Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens

Last night we continued our obsession with all things Edie. We made it to the play by the skin of our teeth. We weren’t in our seats but 5 minutes when the curtain opened. Well, not exactly a curtain but the side wall of the shake shingled house opened up. Our seats were right up by the stage, about three rows back but on the left side. Being close was great but some of the action was directed towards the other side of the theater. This was only the second time seeing a play on Broadway but both times I was surprised at how intimate the theaters are. We had particularly close seats but the back of the main floor was not far from the stage.

The play was based on the 1974 documentary by Albert and David Maysles and turned into a musical. I was struck by the quality of the acting and singing. So often at the local plays we have gone to the actors don’t get beyond the idea that they are acting. Christine Ebersole starred as Big Edie in the first act set during 1941 and then as young Edie in the second act, which was pretty much a retelling of the documentary. The first act was interesting because it provided the set up for we saw in the documentary. The first act has the Beauvier-Beals preparing for the engagement party of little Edie and Joseph Kennedy Jr. In things that I read about them I don’t remember a relationship between them. I think that maybe this was added for the play. I’ll have to check.

Even though I found the play thoroughly enjoyable it made me value the documentary even more. The play vividly portrayed the tension between the two women in some moving songs and strong interplay but it was very out front about the tension whereas the documentary allowed the tension to very subtly creep into the story. The true relationship between Big Edie and Little Edie almost sneaks up on you. In the musical it is much more obvious. I suppose that they needed to make it more striking in the play. One thing that really struck me towards the end of the play was when Little Edie is trying to leave once again and her mother is calling her back, they allow Ebersole a long moment of complete silence to try to get away, waver, and finally cave in to the pull of responsibility and her mother’s needs. It really worked and was an impressive bit of “acting”.