Politics can get pretty nasty — especially when family members pull for different parties.
In “The City of Conversation,” Hester Ferris finds that out the hard way. As played by the sleek, charismatic Jan Maxwell, Hester’s an influential Washington, DC, hostess and a lifelong liberal who used to hobnob with JFK. When Anthony Giardina’s drama opens, in ’79, the busy widow is trying to prevent members of all-white country clubs from getting judgeships.
These negotiations fascinate Anna Fitzgerald (Kristen Bush), the fiancée of Hester’s son, Colin (Michael Simpson). Blond, beautiful and ambitious, Anna’s political, too — she’s a passionate conservative rooting for Ronald Reagan.
Which makes Anna the antichrist in Hester’s eyes.
Over the next 30 years, Hester, Anna and Colin try to remain friendly, mostly for the sake of Colin and Anna’s son, Ethan (Luke Niehaus). Ethan’s 6 when we meet him, and while Hester adores him, she and Anna nevertheless have a furious showdown in Hester’s comfy living room.
When Hester and Ethan finally reconnect after two decades apart, he’s 27, and bitter. “You fight for things, but you don’t lose people,” he tells his grandmother.
“Sometimes you do,” she replies. “You justify yourself because of the idea.”
Well directed by Doug Hughes, “The City of Conversation” is an often fascinating portrait of two women unwilling to compromise. Yet it stacks the deck in favor of Hester, who’s portrayed as smart, witty, articulate, funny and committed, while Anna’s a harsh, manipulative zealot.
Onstage, as in life, a little bipartisanship might have helped.