GREY GARDENS at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre

Hollis Resnick as Little Edie:



From the recent Northlight Theatre production -- here's Hollis as Big Edie and Tempe Thomas as Little Edie:

The production has an appallingly small orchestra, only about 7 pieces.

The Edies are very strong; although Big Edie in Act Two is a wee too robust-looking to exclaim "Edie, I'm starving!"

The male roles are not that well assayed; Joe-Jerry is better as Jerry; the Major is fine; Gould is weak. He is a tall, fey Daniel Hyde-Pierce without any sort of bite. He is just there and nothing more.

The mostly straight crowd did not get many of the comic visuals and other bits that worked so well on Bway. I hope it does well and reviews well.

But the main gripe is the small orchestra. The director has supposedly never directed musicals; that says something.

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I saw GG on B-way 6 times and am very familiar with the show. I was in D.C. to see N2N and decided to head over to The Studio Theatre to see GG and I absolutley hated Barbra Walsh. She doesn't have the vocals for Big/Little Edie.

I thought the entire show at The Studio Theatre was poorly done.

Saw the show again today and it is even better than it was on May 24. A thrilling production. Two weeks left for anyone thinking about making the trip to Philadelphia!

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The show in Philly is wonderful. I thought act 1 was more clearly directed then the Broadway version and really showed the genesis of the Edies we meet in the second act, something the Broadway version fell short on doing. My only complaint with act 1 was the projections. I am really not a fan of projections in general but the shifting floral patterns on the walls on the inside of the house was distracting. I think a black box would have worked better! When the projections work though (act 2) they worked well.
Big Edie in act 2, I thought missed some of the laughs in the dialogue due to a lack of comedic timing. A couple times I found myself thinking, "Wow, that fell flat!". Still though a strong show with new takes on the characters. Hollis is great and her Little Edie is very much one troubled with mental illness.

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