Actress Carolyn Michel never had read Ann Landers' advice columns, but she has learned a lot about the writer to star in the one-woman show "The Lady With All the Answers" at Florida Studio Theatre. "I'm the only human in the country who did not read her," said Michel, who begins performances Wednesday in the show, which runs through July 29. "I certainly have read her now.
I've read some of her books and read about her, of course. It's not that I read them and didn't like them; it just wasn't part of my routine." David Rambo's play had its premiere in San Diego in 2005.
Rambo, now a producer and writer on the TV series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," wrote an earlier FST show, "God's Man in Texas." The production reunites Michel with director Martin LaPlatney, who staged Michel's last one-woman show, "Rose." Michel describes the play as "an opportunity to visit with Ann Landers.
How cool is that? She affected so many peoples' lives, and you get to see both the columnist side of her and a little glimpse of her personal life as well, who she was when she wasn't expressing herself through the newspaper." The real woman was Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer, or "Eppie," whose twin sister, Pauline Esther Friedman, or "Popo," became famous as her advice-giving rival, "Dear Abby.
" Lederer, who took over the Ann Landers column in 1955, continued until her death in 2002 at age 83. Former assistants continue the column now known as "Annie's Mailbox," which appears daily in the Herald-Tribune. Michel and LaPlatney are constantly amazed at the range of subjects Landers addressed.
"She addressed topics that were ahead of her time," Michel said. She took on subjects that people were not talking about in those days." At one point in the play, she says she's not an expert on anything, "but I can get to the experts.
" "That's what distinguished her from advice columnists before her, the extensive network of helping organizations that she knew about," LaPlatney said. Various biographies suggest Landers responded to every letter she received, even those that didn't make the column, LaPlatney said. "A lot of those responses were referrals to where people could get help.
She had the largest Rolodex of organizations of people to contact in the country." Being onstage by herself for a couple of hours is "a huge challenge, but as a theater artist, I welcome things that will challenge me and make me learn and grow and get better," Michel said. But there are other characters in the play: audience members.
During the course of the production, Landers deals with a personal crisis that led to one of her most famous columns, in 1975. But she also reads some of the letters that came in from many of the 60 million people who read her column every day at its peak, and questions the audience about various issues. Michel has played famous people in the past, including Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman, but she's never played someone so well-known and recognizable.
"I'm not trying to do an impersonation of Ann Landers," she said, although she will wear a wig and has been working on capturing Landers' Midwestern accent, the way she spoke slightly out of the side of her mouth. "It's a valentine to her. It engages the audience," she said.
LaPlatney, who has acted at Florida Studio Theatre and does work as an acting coach, described his working relationship with Michel as a collaboration. "I think all plays are collaborations between actors and directors, particularly in a one-person show," he said. "It's not like you're telling that person what to do.
" Michel describes LaPlatney as "wonderfully insightful and very gentle, and he knows my strengths and weaknesses. It's important to have that rapport." Actress Carolyn Michel never had read Ann Landers' advice columns, but she has learned a lot about the writer to star in the one-woman show "The Lady With All the Answers" at Florida Studio Theatre.
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