Broadway Review: Grey Gardens

by John Garcia of John Garcia's The Column

Grey Gardens is heartbreaking & honest, both in its emotion and its presentation of stark reality.

The relationship that we have with our parents is indeed a curious rollercoaster ride. At times you see eye to eye with them. Or there are those experiences when they embarrass the hell out of you in front of others.

There is also acceptance and understanding of each other's choices in life. Be it love, happiness, career choice, etc. Let's not forget how at times we so desire and beg that our parents not interfere, snoop, or push their way into your personal life.

But then there comes a difficult and emotional time in our lives when the child becomes the parent, and the parent becomes the child who needs to be taken of.

We love our parents so much, but be honest with yourself. There were or are times in your life that you just wish that the mechanisms within the relationship would change. That these so called "changes" would result in a much better outcome for both child and parent.

All the above describes the relationship of Edith Bouvier & "Little" Edie Beale.

Grey Gardens the musical is based on the documentary of the same name by the Maysles Brothers. In 1976, these two brothers with a camera and recorder in tow, followed two women, a mother and daughter, exploring their relationship. But this was no normal mom and daughter by ANY means.

Grey Gardens is the true story of Edith Bouvier Beale ("Big" Edie) and her daughter Edie ("Little" Edie). Edith was the aunt and Edie was the first cousin to the future First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. On stage we only see Jackie O only as a child.

Edith and "Little" Edie live in their own, private world within a massive, but decaying 28-room East Hampton mansion called "Grey Gardens".

But the mansion is a dilapidated mess. Decaying walls that has chipped, faded paint on them. Or wallpaper that is left in shreds. Trash is piled up everywhere. Oh, and there are over 50 cats wondering all over the property. Grey Gardens was once a majestic, glorious mansion, but now it is in shambles. It was so far gone that the Suffolk County Board of Health and the local authorities were threatening to evict both women in 1972 This made national headlines, causing the rich and powerful Kennedys (including Jackie, now an adult) to get the mansion fixed and cleaned up.

To see American "royalty" living like this was a shock and a huge scandal back in that time. They didn't have reality TV back then. Edith (or "Big" Edie) was born into blue blood royalty, as part of the Bouvier family.

"Little" Edie was a young, beautiful actress who was engaged to the powerful Joseph Patrick Kennedy. She was known back then as "Body Beautiful Beale". But through a series of horrific situations, no marriage happened. To escape the pain and horror of her failed engagement, "Little" Edie fled to New York. Leaving her mother and Grey Gardens behind her.

Eventually though Little Edie would return home to care for her mother. When Little Edie was 56 years old, Harper's Bazaar and Italian Vogue both published pictures of her wearing these bizarre turbans that become her trademark. Little Edie in the documentary states many times that she will still get her big break in show business someday and that she also will find that long, lost romance.

Meanwhile, "Big" Edie is fragile, weak, and ill, practically confined to her bed. She even has a hot plate right next to her bed to fix her meals. In her youth, Big Edie was a trained soprano who entertained the rich and powerful with living room concerts at swanky soirées and parties all over the Hamptons. But now it is a tiny, shrill voice that shows fading glimmers of a once lovely singing voice. Big Edie would lose her life in 1977 while her daughter Little Edie would pass away in 2002.

The documentary shows this strange, bizarre, conflicted, and very complicated relationship between mother and daughter in all its naked honesty.

Can a documentary like this actually be transformed into a musical? Doug Wright, Scott Frankel, and Michael Korie thought so. Grey Gardens the musical first came to life Off Broadway in March 2006 at Playwright Horizons. The production there would achieved critical acclaim and quickly transfer to Broadway in November 2006.

Doug Wright's book very closely follows the documentary (at times word for word), mainly in the second act. The first act is more of exposition and early history for the audience. That way they can truly comprehend the Edies' emotional state in the second act. The book is robust and richly fulfilling. It actually could stand alone as a play, which is a rare quality in a book for a musical. Wright has given the characters much to explore and do so in vivid detail.

Michael Korie's lyrics and Scott Frankel's music also at times take directly from the actual documentary. The score for the first act has a musical landscape that reminds you of Cole Porter or Jerome Kern. Korie uses verbatim Little Edie's own words for the second act opening number, "The Revolutionary Costume for Today". His Lyrics offer sublime subtext and completely fleshes out the characterizations.

But alas some of Frankel's music is just not up to par. There are some filler numbers that tend to slow down the story. What really struck me as odd is that none of the big, dramatic ballads or the numbers that closed each act had any huge crescendos. I know that is not a requirement or a demand in musical theater, but for my tastes I particularly love that about musical theater. I am an enormous fan of the big, belting endings of songs. Sadly, the score for GG barely has any. However, the majority of the songs are soothing, pleasurable, and at times quite melodic to hear.

Some of the best numbers from the score include: "Goin' Places", "Will You", "The Revolutionary Costume for Today", "The Cake I Had", "Around the World", and "The Girl Who Has Everything".

Allen Moyer's scenic design is absolutely gorgeous. The outside of GG is wood shingles that look weathered and frayed. But through the screen door and windows (if you're sitting close enough) you can see inside the house. Much of the set is on electronic runways and the center has a turntable. Thus the scenery glides in and out, fly in and out, or turns around completely. This gives the scene changes a kaleidoscope effect.

For the mansion itself it is elegance personified. The walls are powder blue, with its wooden trim in gleaming white. There is a grand staircase leading upstairs far upstage center. All around are smart, chic furniture pieces and even a grand piano. Completing its pristine elegance is brick-n-brac sprinkled all around the set.

