Review - Grey Gardens (in Sag Harbor)

The first time I saw Grey Gardens was at Playwrights Horizons, at the beginning of their Off-Broadway run; I hadn't yet seen the documentary, so as you can probably determine, parts of the show were rather over my head.  I'm a little embarrassed.  Anyway, here is my review from March, 2006:

I saw Grey Gardens last night.  I've never seen the documentary, but sort of knew the basic premise.  I liked the first act very much--it's set in 1941, the night of Little Edie's engagement to Joseph Kennedy, Jr.  (is that a true thing?  I don't know)  The party is being held at their estate, Grey Gardens, and Big Edie is planning to sing and generally take over, the way she apparently always does.  It all takes place in the hours preceding the party and I was very taken with the story and the characters and where this was all going.  I mean, I kept thinking of how these women turned out, and it was very interesting to see them beforehand.  The relationships and the family dynamics were fascinating.

The acting is all wonderful.  Frankly, Christine Ebersole is a goddess.  She plays Big Edie (the mother) in the first act, and Little Edie (the daughter) in the second.  She is fabulous.  Well, everyone is.  Wait, Matt Cavenaugh, while fabulously attractive, is just mildly good.  But he isn't ruining anything, though his accent is really nasty.  Why can't young actors do good accent work?  If they can't do it, they shouldn't do it.  Just tell me he's a Kennedy--I'll remember myself he's from Boston.  John McMartin, as always, is 
terrific as the Bouvier patriarch.  And the little girl playing little Jackie Bouvier was quite possibly the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen.

Anyway, I thought the music was pleasant and attractive.  It wasn't terribly evocative of period, but maybe sometimes had a little bit of 40s quality to it.  I thought the lyrics were quite good.  They didn't try to be overly clever, they just fit the songs and told the story.  The book, by Doug Wright, is as smart as you would expect from him.  So I really enjoyed the first act tremendously.

Then came the second act.  Wow.  I'm guessing that you really need to have seen the documentary to get what the second act is trying to do.  When Christine Ebersole comes out in her outfit, she got laughs, applause, hoots and hollers from the rest of the audience.  I'm like, huh?  What am I missing?  I hate feeling left out.  OK, she's nuts.  I assume that from what she's wearing, but how did she get there?!  And the whole second act is the crazy mother, now played by Mary Louise Wilson, who is also fabulous, and Christine Ebersole arguing and being crazy.  There's a lot of shouting and weird songs that take place in Little Edie's crazy mind.  A lot of talking to the audience, too.  There are two lovely songs for Little Edie, but I ultimately just didn't get it.  I want to know how that lovely delicate (obviously too delicate) creature from the first act became this crazy mess.  And I think the creators are depending too much on people knowing the documentary and filling in their own blanks.  I recommend the show, though, because I think these writers are good and have more good musicals ahead of them.  Plus Christine Ebersole is giving two amazing performances.  She's quite astounding.

**

Well, I sounded like an idiot, but there you have it.  My first impression of Grey Gardens.  Boy, has my writing style evolved.  Anyway.  At least I recognized the genius (and much lauded) performance of Christine Ebersole.  Only after seeing the documentary did I get the brilliance of what Frankel/Korie/Wright did with the musical in the second act.  To take a piece that's so iconic and original and make it something ELSE that's iconic and original, that takes moxie and tons of talent.

The production at Bay Street Theatre was fantastic.  Seeing it again in an intimate space really heightened the emotion for me.  This time I understood how act one led into act two, and the last scenes were simply devastating...

Whoops, that's putting the cart before the horse, right?  Walking into the theater, I thought they did a good job of presenting a set that represented a huge house and the changes between the set in Act One and Act Two were very well done.  The first act was well-executed to set up the sorrows of the second act; the arc of these women was much more clear to me this time, but that could also be because I know the show and the movie now.  Rachel York was fantastic as mother Big Edie in the first act, with a shell of bravado hiding a need so consuming that she can't let people go.  And when her husband does go, inside she's destroyed and must destroy everyone else.  With a smile, of course.  York conveys that need and that bravado beautifully, while singing wonderfully.  Howard McGillin, as Big Edie's friend George Gould Strong, was fantastic, finding so many layers and so much tragedy in a very small amount of time.  He was breaking my heart throughout, though he was also very witty and funny.  And sang divinely, of course.  I just wish he had had more to sing.  I also wish someone would write a show for him.  But I digress.

