tracking changes to "Gardens" this week (if any)

Anyone attending this week, please post as fully as possible. Rumors are flying at the Other Board about the Playwrights version being semi-restored, or at least "The Girl Who Has Everything" and the current prologue being removed. The show is too special (and wonderful, to my thinking) to be seriously damaged by the addition or deletion of one or two numbers. (And I much prefer "Goin'Places" -- in fact, find it a vast improvement).

I'm not sure there is a definitive framing device that will please everyone. Start with Old Edith, Little Edie...the show still makes demands on an audience, inviting us to plants seeds that will only pay off an hour later. I think it makes the piece ambitious, but others continue to be bewildered by the stakes in act one. Some people are seriously suggesting showing the documentary in the lobby, in an endless loop. But I'm very curious about what transpires in the preview period.

It's an odd marquis to walk by, because it appropriately touts a slew of awards already won; yet the show's only been seen by (relatively speaking) a handful of people, and is still being worked on, 'round the clock.

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Updated On: 10/11/06 at 01:23 PM

The 2nd act reprise of "Will You" is new to the broadway edition, and I think, very effective (I would'n't mind even a bit more, as it would provide further connection between Mary Louise and the act one Edith.)

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Auggie: are you referring to Will You playing on the record with Mary Louise singing along and then Christine singing? Because that isn't new. That scene is actually nearly identical to the Playwrights version.

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I am seeing it on Saturday and am very curious about the changes. After seeing it Off-Broadway, I had all the problems with the first act that others have mentioned. But there is still something about it that intrigued me. I think when Auggie said that it's "special," he pretty much nailed it.

I'm looking forward to it and will keep an open mind. One thing will not change, I'm sure: the glow of Ms. Ebersole's performance.

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Sorry, I was confused and clearly wrong about the reprise of "Will You." It's just not on the recording.

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The changes that were alluded to in the first post did happen with tonite's performance. It sounds like the opening is a combo of the new version and the off-bway version--which I know will delight many of you.

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