When it becomes the decayed mansion, it is all in hues of dull grey, black, and dark brown. The furniture is gone, with only broken bits and pieces that reflected what they once were. Moyer has mountains of newspapers and silver tin cans placed all over the set. You do get a sense of these two women were major rat pack addicts, not throwing a single thing away.

William Ivey Long's costumes are divine creations, especially for the first Act. There are colorful prints and shimmering satins for the gowns and sharp tuxes for the men. For our two women, the second act costumes are combinations of other old garments all thrown together to make up some homeless person's outfit. But that's how the real Edies dressed back then.

Every now and then there are performances on Broadway that just cannot be missed. They are so incredibly superb that you will bang you head on the wall if you miss them. People talk about those performances with such enthusiasm and joy, it seemed as though it was a religious experience of some sort. And a DVD bootleg copy of this jaw dropping performance is not the same as experiencing it live.

There are performances that you must see at all costs. These are the roles and performances that people will talk about forever and that will go down in the history books. Examples from the last ten years or so include: Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick in The Producers, the original cast of Rent, Idina Menzel in Wicked, Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, Heather Headley in Aida; and Victoria Clark in The Light in the Piazza.

You can certainly add Christine Ebersole to that distinguished list of luminary performances.

Ms. Ebersole literally brings "Little" Edie Beale to phenomenal life. If you have seen the documentary, then you are in stunned disbelief in your seat because you swear that is the real Edie that has come back to life. I had the great joy of watching Ms. Ebersole give a scene stealing, diva-esque, grand performance in the revival of 42ND STREET a few years ago on Broadway. In fact, I saw the very matinee performance on the day of the Tony Awards. It would be just mere hours later that Ebersole would walk across the stage at Radio City Music Hall to pick up her Tony for that performance.

Thus to see her in Grey Gardens completely lose herself in the role, is just a theater lover's dream to observe. Ebersole completely dissolves her mind, body, and soul into Edie. In the second act is where she does some of the most mesmerizing, subtle work I've ever seen done on stage.

She has Edie's voice and inflections, the nervous twitches and tics, and body movements that are all done to perfection. In the documentary there are times when Little Edie will talk over her mother and just give out comments, even though there is no one around. On stage Ms. Ebersole does the same. It is not upstaging or trying to steal focus whatsoever, but instead a brilliant actress doing her subtext. Ebersole will quietly throw out whispered commentary here and there, right into the audience's direction. All the while Big Edie is talking out loud.

But then there's that final scene in Act Two. If you have seen it, then two words will remind you of what I'm talking about. The scarf. The Scarf. It will shatter you emotionally when you connect the emotional subtext with that simple piece of colorful chiffon. I was overwhelmed and constantly wiping tears off my face due to Ms. Ebersole's earth shattering performance.

Vocally this gorgeous soprano turned her solos into gold, glittery masterpieces of song. Watch and hear the hypnotic brilliance she does to such solos as "Will You?" and "Around the World".

Ebersole slays the audience in laughter with her comedic numbers as well. Her big second act comedic, tour de force number titled "The Revolutionary Costume For Today" is a grand showstopper! She also has some politically incorrect fun with the number "Hominy Grits" as well. Ms. Ebersole is magnificent and you will never forgive yourself if you miss this performance.

Surrounding Ebersole is some outstanding talent that also earns buckets full of kudos.

Mary Louise Wilson appears briefly at the top of the show and never returns till the second Act. But once she does she completely wins the audience over. By the end we have all fallen in love with this fragile, weak woman. She won me over the minute she sang her first big number, "The Cake I Had". I am a self-proclaimed cake addict, so this song just had me in constant giggles. Ms. Wilson shows heart tugging compassion and painful pathos later in such songs as "Jerry Likes My Corn" and "Another Winter in a Summer Town".

Wilson and Ebersole have exquisite chemistry that radiates like a million sparklers. Both ladies are continuously throwing the "ball of energy" between them, and never once letting it fall. They play off each other like two twins connected by their hearts and minds. Theater magic like this is rare today.

Another terrific performance is Matt Cavenaugh as "Joseph Kennedy Jr" in the first act and then the neighbor "Jerry" in the second act. With his dashing leading man looks, Cavenaugh actually resembles a young Kennedy, right down to that oh so familiar Kennedy speech pattern and dialect. Cavenaugh provides the charm of a future politician, but also the cold distain that comes with "keeping up with the image'....at whatever cost.

But to watch this immensely talented actor bring Jerry (who does exist and is in the documentary) to such realistic life, it is sublime to watch. From the slow, slightly slurred speech patterns to the quiet, shy boy like disposition, he has "Jerry" pact down. It was such highway robbery that Cavenaugh was not nominated for a Tony Award this season. He is exceptional with his performance here.

Providing praiseworthy work as well in the cast include Erin Davie as the Young "Little" Edie and John McMartin as the rigid grandfather, "J.V. 'Major' Bouvier".

Grey Gardens is heartbreaking & honest, both in its emotion and its presentation of stark reality. You see how time can change both mind and body and the gut wrenching realism from time's ravages, both physically and mentally.

Don't miss out on this extraordinary musical and to also see a tour de force, history making performance from Ms. Ebersole. Both are not to be missed.

GRADE: A+

The show is playing at Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. Tickets ($86.25 - $111.25) can be purchased online or by calling the Box Office at 212-239-6200