Grey Gardens will close 7/29 per BWW — Page 2

In answer to your question about a third documentary, it was announced that he will make a documentary about the musical and its travels and life on broadway. I really don't know why they closed it so abruptly. I always thought that Christine Ebersole was the main attraction. I really liked this show and thought both actresses were superb but it was really Christine Ebersole that carried the show. Mary Louise Wilson doesn't appear until Act 2 and then spends most of it in bed.

"Mary Louise Wilson doesn't appear until Act 2 and then spends most of it in bed."

Which is where the real Big Edie spent most of her time.

---

I agree rockabye...shows should go out strong. I too loved sweeney todd but it went out when the time was right.

GG is following suit. I am just glad I'll be seeing it in a few weeks so that I can say I was a part of the magic.

I look forward to seeing what Albert Maysles comes up with. His brother David, who I believe was the one Little Edie kept flirting with, died in 1987.

---

I blame Mary Louise Wilson for this. Would the show have closed had she not decided to leave? She gets her long deserved Tony award and then cuts and runs.

I also wonder if Erin Davie will still be taking her vacation this month as a result of the closing notice.

I realize she's not getting any younger, but if she felt that this role/show would have been too exhausting for her, she should have backed out before the show reached Broadway.

You're right, it probably didn't have many more months lefts, but I think the producers used her exit as a way of pulling the plug early on this show.

Don't blame Mary Louise Wilson. She has been with the show for some three years, counting workshop productions in Florida. Her contract was up and she needs a break. As someone just said, she is not getting any younger.

According to last week's grosses, it is doing 82%, so it will go out strongly.

---

There may be many reasons why the show is closing that we mortals are not privy to: money, producers, the cost of a replacment for MLW.

If they want someone like Lansbury, Cloris Leachman, etc., to replace MLW that will cost money. Maybe the producers feel it is best to spend the $ on London or on the touring company.

The b/o is doing well and perhaps they will extend beyond July 29th.

You never know.

I wish the cast well.

---

Any blame being placed on Mary Louise Wilson for the closing is being ill-directed.

The producers have known Mary Louise was leaving the show in July since March, when she renewed past her initial six month deal past the Tony season on the strict condition that she would depart the production at the end of that extention.

To the person saying she shouldn't have reprised her role for Broadway if she didn't want to say long-- you can blame the producers for that.

Wilson made it very well known during the negotation process between the transfer and Playwrights Horizons that she would only be staying a limited time (originally agreed to be six months) if they were willing to have her. They could have cast someone who would make a longer commitment at that time and didn't. She even went and renewed a few additional months past the Tony's after initially being stringent about leaving earlier, so I would say she's been more than accomodating.

Christine Ebersole is the one who sat the producers down late last week and suggested closing the show at the end of Wilson's deal so they could finish while doing well at the box office and keep the entire original company intact rather than close at the end of her contract in October with a likely dip in attendance and with a replacement put in.

Though I agree with her logic in urging them to close when they did, it was Ebersole's primary decision none the less.

---

Updated On: 7/2/07 at 06:19 PM

Kalimba, Megan Lewis will still be going on for Erin Davie July 14th and 15th as scheduled.

---

The offical press release:
GREY GARDENS TO PLAY ITS FINAL PERFORMANCE SUNDAY, JULY 29

I have to say that I teared up a bit when I read this: This production of GREY GARDENS is a tribute to the Beales
themselves, and we're especially proud of having helped make their dream come true. At long last these two incredible, indomitable women have been celebrated as the performers they always wanted to be.

----------------------------------------------------------------

THE TONY AWARD-WINNING AND
ACCLAIMED BROADWAY MUSICAL
GREY GARDENS
TO PLAY ITS FINAL PERFORMANCE
SUNDAY, JULY 29

Producers announced today that the acclaimed, Tony Award-winning
Broadway musical GREY GARDENS will play its final performance on
Sunday, July 29, 2007. Following that day's matinee, the production will have played a total of 307 performances and 33 previews at The Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street).

