GREY GARDENS for Best Musical 2007

I know it's a long shot.

I know it's probably pointless to hope.

But in here...in my little world that I've created in this thread, I will hope that GREY GARDENS takes the Tony for Best Musical this year.

The unrelenting obsession over the other "show that will not be named" has made me ill. It goes to show how a certain group of people can ruin a good show for others.

I left GREY GARDENS so amazingly moved. Moreso than I had been in a long while.

I really believe it to have a superior score, book, staging and performances to...that other show.

So...crossing my fingers.

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I wish it could take it all!

Me too! I love that show.

Add me to this club!

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i LOVE this show.

In a perfect world, it'd top the nominations...and win the top prizes. It's a fantastic show.

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If the award were for Best 2nd Half of a Musical, it might just take it.

Heh. The first act is brilliant too. The second act wouldn't mean nearly as much without it.

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I adore GREY GARDENS. I also left the theatre incredibly moved when I first saw the show Off-Broadway, and even moreso after I saw the revitalized production on Broadway. I also left SPRING AWAKENING completely blown away after seeing it Off-Broadway, and on Broadway. I think that they are both genre-changing, beautiful musicals in their own right. If they weren't premiering on Broadway in the same season, nobody would be comparing them, which would make sense because there is little use comparing two drastically different pieces of musical theatre.

Unfortunately, the way it works is that four musicals get lumped into one category and one needs to be selected by the Tony voters for the top prize. While I found GREY GARDENS to be drastically improved from its Off-Broadway incarnation, I couldn't help but leave the Broadway production noting some clear cut flaws that continued to stand in the way of the musical making a complete working whole. The recasting of Little Edie in Act I was a very smart move, and I feel that Erin Davie's characterization and physical similarities to Ebersole helped in making the transition from Act I Little Edie to Act II Little Edie more believable than it was with Sara Gettlfinger. But still, the difference wasn't enough.

I understand that Act I takes place in 1943 and Act II takes place in 1971, and in making the documentary into a musical that would work as a whole, the audience needs to be able to somehow believably jump from Act I to Act II seeing the changes in this one person. Aside from Erin Davie's physical appearance and slight accent, very little about the characterization in Act I makes it believable that the comedy routine that Ebersole opens Act II with is being performed by the same person that the audience just committed to in Act I. It just doesn't work. Pretty quickly into Act II the audience adjusts because they are having such fun with Christine and Mary Louise's performances, but it's a completely different show.

The show named "Best Musical" should be one that is written and directed with transitions that make sense and allow the audience to go from beginning to end logically. This is not the case with GREY GARDENS. Ebersole and Wilson deserve Tony Awards for their performances, but GREY GARDENS: THE MUSICAL does not deserve a top prize awarding its final product. Because it does not work as a whole complete musical.

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Updated On: 5/11/07 at 06:43 PM

Wanna Be... I totally disagree. I saw many more flaws within Spring Awakening than in Grey Gardens. And I completely see the transitions between Act 1 and 2 in GG and how Erin's character evolves into Christine's. With SA, I felt completely disconnected from the characters. I would give the Best Musical tony to GG in a heartbeat.

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Count me in. I know it won't happen but its a nice fantasy for me.

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Count me in! If I can vote- that would go for "GREY GARDENS"
for Best New Musical !!! ( Company for Best Revival of a Musical)

I saw both and liked both very much. But I would like to see GG win as I was touched by all performances and the story. But Wanna Be is dead on. The transition did not go over well betweent he two acts. I do belive that Spring Awakening will win, but I would rather see Grey Gardens win.