Ava Gardner News

Ivoryton will bring a brand new play reading series to the shoreline community. StAGEd Intent will showcase new plays written for Boomers, by Boomers, followed by drinks, snacks and an in depth talkback.

Often described as one of the world's leading dramatic interpreters of Frank Sinatra, Richard Shelton will present Sinatra: RAW at The Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. 

Zoë Van Tieghem and Matt Baker are back in business and The Green Room 42's got them.

Mr. Yunioshi will return for a limited engagement of six performances from August 4- August 13, 2023.

Elizabeth McGovern gets downright gritty in a gutsy, full-blown exploration of one of Hollywood’s most meta-femmes fatales in AVA: THE SECRET CONVERSATIONS.

Get a first look at photos of Geffen Playhouse's U.S. premiere of Ava: The Secret Conversations.

Next up at the Geffen Playhouse, the U.S. premiere of Ava: The Secret Conversations opening April 13, 2023 (with previews already begun). Elizabeth McGovern stars as Ava Gardner in this new play that she wrote. Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs Elizabeth and her co-stars Aaron Costa Ganis and Ryan W. Garcia. Moritz made some time between rehearsals to answer a few of my queries.

The breakout hit of Sierra Madre Playhouse's winter season, Mr. Yunioshi, returns for a limited engagement of four performances.

Sinatra The Musical, a brand new musical based on the life and career of the legendary artist and cultural icon Frank Sinatra, will make its world premiere this year at Birmingham Rep! Learn more about the show and how to purchase tickets here!

Geffen Playhouse has announced the full cast for the U.S. premiere of Ava: The Secret Conversations, written by and featuring Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated Elizabeth McGovern (Once Upon a Time in America, Downton Abbey) as Ava Gardner, and directed by Tony Award-nominated Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Bernhardt/Hamlet, Present Laughter).

Zoë Van Tieghem and Matt Baker presented a show that was more flight than fling, lifted up by musical craft from both proficients.

Alessandra Assaf, who enacts the Hollywood icon in 12 O’CLOCK TALES WITH AVA GARDNER, the play she has written with Michael Lorre, brings out all of the actress’s fire, charisma and messiness.

Twelve O’Clock Tales with Ava Gardner, written by Alessandra Assaf and Michael Lorre, directed by Michael A. Shepperd and starring Assaf in the title role, opened at the Whitefire Theatre last weekend. Check out photos from the production here!

Alessandra Assaf has taken her life-long admiration for Ava Gardner and fashioned a love letter to her in her one-woman show Twelve O’Clock Tales with Ava Gardner opening at the Whitefire Theatre January 15, 2023. This tale of the silver screen icon is directed by Michael A. Shepperd.

Movie star. Femme fatale. Homewrecker. Civil Rights activist. The Whitefire Theatre plays host to a new solo play that reveals the contradictions and complexities of the passionate and deeply flawed woman behind silver screen icon Ava Gardner.

​​​​​​​The title Mr. Yunioshi refers to the name of the character portrayed by Mickey Rooney in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by Blake Edwards (Rooney's former roommate). Rooney portrays Audrey Hepburn's neighbor. It is a cringe-inducing characterization, in which Rooney dons yellowface and wears appliances to 'play Asian.'

Universal Music Group Theatrical in association with Tina Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Enterprises announced SINATRA THE MUSICAL, a new musical based on the life and career of the legendary artist Frank Sinatra.

In a clever twist, Cho, an Asian actor, plays the white Hollywood star who, in 'Breakfast at TifFany's,' played every Asian stereotype as Mr. Yunioshi.

Ava: The Secret Conversations will join the Geffen Playhouse 2022/2023 season lineup to complete the full season.

The film also stars Halston Sage (“Paper Towns,” “Neighbors,” “Before I Fall,” “X-Men: Dark Phoenix,” “The Last Summer”), Andrew Richardson (“The Independent,” “Killer Among Us,” “A Call to Spy”) and Emmy Award nominee Aidan Quinn (“Practical Magic,”  “Legends of the Fall,” “Elementary,” “Law& Order: SVU,” “The American Guest”).