a bad thing to be in a two-character one act. By the show’s end, Ms. Villafañe brings a sense of vulnerability to “A” that is refreshing and also touching.

See N/A for no other reason than to watch the sparks fly between these two incredible actors.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 28, 2024
Reviewed at June 27, 2024 press performance

‘N/A’: Ana Villafañe. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘N/A’: (background) Ana Villafañe & Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘N/A’: Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

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THE FRONT PAGE
Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Through January 29, 2017
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), http://thefrontpagebroadway.com/

By David NouNou

When you have a cast that includes Nathan Lane, John Slattery, John Goodman, Jefferson Mays, Robert Morse, Holland Taylor and Sherie Rene Scott, it hardly matters what the play is about. The people are paying to see the cast, not necessarily the show. Hence the capacity business.

Written in 1931 and set in 1928 in a press room of the Criminal Courts Building, in Chicago, Ben Hecht writing The Front Page in collaboration with his partner, Charles MacArthur, is writing of his early days as a journalist. He wrote for the Chicago Daily Journal, among others. The story centers on journalists trying to find the latest dirt or gossip that is going on around town. On this particular day they are trying to get a scoop on Earl Williams (John Magaro), a white man and supposed Communist revolutionary convicted on charges of killing a black policeman. While Williams is being given a psychological test, he shoots the examiner and flees jail.

Walter Burns (Nathan Lane), head of the Herald Examiner, is looking for his head writer, Hildy Johnson, (John Slattery) to get the scoop on the escape. Hildy has quit the paper and is off to New York with his fiancée, Peggy Grant (Halley Feiffer) and her mother, Mrs. Grant (Holland Taylor). He has come back to say good-bye to his cronies for the last time and get his money from Walter and take off. Complications arise that hold him back from leaving, especially the escape of Earl Williams from prison. What a final scoop?

The storyline is interesting enough, but is verbose and way too long. The show runs almost three hours (has two intermissions) and a lot of things are repeated. Shows of the 1930s and 1940s were usually three hours and not the 90 minutes we are used to today. Although The Front Page is a comedy, it lacks a lot of humor. The humor arises in Mr. Lane’s antics. The subject matter was considered serious, so the humor is at a minimum and what there is of the humor seems dated and the journalists are stereotypes. All sorts of journalistic lingo of the day is flying around, journalists running in and out, giving their scoops to their editors over the phone. Yes, those were the days when they phoned in their story; no emails, texts, none of today’s conveniences.

The story moves along and the performances are all fine and genuine. However, the main reason to see the show, Nathan Lane, doesn’t even enter until near the end of Act II. When he finally enters, the speed of the show picks up from 35 miles an hour to 65. Mr. Lane entertains us with his high-strung mercurial speeches and manners–and we have come to love and appreciate each and every one of them, of his utterances, nuances and movements–and once he arrives, the play finally picks up speed and becomes enjoyable. The performance that Lane is giving is wonderful as usual, but he has done this performance hundreds of times, yet who cares? It moves the play along. The rest of the cast are all fine and they all give exact (if not stereotypical) performances.

Unfortunately for this play, journalism has taken such a turn; it was revered once and held as gospel. Look at journalism today and the mockery that is going on in the elections; it has hit a new low. Instead of interesting subject matters or viable candidates, networks and journalists select a candidate who gets ratings. Although it is a good revival, it is hard to get involved in the storyline, as something is missing: Salaciousness.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 20, 2016

‘THE FRONT PAGE”: John Goodman. Photo: © Julieta Cervantes

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