Diane read a favorable review of a local production of David Rambo’s The Lady With All the Answers and wanted to see it. So last night Diane and I with our friends Cindy and Tom went to see the local production of The Lady With All the Answers. It was a one-woman show about Ann Landers. I read Ann Landers’ columns for decades. She provided sensible, practical advice (as did her twin sister “Dear Abby”). The play centers around Ann Landers writing a column about her 36-year marriage ending in divorce. I was amused by the letters Ann Landers reads in this play. I learned a lot about Ann Landers that I didn’t know. And the enthusiastic theater audience saw a great performance by Mary Kate O’Connell. If The Lady With All the Answers shows up in your neighborhood, I recommend you go see it. GRADE: A
From the title, I thought it was about Sarah Palin. Answers don’t have to be correct, do they?
I, too, read Ann Landers (and Dear Abby) for years. My favorite Landersism: No one can take advantage of you without your permission.
Jerry, you’re a scamp!
Deb, one of my favorite Ann Landers lines is: ” Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”
It is funny how I used to read different parts of a newspaper than I do now. I read comic strips, advice columns and horoscopes once upon a time. And these sisters, along with Joyce Brothers, got a lot of attention.
Patti, you’re right about newspapers. I was a big comics reader when I was a kid. I loved the Sunday comics because they were published in COLOR! Today, I read the Sunday New York Times, whatever Diane points out to me in the Buffalo News, and I read about six newspapers online.
Patti, ditto about the newspapers. My mother always did the crosswords and acrostics puzzles and sometimes would call me across the country to help her with the answers! I don’t read comic strips anymore since my favorites have stopped publishing – Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, etc.
The Ann Landers advice that stuck in my mind was about driving. If you drive a little slower and more sensibly rather than speeding and cutting in and out you will arrive FIVE MINUTES later than you might have otherwise, but are more likely to arrive in one piece.
We’ve seen a lot of one man and (more often) one woman shows over the years, starting with Roy Dotrice as John Aubrey in BRIEF LIVES in the 1970s. Jackie always claims not to like them but we’ve seen a lot and she has enjoyed them too. (Again, I don’t have my theater list with me to refer to.) Lily Tomlin’s THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE was a highlight and Anna Deveare Smith is always worth seeing. THe autobiographical ones seem to work best for me.
This one does sound interesting.
Jeff, you and Jackie would really enjoy THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS. I wish I could have seen Lily Tomlin’s THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Does it have any space ships, aliens, dwarves, elves, dragons, talking cats, squirrels with swords, jungle warriors, English private detectives or rogue atomic ants?
Sorry, Rick. THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS just features a lady with all the answers.
Mostly she has one answer–get counseling. I could do that column in my sleep.
If it doesn’t have any of that stuff, I’ll skip it. But then I was going to skip it any way…