Grey Gardens

Lydia here...and yes - I'm the one who's behind on blogging - I admit it!

But this show is definitely worth a blog entry, so here we go. Last week, while Kevin was seeing All's Well That Ends Well, I was privy to a little show at Playwright's Horizons called Grey Gardens. First, if you haven't seen the documentary, Grey Gardens, go watch it before you read any more and everything will start to make sense. I have to say that the first 3-4 minutes of the show are dead-on for the film - I haven't laughed so hard in a while as to see these two women yelling at each other in this dilapidated old house.

The premise - Jackie O's aunt and first cousin are two high society ladies. The first act of the show starts off showing them on top of their game. Little Edie, the daughter, is spending her time in the Hamptons at the Beale estate, Grey Gardens. She's about to enjoy a huge party - thrown for her engagement to Joe Kennedy - the oldest Kennedy brother. Her mother, Big Edie (Christine Ebersole), is singing happily at a piano, practicing the tunes she plans to sing later that night. We're introduced to Sara Gettelfinger as Little Edie and Matt Cavenaugh as Joe Kennedy. First - no chemistry at all between these two and Sara Gettelfinger seems very awkward in the role. So cut to more plot - Joe gets nervous that Little Edie has too many secrets in her past - that she may have slept around with men before. Of course, as a Kennedy, he can't ruin his reputation - so he chooses (minutes before the engagement party is to begin) to leave her. Not to mention, a telegram has just arrived from Mr. Beale announcing that he's divorcing Big Edie and moving to Mexico. Whew....Little Edie is in ruins - she screams that she must get out of Grey Gardens and leave her mother forever. Big Edie sings a beautiful song while we watch Little Edie sneaking out of the house...and lights up for intermission.

Second Act - Now we're many years later into the lives of Little and Big Edie. Christine Ebersole is playing Little Edie and Mary Louise Wilson plays Big Edie. This is the real heart of Grey Gardens. The house is literally falling apart, there is a huge number devoted to cats - as these two women live with 50+ felines in this 28-room house. Half of the time they don't know what they're eating - it may be cat food, it may be liver pate. Big Edie sits in her bed and cooks corn from a little boiler on the side. Their only company here is a young man, Jerry, who drops by to visit. Little Edie fashions the most outrageous (but admittedly very cool) outfits and prances around the house as if she were a big star. Big Edie seems to have resolved that this is her life - and she seems content.

We start to see the true underbody of the show here as Little Edie sings about the choice between leaving her mother or staying at Grey Gardens - for what may be the rest of her life. We know that inherently these two women certainly have many problems but they are both hilarious and sympathetic at the same time.

Bottom line on this show: Christine Ebersole is really brilliant - her performance shouldn't be missed. The first half is a little slow, second we really see Doug Wright's writing start to shine. It comes highly recommended from me!