SITE GUIDE
REVIEWS
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
Grey Gardens
By Elyse Sommer
Original Review & Song List
Grey Gardens Background
|
l to r: Erin Davie, Mary Louise Wilson, Christine Ebersole, (Photos: Joan Marcus) To cut right to the chase, The garden and interior of the East Hampton mansion called Grey Gardens is as messy as ever, but the show which was a welcome and unique original at Playwrights Horizon is now in full and glorious bloom at the Walter Kerr theater. The Broadway Grey Gardens — flaws eliminated, strong points enriched, audience appeal broadened— may not play for umpteen years like Phantom of the Opera, but its book, lyrics and music make it one of the Broadway season's brightest new offerings that is likely to have a good solid run — certainly, for as long as Christine Ebersole is available to metamorphose from Edith Bouvier Beale, a spotlight starved society matron with a song always at the ready, to her funny but heartbreakingly frustrated middle-aged daughter Little Edie. However, that's not to say that this is strictly a star vehicle of Ebersole and her show-stopping "The Revolutionary Costume for Today." Not to take anything away from Ebersole's mega-watt dual role playing which is, if anything, even richer than it was originally, the recasting of the Little Edie part in the first act adds sheen and nuance to the entire galaxy of ensemble players. Most importantly it makes a strong psychological connection between the 1941 backstory (Act 1) to the 1973 segment (Act 2) based on the famous documentary by the Maysles brothers. As this musical was the jewel to crown a hard working theatrical career for Ebersole, so Erin Davie's portrayal of the post-debutante Edie is a case of a star is born. Davie, at once fragile and determined, makes us understand the complex love-hate relationship with both her parents and how she came to be trapped in the crumbling mansion with "mother dearest." In addition to the one major cast change (the only other newcomer is Kelsey Fowler as little Lee Bouvier since her predecessor literally outgrew the role), Grey Gardens, has also dropped some songs and added others to the benefit of the show. Happily it has retained the creme-de-la-creme numbers like "The Five-Fifteen", "Daddy's Girl", "Peas in a Pod", "The Cake I Had" and, of course, "The Revolutionary Costume for Today." Those changes have put a bigger spotlight on the always excellent Mary Louise Wilson and given that reliable pro, John McMartin, a fine new song ("Marry Well"). As McMartin's Bouvier seems to be a more rounded character, the effect of his disapproval on his artistically inclined daughter also heightens Ebersole's interpretation of the self-deluded Edith Beale Bouvier. The music is pleasantly melodic and while not of the next day sing-in-the-shower variety begs to be heard and enjoyed again (which should be a boon to the CD's sales). The lyrics sharpen the characterizations and move the book forward with sparkle and wit — and when have you heard a more meaningful and delightful "da-da-da-da-dum" refrain? The cast, script and song changes go a long way towards taking the iffyness out of transferring a show which, despite being a much lauded Off-Broadway sellout, was considered something of a special audience affair. The staging is now, as it was at Playwrights Horizon, stunning. That goes for sets, costumes, lighting and orchestrations. At the matinee I attended, the theater was filled to the last row of its second balcony with that economically all-important audience segment of tourists, suburban types and "ladies who lunch" matinee goers—all exiting in a chorus of praises. Add to this my own "Bravo, Bravo!" PRODUCTION NOTES GREY GARDENS Book by Doug Wright, based on 1975 documentary Grey Gardens David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Eillen Hodve, Muffie Meyer & Susan Froemke Music by Scott Frankel Lyrics by Michael Korie Directed by Michael Greif Musical Staging by Jeff Calhoun Cast: Christine Ebersole (Edith Bouvier Beale 1941 & Little Edie 1973), Mary Louise Wilson (Edith Bouvier Beale, 1973), Matt Cavenaugh (Joe Kennedy Jr. in 1941, Jerry in 1973), Erin Davie (Young Edie 1941), Sarah Hyland (Jacqueline Bouvier), John McMartin (J.V. "Major") Michael Potts (Brooks, Junior & Senior), Bob Stillman (George Gould Strong), Kelsey Fowler (Lee Bouvier) Set Design: Allen Moyer Costume Design: William Ivey Long Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski, Sound Design: Brian Ronan Projections: Wendall K. Harrington. Hair & Wig Design: Paul Huntley Orchestrations: Bruce Coughlin Music Director/Conductor: Lawrence Yurman Running time: 2 1/2 hours, plus one intermission GREY GARDENS Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th Street.www.greygardensthemusical.com. Tickets: $111.25 to $36.25. Tuesday to Saturday @ 8pm, Wednesday & Saturday @ 2pm; beginning November 6:Tuesday @ 7pm, Wednesday to Saturday @ 8pm, Wednesday & Saturday @ 2pm, Sunday @ 3pm. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on November 1st matinee performance |
