The Theatre at the Center in Munster always provides a wonderful array of productions. The Lady with All the Answers is no exception. I have seen a ton of plays and musicals, but this one was my first one-man show. I was a bit worried I would find it boring with only one person being up on stage and the fact that I did not know who Ann Landers was. However, I found the whole play from beginning to end to be very enjoyable.
Ann Landers was a pen name for an advice column that Esther Lederer took over in 1955. She wrote the syndicated advice column for 47 years and made it extremely famous around the world. The play takes place one evening in her Lake Shore Drive apartment in Chicago in 1975 as she works on the most difficult column she has ever written.
The theater was packed, and everyone was buzzing as my mom and I took our seats. Silence settled on the room as the lights dimmed down. Immediately Janet Ulrich Brooks, who plays Ann Landers, took command of her stage. She kept the audience glued to her with her skilled acting (my mom said she even sounded like Ann Landers) and with the help of the wonderful writing by David Rambo. Many parts made my mom and I laugh out loud and other parts were very touching as we learned about her history into her present. At the end, Janet Ulrich Brooks got a well-deserved standing ovation.
The play runs about an hour and 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission in between. The play goes until August 13, 2018. Performances are at 2pm Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30pm Fridays, 3pm and 7:30pm Saturdays and 2:30pm Sundays.