"GREY GARDENS is a great work of art that will have a long life
beyond this Broadway run," said Kelly Gonda, president of East of Doheny, the lead producer of the musical. "Everyone in the GREY GARDENS family is proud that we were able to bring this unique show to Broadway – the first-ever musical to be made from a documentary. We are honored and thrilled to have received rapturous reviews,ecstatic audiences and award recognition. We're happy the show was preserved with a new cast album and filmed as the subject of a soon- to-be released documentary by the legendary original filmmaker, Albert Maysles himself."

"We always knew that GREY GARDENS faced an uphill challenge during the summer months," she continued. "And so we made the difficult decision to end our run on July 29 with our incomparable original cast. Still basking from the glow of our Tony Award wins and the recent surge in attendance, the show is able to go out on top."

"This production of GREY GARDENS is a tribute to the Beales
themselves, and we're especially proud of having helped make their dream come true. At long last these two incredible, indomitable women have been celebrated as the performers they always wanted to be. And while we're all sad to see this beautiful production close, we'll look forward to keeping their dream alive with future productions and the new documentary. Finally, I must say that it was a real pleasure, both personally and professionally, to work with everyone involved
with the Broadway production of GREY GARDENS, including the creative team, the cast, the crew and everyone else responsible for the welcome we enjoyed at The Walter Kerr."

GREY GARDENS opened on Broadway on November 2, 2006 to rave reviews, lead by Ben Brantley in The New York Times, who called it "An experience no passionate theatergoer should miss!" Starring 2-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and Tony Award winner Mary Louise Wilson (both winning for their GREY GARDENS performances), it has appeared on over 25 "Best of 2006" lists, including #1 Show of the Year (Time), Best Musical of the Year (USA Today, Entertainment Weekly) and Performance of the Year (The New York Times, New York) for Ms. Ebersole.

In addition to critical acclaim, the production has been showered with awards and honors, most recently earning 10 2007 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and winning three: Christine Ebersole for Best Actress in a Musical, Mary Louise Wilson for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and William Ivey Long for Best Costumes.

The musical's many additional awards including many honors for the show's authors:

* The 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical
* A 2006 Richard Rodgers Production Award, administered by the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
* The 2006 ASCAP Foundation's Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award for
composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie
* The 2007 Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition for Mr.
Frankel
* The 2007 National Arts Club Gold Medal of Honor for Theatre
presented to the creators
* Being named a Finalist by the Dramatists Guild of America for the
2007 Hull-Wariner Award for show of the year.
* Being named one of Best Plays' "Ten Best" of the 2005-2006 season
(the only musical cited)
* A 2006 Obie Award for set designer Allen Moyer
* Ms. Ebersole sweeping the 2006 Spring Theater awards, winning a
Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Obie, a special
citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Drama
League's 2006 Distinguished Performance of the Year Award
* Both a 2006 Drama-League Award for Distinguished Performance and
Actors Equity Foundation's 2007 Richard Seff Award to Mary Louise
Wilson for her performance as Edith Bouvier Beale
* A 2007 Theatre World Award to Erin Davie for her performance as
Young `Little' Edie Beale

It was previously announced that GREY GARDENS will have its London debut next season with Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole recreating her performance. For London, the producers will be teaming with London producers to present the show in its UK bow during the 2007-2008 season. London partners, dates and additional casting will be officially announced in the coming months. Producers are also in discussions about the possibility of presenting the show in U.S. engagements across the country.

---

Updated On: 7/2/07 at 07:24 PM

I feel so lucky I was able to see this show on Broadway during one of the best trips of my life. It doesn't get any better than seeing FOLLIES one night and GREY GARDENS the following night.
The cast was so uniformly fantastic, not a weak link. Not only do I feel Ebersole and Wilson were exquisite but Erin Davie gave what I thought was a mind-blowing performance along with McMartin, Cavenaugh, Stillman, Potts, and the girls.
Yes, it is sad it's closing but it certainly did better than most people thought.

---