Grey Gardens- Great Story/Bad Musical

im sorry you didnt like it- make the title more specific next time.

QBee -- I can sort of relate to your feelings. Let the piece grow on you. I'm sort of obsessed with it now. Get the cast recording and try to relive the experience. You're correct, the performances (across the board) are amazing. Like you, the show made me want to know more about these interesting women. I still haven't viewed the documentary, but I'm going to. I do feel there is a very STRANGE feeling to the work, but these were very bizarre women. It's not the best piece of theatre, overall, that I've ever seen, but (IMO) it is more than you might get through first impressions.

---

"Seeing Jersey Boys again this Friday. I loved it last time and trust it will be just as good. "

Its still amazing.

---

GREY GARDENS is one of the best new musicals of the past 10 years.

---

I think Grey Gardens is the best musical I've seen/heard of in a long time.

I think it combines the classic form of songwriting from older musicals with the dramatics and intelligence of modern musical theatre.

It's not nearly as flashy as Phantom or Wicked, but that's something I love about it. It avoid the glitz and glamour and goes straight to the heart of the story.

Not only is it hilarious at times, but it is also the only show that has ever actually produced tears from me.

So yeah, add me to the "lovin' it" list

~~Jacob.

See I'm opposite. I think it's a great musical, amazingly well written by people who have absolute mastery of the form, and a fundamentally unmoving (and even a little uninteresting) story.

It's a musical stuck in stasis about people stuck in stasis. Still, boy, is it well written. The cool thing about Grey Gardens is that all the things perceptably wrong with it were risks the authors chose to take that pay off. It's exactly what they are trying for it to be.

It has a lot of transcendent moments and a handful of beautiful performances but the whole affair leaves you with an ethereal fleeting feeling (which again may be the point). It's kind of an undramatic show because it's about two people feeling nostalgic for the lives they've already lived and I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to take from the show. I'm still not really sure why I'm supposed to care about the Beales aside from that they are interesting campy eccentrics. The Follies comparisons are endless but really, it's a less compelling Follies.

I don't think the show lives or dies by its audience of fans of the documentary, but I do see how a familiarity with or a fondness for the Beales would make this show a better experience.

Ultimately I like Grey Gardens better as a cast recording and as an example of musical theater writing than as a theatrical experience.

Which isn't to say it's a bad theatrical experience... I really liked it, I would go to it again before most things. I agree that it's one of the better musicals we've seen in the last decade, it pushed the form, blah blah, but I'm not in the fanatics camp. I had the cast recording for a while before I actually saw it though so maybe I went in and it had a sort of diluted impact.

---

I gave Grey Gardens a chance because of the rave reviews and to see Christine. I left very disappointed. I'm not saying that it wasn't well written. However, the majority of songs did NOTHING for me. The first act was beautiful, but it was completely disjointed from the second act. It was like watching two very expensive one acts. I was disappointed by Christine in the first act. She is a very talented singer, but the writing for the character in the first act left much to be desired. I felt like the second act was completely a different story; she was amazing as Little Edie and drew me in.

There were two songs that I enjoyed - Revolutionary Costume and Another Winter in a Summer Town. I didn't open the cast album before I saw the show, and I did return it to the store when I returned from New York. While the songs may have grown on me, there are too many cast albums that I will play over and over until I have to replace them.

Did I feel that it was a waste of an evening? No, wonderful performances from all involved, but in my opinion it was the direction and writing that weakened the over all production.

---

Updated On: 2/14/07 at 08:24 PM

JERRY LIKES MY CORN is an exceptional work of music and story telling.

Agreed again, SNAFU.

I went into GREY GARDENS thinking I was going to hate it.

Half way through Act II, I found myself strangely moved and wrapped up in the musical. Not the story of these women - I had already known their story - but the way it was presented in the musical. It's brilliant.

Mr. Roxy: Type MORE like a 5th grader.

---

I'd been given the CD for Christmas and listened to it often - fell in love with the score and found it really fascinating - then last night, saw it for the first time and it solidified all of my feelings about what I had heard. I think it is a brilliant show, and I am one who has NOT seen the documentary (though now it is definitely on my list). There seems to be nothing Christine Ebersol cannot do with her voice - she has a magnificent instrument, and her range of emotion on stage is incredible. The show is wonderfully funny, and terribly heartbreaking...I simply loved every moment of it.

---

=(

Updated On: 2/15/07 at 07:46 AM

I cannot judge on the show as a whole, but the score is brillant, love it a lot!