Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe return to the stage as two congresswomen, generations apart in this new play about power, politics, and the perilous path to progress. N/A is a whip smart battle of wills -- and wits – between N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Inspired by real people and events, this riveting two-hander illuminates the person whom many consider the most powerful woman in American history…and the once-in-a-generation political talent who defied her.
That's where N/A slightly falters: It seems more likely to reinforce people's existing alliances than encourage them to really consider other perspectives. The play feels tailor-made, and -timed, for one express purpose: Get out the vote. Remind its likely audience of urban liberals that divisions within their party shouldn't drive them out of it. The show was supposed to open two days before Tuesday's primaries, after all — though it's still apt that it now coincides with a presidential debate.
N/A, by contrast, is like being stuck at dinner with a relative you wish would please talk about anything else (do N and A have any thoughts on the weather?). It’s claustrophobic, and ultimately boring; the structure traps the performers in limited caricatures. Holland Taylor specializes in playing toughened older women whether as a professor in Legally Blonde or Texas governor Ann Richards. She applies all her steel to N, throwing out one-liners with hefty torque: She can get a laugh just by pursing her lips and silently offering A a square of Ghirardelli chocolate in mid-conversation. That approach tends to chop Ana Villafañe, who plays A, right up. Villafañe’s done musicals (she was Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet!) and her angle on A turns the congresswoman into something of a flustered theater kid. I’m not sure that’s true of the actual AOC, who’s shown herself to be cannier and more of a deal-maker (at times, frustrating her own base) than the starry-eyed depiction you get here. But it’s hard to put the blame on the performer when she’s unsupported by the script, and from director Diane Paulus, who allows Taylor to showboat freely.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
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