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Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

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#1

Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:46am

Just kidding.

I miss the days when there would be another new thread on this subject every week--at least it meant the show was still on Broadway. It closed a year ago today.
"I just want a story and a few good songs that will take me away. I just want to be entertained. I mean, isn't that the point?"

Updated On: 7/29/08 at 12:46 AM

#8

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:51am

She was awful?

Did you see her performance?

She was far from awful. She was wonderful, in fact. She looked very much like the real Young Little Edie, but unfortunately did not look enough like Christine Ebersole, who did look like the Adult Little Edie. So for dramatic purposes, Gettelfinger was replaced with an actress that the audience could more believably associate with being the same person in Act I and Act II.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad

"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#10

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:53am

I enjoy Gettelfinger in the cast recording simply because I like Gettelfinger. To me she failed to make any real connection with Act II Little Edie which regardless of whatever happened in the lives of the actual Edies, just makes the two acts feel a bit disjointed.
When I had the chance of seeing Erin Davie play the role, I felt that the emotional journey that Edie goes through during the whole show was far more believable and there was quite a character study in her performance that I just did not get from Gettelfinger's performance. Regardless, I thought it was quite a wise decision to replace her, and I believe it was more a matter of the direction the writers and Grief wanted to go in.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#12

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 7:05am

I'm glad to see this thread turned out like all the others, even though I was joking. Like I said, I was feeling nostalgic...
"I just want a story and a few good songs that will take me away. I just want to be entertained. I mean, isn't that the point?"
#16

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 10:32am

Sorry, I can't let it go- Sara Gettelfinger was absolutely great. She is leggy and beautiful. She can sing, dance, and act. I saw Erin too,and I am not taking anything away from her, but I can not read people trashing Sara without posting my thoughts.
#19

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 10:50am

I thought Sara was very good and was definitely looked more like a young Little Edie. I think it was brilliant to put Sara in the bathing suit and sarong in the first act. Sara really embodied young Little Edie. I think the disparity between her and Ebersole in Act 2 was noticeable.Sara is much more regal looking and had that stunning face and gorgeous gams that Little Edie had when she was a model and deb.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal "I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#20

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:21pm

I saw Sara and thought she was brilliant. She looked much more like the real Edie. While Davie was good, she did look much more like Ebersole. I still prefer Sara to her though.
You're that little girl with her wings unfurled, flying again. Back in your backyard dancing...I found a way back to then. - [title of show]
#21

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:36pm

This is just going by the recordings.

Sara, while very good, wasn't as right for the part as Erin.

While Sara took the approach of having Edie being somewhat normal before becoming Christine Ebersole, Erin Davie was just COMPLETELY unhinged: her voice was just right (which I suspect has something to do with how her jaw [even in real life] always seems to be clenched. She should do something about that), and, as a consequence, her performance of "Daddy's Girl" was heartbreaking.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#22

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 7/29/08 at 1:08pm

"which I suspect has something to do with how her jaw [even in real life] always seems to be clenched."

aww lol She's like America's version of Ruthie Henshall, only doesn't sing AS well.
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
#25

re: Why was Sara Gettelfinger replaced by Erin Davie in Grey Gardens?

Posted: 2/28/09 at 6:15am

I find Sara G. somewhat awkward on stage. I never feel like she's comfortable. Have seen her in GG, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Nine (that I can think of) and she always seems as if she's trying too hard and it makes me uncomfortable. Also, she seems to have a strange speech pattern. (her S's sound like ESH's) Once I heard the S thing the first time, it's all I hear anytime she speaks on stage. Has anyone seen her play Feshtrada in Los Angeles?

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