My weekend seems to be overflowing with music rather than movies or theater: Friday night is Robbers on High Street at Bowery; Saturday is the Sonic Youth plays "Daydream Nation" show in Williamsburg; and Sunday, it's back to McCarren Pool for TV on the Radio. At least, that's the plan. Purchased tix for the first two, so those are the only guarantees.
But never mind my plans: I want to tell you what yours should be. This Sunday, Grey Gardens: The Musical will play its last performance on Broadway, and that's just a crying shame. If you're familiar with the classic 1975 Maysles Brothers documentary about Edie Bouvier Beale and her daughter "Little" Edie living in a majestic but decrepit Hamptons mansion, you will likely appreciate the care and imagination the entire creative team put into adapting a fascinating but narratively formless film into a wonderful two-act piece of musical theatre. If you've never seen the film, first of all ... you should. But secondly, you probably will love the show even more because you won't be comparing it at all.
Yes, the show has received most of its notice because of the central performances by Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson, both of whom won Tonys this summer, and both wins richly deserved. Ebersole, in particular, gives one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen on the stage, and the number she has regularly performed in public ("The Revolutionary Costume For Today." which she did on the Tonys and I've heard in other places) doesn't truly alone represent exactly how great she is. What is so marvelous about Ebersole is the dramatic transformation she goes through between acts. In case you don't know, the first act of the musical doesn't come from the film at all. It's an imagined day at Grey Gardens back when the Beales were still grand members of society, and "Little" Edie is portrayed as a co-ed all set to marry into the Kennedy family -- beating her cousin Jacqueline Bouvier to the punch. In this act, Ebersole plays "Big" Edie before the fall, as it were. In the second act, the curtain rises on the Grey Gardens we know from the film and Ebersole is now an adult "Little" Edie (while Wilson plays the aged "Big" Edie).
So really how good is Ebersole? Let's just say, it's almost hard to recognize and believe that she is playing both parts, even with the amazing physical resemblance. It's not just two different performances; it's like there are two different actresses, and each of them brilliant.
But the show itself is thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and well-produced beyond the performances. The sets are wonderful, and real footage from the film is imaginatively integrated through projections during act 2.
Grey Gardens has been available at the TKTS booth every time I've been by there over the past couple weeks. Since the producers made a quick turnaround from talking about the continuing run to deciding the show would close this weekend (without recouping its investment), chances are, tickets aren't hard to come by and will still be available for 50% the day of at TKTS. There are only four chances left (tonight, tomorrow, two shows on Saturday, and Sunday matinee), so if you have the chance and haven't yet been, go.
Hey, we're going to Sonic Youth, too! Let's try to meet up there and say hi.
Posted by: Karina | Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 08:42 AM