Taylor brings late Texas governor to life in 'Ann'

Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor (“Two and Half Men,” “The Practice”) has undoubtedly created for herself the role of a lifetime as the late Texas Governor Ann Richards in “Ann.”

Now playing at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre before a stint in Washington, D.C., and a hoped-for berth on Broadway, “Ann” is a custom-built one-woman star vehicle for Taylor, who appears as both actress and playwright.

Taylor amazes as she provides reams of hilarious and thoroughly researched material for herself to perform as a superskilled and transformative actress. Taylor's physical stage likeness and assumed mannerisms of the late Richards are uncanny and thoroughly convincing — not bad for a Philadelphia-born Yankee portraying one of the South's most memorable political daughters of the past 30 years.

“Ann” definitely entertains and serves as an engaging refresher course on the real-life Richards and her impact on American politics, from her heralded speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention to her time as Texas governor before her incumbency was thwarted by George W. Bush in 1994. But “Ann” ultimately comes off more as a vivid tribute to an undeniably smart and affable politician rather than a logistically structured play with dramatic stakes that test Richards' mettle.

“Ann” begins at a fictional Texas college's commencement where Richards is the keynote speaker before it morphs into a biographical confessional with the audience. The show then takes another structural turn by showing what a typical day-in-the-office scenario might have been like for Richards. “Ann” ends with a posthumous summarization complete with a motivational pep talk for the audience.

It's the governor's office scene that stands out the most since we get to see Richards in all her multi-tasking glory as she deals with her staff, the media and her grown children on the phone. (Tony Award-winner Julie White provides great support as the prerecorded voice of Richards' ever-resourceful secretary Nancy Kohler.) Throughout this scene, Richards is weighed by an impending execution under her watch. Yet Taylor frustratingly leaves the outcome of the capital case in the air, making this segment feel like a lost opportunity.

Despite the structural schizophrenia of the show, “Ann” still succeeds thanks to the overwhelming force of personality from Taylor as Richards. She's assisted by director Benjamin Endsley Klein, who creates a very fluid and well-paced production against Michael Fagin's majestically patrician sets and the carefully chosen Texas visuals of projection designer Zachary Borovay.

Some audiences going in expecting more rough-and-tumble political combativeness in “Ann” might be disappointed that Taylor opts to show Richards to be so conciliatory to her rivals (particularly Bush). Taylor chooses an inspirational path to highlight the life of an extraordinary Texas woman who rose from poverty to a place of political power. So despite structural shortcomings in the script, “Ann” emerges as a personal triumph for Taylor to celebrate and commemorate Richards.