In the first act, Sarah Hunt plays daughter Little Edie and she was a strong singer and portrayed the conflict and rage and burgeoning instability very well.  I just wish she wouldn't slouch.  Seriously, what is it with the slouching?!?!  Moving on.  I didn't even recognize Simon Jones as Major Bouvier, though his voice did sound familiar to me.  He was spot on as the hard-nosed father of Big Edie who couldn't approve of her.  James Harkness was terrific as the Beale's faithful employee who took their needs and insecurities into account, and the actor playing Joe Kennedy, Jr. (oh, I found out that the engagement thing is not true) was good, though perhaps dressed a little anachronistically (were twelve-pack abs and visible hip bones a thing in 1941?).

photo credit: Lenny Stucker

In act two, Rachel York is really providing a tour de force performance, both supremely comic and supremely touching.  I told my friends as we were driving to the Hamptons that after the show, I would tell them a secret about Rachel York (I didn't want to put the karma into the ether).  Here's the secret:  I have seen nearly every Broadway and nearly every Off-Broadway show in which Rachel York performed.  BUT, I never saw Rachel York.  Well, in a show.  I saw her in several concert things and loved her, which is one reason I kept going to her shows.  It was starting to become a joke that she would be out every time I went to see her in something.  Maybe she doesn't like me.  When she was in Dessa Rose, I went to see it three times, just so I could catch her in it, but she never was (I enjoyed the show anyway, but you know what I mean).  I really expected to get to Sag Harbor and an understudy would be going on for her.  When I sat down with my program, I immediately shook it to make sure no little slip of paper fell out.  I'm happy to report that Rachel York does indeed like me and she was well worth the wait.  "Another Winter in a Summer Town" was a master class, and oh so moving.

photo credit: Lenny Stucker

Betty Buckley, of course, was magnificent as Big Edie.  She's brassy and vulgar, yet still so needy.  She had terrific chemistry with York and was in fantastic voice.  Her singing in "The Cake I Had" and "Jerry Likes My Corn" was thrilling, as always, because she uses that amazing vocal instrument in tandem with a rich acting characterization to make each song a mini-play.  She was just a powerhouse on stage and you could see the vestiges of the wannabe singer that York had played in the first act.  You could really tell that every actor paid attention to the other actor playing the other version of their role (between the first and second acts).  That doesn't always happen, so bravo.  I just wish she had been in the show more, she found so many layers to play.  But I always wish Betty Buckley was in a show more...

Bravo to everyone, actually.  The production was a huge success and I found it incredibly moving much of the time.  The issues of family, mothers and daughters, the stigma of mental illness and the insecurities of women are always powerful to me.  However.  Oh.my.god.  The audience.  It was as if there were a bunch of seriously off-their-rocker Beales in the audience.  The gent in front of us clearly has the documentary memorized and would bounce up and down in his seat before a particularly juicy re-enactment of a scene.  A lady behind us would helpfully call out a word if it was a direct quote of one of the lines from the movie ("sobriquet" was one of her favorites).  There was the woman who gave one of the songs a standing ovation, even though the song wasn't at the end of anything.  There was a gent to the left of us who thought the play was the funniest thing he had every seen, except he only laughed at the not-really-funny lines, when no one else was laughing.  Another gent had to talk to everyone around him, in his outdoor voice, during the performance, to share how much he knew about the backstory.  And there were people who were answering Little Edie when she was doing some of her lines to the audience.  Geez, people, this wasn't interactive, sing-along Grey Gardens!  I guess I had it in my head that this would be a rather staid audience, filled with summering rich people stopping by for a show.  The audience certainly wasn't quiet or staid.  After curtain call, Betty Buckley gave a post-curtain speech and said we were the best audience, she loved us, and would we please come back?  I wanted to ask, really?   Oh well, I guess it was good that everyone was paying attention; at least no one was talking on their cell phone (that I could see/hear)...

I am so glad my pals and I shared our Hamptons adventure and went to see Betty in Grey Gardens.  it was a terrific production and I was so happy to finally see (and understand) the expert care that the creators put into making this utterly American story into a riveting musical.