Grey Gardens

[JohnGroffismyidol]

Posted: 4/10/15 at 6:50pm

Did you personally love it loathe it retrospect ?

Updated On: 4/10/15 at 06:50 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/10/15 at 11:05pm

I've only seen a bootleg from the Playwright's Horizon production and I play the album every month or so. (I played it daily for several months when it first came out.)

I don't know how I could love it more.

ETA: for the record, I had never heard of the documentary when the show first opened. So I wasn't biased in favor of the source material.

Updated On: 4/11/15 at 11:05 PM

[LittleEdieFan]

Posted: 4/10/15 at 11:17pm

No surprise that I love it. 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 12:14am

I just listened to a few tracks from and the album and it's very beautiful.   I'll definitely be looking further into this show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 12:21am

I was blown away from the front row on Broadway. The final ten minutes were haunting.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 12:36am

One of my top ten favorites!

A hauntingly beautiful musical...Christine Ebersole & Mary Louise Wilson gave phenomenal performances both garnering Tony Awards! Christine though was Stunning!

[binau]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 1:57am

Great score and powerful leading performances. So sad the creative team haven't found success in another show yet. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 7:45am

Was FAR FROM HEAVEN really so bad? I think the CD is exquisite!

Or were you just talking about their not having a major commercial success? Given most of what runs, I've stopped evaluating anybody based on box office.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 8:01am

Shockingly, our first exposure to the show was Christine Ebersole's astonishing performance on the Tony Awards. We immediately gobbled up the cd and put it on constant replay (much like Gaveston above). One of the most brilliant scores by a new composer/lyricist team in ages.

We couldn't manage the trip east to see the New York show before it closed, to our everlasting regret. Planned a trip to London when we heard Ebersole would be opening the show in the West End-- our trip happened but the West End production never did.

Thank God for that Youtube feed that finally showed us what the New York show looked like even if in a tiny format. One day we'll actually get to see the show onstage, although I doubt it will match the original performances that live on in our head. 

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 8:21am

SIAT, surely somebody is sitting on the LA rights awaiting Ebersole's availability! Like the Taper or (God forbid, though I'd go there, too) the Ahmanson.

IIRC, Ebersole had quite a triumph in Durang's LAUGHING WILD, back in the 1990s.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 8:31am

It's an incredible musical and the second act is pure genius... Christine's performance was probably the best of the decade.

[fb1123]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 8:59am

I loved it, every incarnation of it, every version of it.  The documentary, the 2009 HBO movie with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

But especially the stage version, which I was lucky enough to see twice.  I knew I was in the presence of greatness watching those two women give amazing performances.

It should be the stuff of Broadway legend.

I don't know why "Will You" isn't covered by other artists, it's so beautiful.

[RevolutionaryCostume]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 9:45am

I was always a fan of the documentary, and when I heard they were planning a musical version, I was curious.

When I saw Ebersole perform "Revolutionary Costume. . " on the Drama Desk Awards, I gobbled up the CD the second I could get my hands on it.

I made my first trip to NYC in January of '07 to see it on Broadway.  I sat 5th row, dead center, and cried in front of my dad.

I adore this show, so much.  The first act begins by perfectly capturing the feeling of preparing for a party.  It descends into a nightmare by way of manipulation and gossip.  By the end of the first act, knowing how things end up, I was still rooting for Little Edie to escape and find a life for herself.

The second act was a different feeling altogether.  The two ladies were perfect in their imitations of the documentary's subjects.  The laughs and awkwardness of the film was there, but, because of the first act, you could see feel the underlying tension and disappointment of Little Edie as she cared for her mother.

After "Another Winter In A Summer Town," she tries to escape again, and is caught by the groundskeeper.  Ebersole, lowered her eyes to the floor like a scolded child, broken.  When she said "I'm extremely organized."  I lost it.  Cried like a baby.

Best things I've ever seen on stage, bar none.  I wish it were revived more often.  I think the show is fantastic, obviously.

 

[Lovinbroadway2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 10:45am

I was introduced to the show last year, after seeing the stunning Tony Award performance on YouTube. I quickly grabbed the Cast album, and was blown away by everything. Then, I saw the bootleg on YouTube, and it instantly became (probably) my favorite piece of theater I've seen. As someone said before, the last ten minutes were breathtaking. I've rarely felt so many things whilst seeing a musical (and never for bootleg.) The final scene with the two of them got me bawling. 

Then I saw the documentary and Movie, which made me respect Ebersole even more. 

The brilliance of the show cannot be explained. Just go watch the bootleg. 

Updated On: 4/11/15 at 10:45 AM

[aj88]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 11:13am

I still think GREY GARDENS should've won Musical, Book, and Score over Spring Awakening....Director would be a tighter battle, because I probably would've given that to John Doyle for COMPANY. 

Christine Ebersole gives a performance for the ages, particularly in Act Two and her Tony was richly deserved....as was Mary Louise Wilson's.

So yes, needless to say I loved the show and it was one of my favorites of recent years.

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 3:16pm

I was 16 when I saw it three times.  I wish I had seen it more while it lasted.  

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 3:29pm

I saw the show three times on Broadway and as a teenager it was a formative theatrical experience for me. It's an incredibly beautiful show, and I think Ebersole's performance will go down in history as one of the all-time greatest. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 5:24pm

Having heard of GG many times growing up, I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't look into it until three years ago. The doc is fascinating, the HBO film was entertaining, but the musical is a true work of art. Brilliant performances, more than deserving of the awards and the incredible response to the top of Act II. As others have said the final moments were absolutely heartbreaking. I'm thankful for YouTube and bootlegs in this sense because the original show needed to be preserved. Speaking of which, I have to get my hands on the PBS Independent Lens on the show. 

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 5:48pm

Saw it early in the Broadway run and loved every minute of it.

(Yes, I loved the first act as much as the second.)

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 5:56pm

Loved it.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 8:41pm

The real question is if you prefer the Broadway score (adding new ones to replace some of the cut songs) or the Off-Broadway score.

[Comden Green]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 9:43pm

^

yes, scotty.  that's the question.   I knew the entire off broadway recording by the time I saw the show on broadway.   I was used to "Peas in a Pod" at the end.   and loved it.  it seemed to be a perfect ending.   highlighting their similarities and bringing them emotionally together again after the heartbreaking resignation of winter in a summer town.  it lifted the mood.  and its a good song.   

"a soft shoe.  how can you resist?"

the broadway ending seemed to go so fast I couldn't even tell you what it did to the show or why.  and I didn't buy the broadway recording.

 

Updated On: 4/11/15 at 09:43 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 9:59pm

Interesting point-- I had the Broadway cast album first, so all the differences in the Off-Broadway recording seemed off-putting to me. I loved The Girl Who Had Everything as a finale because that was GREY GARDENS for me. I listened to the off-broadway cd with interest when I first bought it and haven't cued it up since.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 10:06pm

As much as I loved the show on Broadway, the "Peas in a Pod" ending was better and stronger.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 10:10pm

"As much as I loved the show on Broadway, the "Peas in a Pod" ending was better and stronger."

I agree with this and Comden Green's comments. Like Comden Green, I also knew the Off-Broadway recording before I heard and saw the Broadway version (well a regional production of the Bway production), so that might explain it. I haven't bought the Broadway version yet because I love the Off-Broadway version so much.