fflagg:
I do not fit into any of those categories, and I'll also be the first person to say that Spring Awakening is flawed as well.
The first act of Grey Gardens just did not work for me at all. Does every song need to be perfect, of course not.
As I sat in the theater watching that first act, I said to myself well, there's some good stuff going on up there, but I don't see why others are raving about it.
The end of that first act was so powerful, and effecting, but the level of writing in the first act did not come close to that, or much of the second act.
As a musician, the musical portion of a show clearly is a vital part of the show. Songs come about when words can no longer express what a character is saying/thinking. When most of these songs are weak, and a book that to me was a bit more than adequate (but still better than that of Spring Awakening), it just didn't "make the cut" for me.
These are all opinions obviously, and fflagg, I will not try to get into an argument about this, but why can a person my age, 21, not think a show like Grey Gardens is God's gift to musical theater for legitimate reasons and not stupid ones like "It's not cool" or it's not hip, or there's no sex, etc...
Edit: I hope you didn't compare Grey Gardens to Follies in terms of quality of the show, considering that every song in Follies is pretty much a masterpiece in and of itself.
If you're comparing it to the fact that it wasn't appreciated when it opened, but will be in due time, I think that distinction is much more appropriate for a show like Caroline or Change which was criminally under-appreciated when it opened, and I think will eventually be viewed much more highly.
-There's the muddle in the middle. There's the puddle where the poodle did the piddle."
Updated On: 4/29/08 at 04:50 PM