|
Musical Numbers
| |
Prologue(1973) & Act One (1941)
|
Act Two: 1973
|
Original Review, also by Elyse Sommer
|
That's Grey Gardens for you. Those on the outside, clamoring to get in, those on the inside dying to leave. --- Gould, Edith Bouvier Beale's personal pianist and friend in the Act one flashback to Grey Gardens in its heyday, though already registering enough family dysfunction to be a precursor of more troubling times to come for Edith and her daughter. And that's the revolutionary costume pour de jour Ya' mix, ya' match, and presto: A fashion manifesto That's why a revolutionary costume's de rigeur. . . --- Edie in the show stopping introduction the second act, "The Revolutionary Costume for Today." Pastiche = A dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent. |
 
Christine Ebersole as Edie in 1973, and with Bob Stillman as Edith in 1941 (Photo: Joan Marcus)
|
While it takes that second act opening number for Grey Garden to literally explode, the entire show is original and craftily staged. Michael Korie's lyrics are playful and witty. Scott Frankel's score is enjoyably bubbly and melodic and smartly orchestrated by Bruce Coughlin.
While Grey Gardens isn't an old-fashioned Rodgers & Hammerstein hummer, neither is it one of those new musicals I think of as poperas. Thanks to Pulitzer prize winning book writer Doug Wright's (I Am My Own Wife) clever first act flashback to the Grey Gardens saga, what we have are basically two shows in one: The first act is a pure pastiche that looks, feels and sounds like a Cole Porter musical (think High Society) and romantic comedies like The Philadelphia Story. The second act is a musicalized still basically plotless version of the famous docudrama about these two oddball ladies surrounded by cats, cobwebs and empty cans -- the mother weak and nattering on about a marriage she insists was happy and a voice that was "pure as Venetian glass"); the daughter also clinging to her might-have beens.
The concept provides a back story to make the documentary section more than a gothic portrait of two colorful characters but a more fully realized depiction of a symbiotic relationship with which less eccentric mothers and daughters can identify. What's more, much as the Grey Garden film's avid fans probably can't fathom such a possibility, there are plenty of people who don't know these women's riches to rags, cats and raccoons story. For them this flashback serves as an entertaining and touching clarifier.
The set you see as you take your seat is the front of the shabby East Hampton mansion, with just a faint glimmer of the deterioration within. When the lights dim there's a brief prologue with the voices of an unseen, bickering Edith and Edie. Edith, whatever voice she had clearly gone, insists that it's is exactly as it was when she was forty-five and to prove it, she sings the first song ("Toyland") which ends "Now I am grown/Time has flown/ Lost is my childhood's/Joy land. . ." From that beginning, to which we are bound to return, Allen Moyer's spooky Dickensian mansion gives way to a view of its elegant drawing room during the women's glory days in 1941.
The flashback focuses on the preparations for a lawn party to announce "little " Edie Beale's engagement to John F. Kennedy's older brother Joe Kennedy (the one who would probably have been president had he not been shot down). In this act, Ebersole plays the mother of the bride to be. As Doug Wright makes Edith Bouvier Beale the kind of mother who tends to undermine and eclipse her daughter so Ebersole as that mother is the centerpiece of this segment. Her party planning "The Five-Fifteen" again getting things off to a fine musical start.
The young Bouvier cousins are very much on stage -- Audrey Twitchell as the tomboyish Lee; Sarah Hyland as an adorable young Jackie in a smocked dress similar to the ones that were once a stock item in the children's department of the former Best & Company on Fifth Avenue (all the costumes are wonderful, which is hardly a surprise given that the costumer is William Ivey Long). Hyland and Twitchell are both winning. Bob Stillman gives strong support as Edith's gay live-in accompanist and so does the always reliable John McMartin as the disapproving family patriarch. Gould, the young Edie and the Bouvier kids get together for the satiric "Being Bouvier" ("This crest of our French royal provenance/It took a while for it/We paid a pile for it. . "). Edie and Edith's "Peas in a Pod" is a smartly conceived musical take on the mother-daughter dynamic ("We're an act like Crosby and Hope./A rosy complexion and Ivory soap./Pip and miss Estella./Hedda and Louella./Two peas in a pod.")
