Rudy's Wife Causes Sensation
Donna Hanover, the wife of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, is joining the cast of the controversial off-Broadway play The Vagina Monologues.
Hanover will take over the play's lead role for two weeks beginning May 30.
Joannie Danielides, a spokeswoman for Hanover she had "no idea" whether Hanover had discussed the play with her husband. She called the role "a great opportunity for her to perform her craft."
Danielides said Hanover's "not being offered this because she is the first lady. She's being offered the role as an actress."
The Vagina Monologues was written by Eve Ensler, a friend and political supporter of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the mayor's rival in the race for the U.S. Senate.
Asked to comment on the play, Mayor Giuliani responded, "My wife is independent. She leads an independent life, and so do I."
But the play - which takes on topics like orgasm, sexual abuse, sexual fantasies and childbirth - is sure to ignite more controversy for the mayor, who last year was embroiled in a heated battle over obscenity and public funding of the arts involving the Brooklyn Museum exhibit Sensation.
Giuliani labeled the exhibit "sick stuff," saying it featured "pedophiles on parade" and "dung being thrown at the Virgin Mary." He ultimately surrendered his legal fight to close the museum and accepted a judge's ruling that he resume funding the institution.
The play's controversial subject matter and the identity of its author are also sure to increase speculation about the relationship between the mayor and his wife. The couple seldom appears in public together, and he stopped wearing his wedding ring several months ago. When asked in a recent Daily News interview if she had any regrets about her life at Gracie Mansion (the official residence of New York City mayors), Hanover said, "Why don't we move on to something else."
The Vagina Monologues, which began in a small SoHo theater in 1996, reopened in October at the Westside Theater, in the Clinton section of Manhattan, with Ensler performing all the monologues. Since February, those duties have been shared by rotating trios of performers, including Broadway performers like Audra McDonald and singer Alanis Morisette.
The play has drawn criticism from some conservative groups. Earlier this year, a group called CHANGE-NY, which calls itself the state's leading taxpayer organization, objected to performances of the play at State University of New York campuses. The group's president, Tom Carroll, said, "This show should be kicked off the campuses. It's way over the top."
Playwright Ensler was an honorary member of Clinton's Senate exploratory committee and visited the White House last year for a personal meeting with the first lady. Clinton, meanwhile, is writing a foreword to Ensler's new play, Necessary Targets.