Sara Gettelfinger in GREY GARDENS: Your Thoughts

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:22am

What did you think of her performance as Act I's Little Edie?

Do you feel her replacement was justified?

How is she in comparison to Erin Davie?

What was her biggest problem in portraying Little Edie?

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:24am

I think the replacing of Gettlefinger was more than justified...but not because she lacks talent. I think she's pretty freaking talented. But I think there is a natural strength about her that is difficult to mask and just didn't work for Little Edie. Erin Davie (sp??) was far more fragile in a way that illuminated Act 1 beautifully.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:25am

I unfortunately didn't see her live, just heard her on CD and vids on THAT SITE. I actually really enjoyed her rendition of the Little Edie songs and she really does look like "Body Beautiful Beale". Erin Davie looks really skinny to have that nick name.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:26am

Having not seen Erin or Sara (I'm judging by cast recordings, clips, etc.) I'm glad Sara was replaced. Like robbie, I think Sara is very talented, but the role wasn't right for her. I much prefer Erin in the part, and I'm glad she was cast.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:33am

If people thought than the transition between Erin as Little Edie and Christine was hard to believe, can you imagine Sara in that position? Firstly, she has no resemblence to Christine at all and her singing voice (including her horrendous accent) in that role was wrong. Now, I don't not like Sara as a performer and I enjoyed her very much in DRS but this was not the role for her.

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:34am

i loved her & continue to love her.

i FEEL STRONGLY that you CANNOT COMPARE her & Erin Davies' take on the character, because the character itself WAS REWRITTEN.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:36am

I'm just glad Benanti didnt get the role!

[white guy]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:38am

i saw both of them....

Sara was great in the role....a great singer and actress...i just think PHYSICALLY she just looked too tall, and statuesque to be opposite matt cavenaugh, and Ebersole........like...she shrank as she got older in act II.

she sang, acted, danced, well and had a great accent. she just has that long face and body...and i think davie's improvements are in the "looks like christine" category...she's great too though.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:39am

Check for yourselves. Here's Sara performing "Daddy's Girl" from the Playwrights Horizon production of GREY GARDENS:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4oraDqFMgVs

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 11:41am

I loved Sara in the role, and Edie did shrink in real life.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 12:42pm

Laura Benanti was considered for the role?

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 1:48pm

When they didn't cast her, she told the casting directors that they were destroying musical theater and that they should get a life because she's doing what they wish they were doing.

[Clara's Pony]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 1:57pm

Erin Davie plays the character very sympathetically and while the stuff about Gettelfinger looking nothing like Christine shouldn't be taken too seriously, it has to be considered. I think replacing her was possibly unnecessary but I am happy with Davie.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 2:16pm

VIETgrlTerifa- Gettelfinger said that?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 2:20pm

americanboy99, VIETgrlTerifa was referencing Laura Benanti's now infamous comment about Message Boards/Chat Room people:

Benanti Says We Should Get A Life: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=939968&dt=248

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 2:45pm

Haha! Okay.

But was she offered the role?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 2:49pm

I think Gettelfinger's approach was stiff, self-possesed and aristocratic.

Davis' approach is more nervous and slightly wounded.

I'm guessing the authors approach to first act Little Edie is what demanded the cast change. Because Gettlefinger is definately very talented.

Also Gettlefinger doesn't look much like Ebersole's little Edie.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 2:51pm

There is a picture of Davie somewhere... I'll post it.. and I thought it was Ebersole at first glance.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 3:01pm

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 3:28pm

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 5:37pm

Gettelfinger is a very talented performer but she failed to have any connection to Act II Little Edie.
Erin Davie is incredibly informed by Ebersole's performance in Act II and makes connections to her older self that the book fails to solidify. While Gettelfinger's "Daddy's Girl" was an exercise of begging and seduction, Erin Davie made it a complete nervous breakdown that combined denial, self-destruction, insecurity, and a cry for help to get out of the mansion. Even in the intro to "Peas in a Pod" Davie seems to have an edge in the way she reminisces about the past in such a childlike manner and the way she begs her mother. Gettelfinger was too tame and sophisticated.
I think Benanti would actually make a great Act I Little Edie though some part of me thinks she may take the Gettelfinger approach (am I the only one who thinks they have similar voices?).