The Lady with All the Answers to Close Earlier Than Expected

The off-Broadway production of David Rambo’s The Lady with All the Answers, starring two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey as advice columnist Ann Landers, has cut short its announced extension. The solo show, directed by BJ Jones, will now close on December 6 at the Cherry Lane Theatre. At the time of its closing, the show will have played eight previews and 51 performances.

The Lady with All the Answers portrays Landers on the night she is preparing to write the most difficult column of her long and storied career: the now-famous column in which she informed her 60 million readers that her own marriage had failed, after advising them for decades that divorce was never an appropriate solution. Born Esther “Eppie” Pauline Friedman Lederer in 1918, Landers wrote her first advice column in 1955 and continued until her death in 2002.

Before going into rehearsals to play Ann Landers, Ivey won raves for starring as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie at the Long Wharf Theater in May and directed Second Stage’s production of the musical Vanities in July. She will reprise her performance as Amanda at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre in March 2010.

The Lady with All the Answers features set design by Neil Patel, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, lighting design by Nicole Pearce, sound design by Kevin O’Donnell and wig design by Paul Huntley.