Review: Grey Gardens (finally)

Was it the unbelievable amount of hype? The low energy of a Tuesday night at the theater? Or just the fact that I wasn't really feelin' it? I finally caught Grey Gardens last night, and while I think it's a beautiful show, it just didn't give me the chills I expected. I feel like everybody gets so rabid over Christine Ebersole's performance, I just couldn't help being underwhelmed. I finally understand why people feel that Spring Awakening's hype ruined it for them - when you miss seeing a show when it has all the momentum, and then have to listen to everybody under the sun get all orgasmic over it, enjoying it that much yourself feels unoriginal and forced.

The things I loved:

The stage pictures. Some beautiful moments, like the news clippings at the top of the show, a distraught Little Edie running down the stairs and out the door at the end of act one, and Mary Louise Wilson sitting in bed, feebly unable to open the can of cat food. Like Coast of Utopia, there are moments of the show that stick in my brain like little fires still burning.

I also really liked the use of the two young girls, embodying so much hope and entitlement in act one, and I loved them as the cats in act two.

I also thought Erin Davies did an admirable job at a very tough role. She has to be innocent and hopeful, but also tip her hand as to the recalcitrant, dramatic, petulant woman she will become (and has always been, in some ways). I can't imagine Sara Gettelfinger in this role - though she's very talented, she seems much too adult and hard for Young Edie.

And of course, you have to hand it to Christine Ebersole. Everyone raves about her as Little Edie, but I found her Edith to be every bit as strong of a performance. Edith was strong and forceful but very weak inside, and embodied with spot-on accuracy the kind of truly toxic mothers who use both insults and affection as deadly weapons. I was pleasantly surprised by her Little Edie's sense of humor and sarcasm, still being lighthearted in such a dark place. I thought it was kind of cool that this woman would be so shunned, yet have such a caustic wit instead of endless self-pity.


What I wasn't thrilled with:

What's the deal with the score? So many songs seemed shticky or just inconsequential. How about "Marry Well" and "Hominy Grits"? Both songs are there for a reason, yes, but it just seemed like there were better ways of telling us how the family feels about marriage, and just how inappropriate Edith's attention-grabbing is. It seemed, in both numbers, that they filled the void by having the cute young girls skip around with some cutesy choreography. These, and some of the other numbers (the patriotic one in act two felt waaay overblown, too), just felt like time that could have been better spent.

I also expected the story to be told in a more dynamic way. We know from the prologue what happens to Grey Gardens and to Little Edie. So what story is really being told in act two? The story to be told is that Edie decides to leave, attempts to leave, and then realizes she cannot. I wish the arc of that journey had been more compellingly and excitingly actualized in the book and lyrics. When it comes right down to it, I was a little bored.

Let it be known that this is why I hate seeing Broadway musicals months after they've opened. I have no doubt that on opening night, Grey Gardens was a flourishing triumph, with plenty of conflict and excitement and tension and all that good stuff. However, after a few months, the rough spots stick out like sore thumbs, and the lagging energy is fully palpable. I felt the same way at Company a few weeks ago - I left fantasizing about how much more exciting it must have been when it was fresh and new.

Also, now that I've seen Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens, I have to say that SA feels like the Tony winner for best musical. I find SA so exciting, the energy so high, that Grey Gardens feels stuffy and stale in comparison. Of course, if I'd seen the first preview of GG (as I did SA), I bet I'd feel quite differently.