Except for two problems there's more that's right than wrong. The flashback act could use some judicious trimming. Sarah Gettelfinger is miscast as the 1941 version of Edie. It's not that she isn't an attractive performer who sings well, but her looks just don't fit the personality called for. I have no problem using my imagination to move from the 1941 actress to her being played by Ebersole in the 1973 follow-up. But Gettelfinger exudes the sort of primness associated with Grace Kelly rather than the "It Girl" zip of a deb with a reputation for daring, Gettelfinger's Edie comes across more as someone who'd genuinely love to be a budding politician's helpmeet rather than going on the stage. Consequently, her demeanor seems in opposition to the lyrics of "Better Fall Out of Love", her duet with Joe (Matt Cavenaugh ) in which she counters his "I need a leading lady with me neck and neck/To help me lobby for a campaign check" with "The only lobby I know is the Martin Beck." I think someone like the delicate and versatile Nancy Anderson (currently starring in Fanny Hill) would have been a much more ideal fit.
My nitpicking about the first act aside, I think its inclusion contributes enormously towards making this a unique musical rather than just a musicalized staging of a cult film. Director Michael Greif has seen to it that the 1941 and 1973 acts are solidly connected. There's just enough of the superb Mary Louise Wilson's Edith in the Prologue to make us eager to see her become more prominent in the second act. Having the actors from the first act also participate as striking ghostly participants not only abets the connection, but makes for some stunning musical moments. As Ebersole has the audience in stitches with her bravura "Revolutionary Costume" number, so she ultimately tugs at your heart with her melancholy "Another Winter in a Summer Town" and the deep sigh underneath her cheery "Coming, Mother Darling."
While this is one of those shows likely to divide critics and audiences, brisk ticket sales have already led to a two week extension during previews. Readers interested in more details about the real events and characters in this show, will find chapter and verse under the heading Factual Background used in Grey Gardens after the song list below.
|
GREY GARDENS Book by Doug Wright, based on 1975 documentary Grey Gardens David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Eillen Hodve, Muffie Meyer & Susan Froemke Music by Scott Frankel Lyrics by Michael Korie Directed by Michael Greif Musical Staging by Jeff Calhoun Cast: Christine Ebersole (Edith Bouvier Beale 1941 & Little Edie 1973), Mary Louise Wilson (Edith Bouvier Beale, 1973), Matt Cavenaugh (Joe Kennedy Jr. in 1941, Jerry in 1973), Sara Gettelfinger (Young Edie 1941), Sarah Hyland (Jacqueline Bouvier), John McMartin (J.V. "Major") Michael Potts (Brooks, Junior & Senior), Bob Stillman (George Gould Strong), Audrey Twitchell (Lee Bouvier) Set Design: Allen Moyer Costume Design: William Ivey Long Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski, Sound Design: Brian Ronan Pprojections: Wendall K. Harrington. Orchestrations: Bruce Coughlin Music Director/Conductor: Lawrence Yurman Musicians: Associate Conductor/Synthesizer, Karl Mansfield; Violin, Eric Degioia; Cello, Anik Oilianine; Reeds, Ken Hitchcock & Tom Murray; Trumpet/Flugelhorn, Jeremy Miloszewicz; French Horn, Patrick Pridemore; Acoustic Bass, Bill Sloat; Percussion/Drums,Tim McLafferty Running time: 2 1/2 hours, plus one intermission Playwrights' Horizons Main Stage, 416 West 42nd Stree (212) 279-4200 www.playwrightshorizons.org From 2/10/06 to 4/09/06--extended to 4/23/06 and again to 4/30/06; opening 3/07/06 Tuesdays through Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30PM. Tickets; $65; HOTtix or $20 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under; $15 Student Rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performancestarting one hour before curtain to full-time graduate and undergraduate students. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on March 4th press performance |
|
Musical Numbers
| |
Prologue(1973) & Act One (1941)
|
Act Two: 1973
|
|
Factual Background used in Grey Gardens
|
The Internet Theatre Bookshop "Virtually Every Play in the World"--even out of print plays
The new annual to dress up every Broadway lover's coffee table
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by our editor.
Click image to buy.
Go here for details and larger image.
