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

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:23pm

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.

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

[Fabrizio2]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 5:23pm

When I saw it saturday I noticed that many songs had been removed such as Body Beautiful Beale, and the Peas in a Pod reprise...many more too.

EDIT: Happy to see the Ebersole got three entrance applauses: twice in Act One and at the beginning of Act Two

Running Order:

Prologue (1973)
The Girl Who Has Everything

Act One (1941)
The Girl Who Has Everything
The Five-Fifteen
Mother, Darling
Goin' Places
Marry Well
Hominy Grits
Peas in a Pod
Drift Away
The Five Fifteen (Reprise)
Daddy's Girl
The Telegram
Will You?

Act Two
The Revolutionary Costume for Today
The Cake I Had
Entering Grey Gardens
The House We Live In
Jerry Likes My Corn
Around the World
Will You? (Reprise)
Choose to be Happy
Around the World (Reprise)
Another Winter in a Summer Town
The Girl Who Has Everything (Reprise) Updated On: 10/11/06 at 05:23 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 7:44pm

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.)

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:41pm

that would be very cool if they put the documentary on loop in the lobby...or at least had video highlights on loop

glad to hear they are working on it, and changing things around

also happy to hear Christine is getting so much entrance applause :) good for her

[inishmore]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:30pm

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.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:55pm

the changes mentioned in your first post are not true.

as far as I can tell, any rewrites have been minimal during previews--not major.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:57am

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.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:05am

It did good business during the first week - 80-ish% I think.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 7:52am

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

[BobbyRobbyBobbyBaby]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:28am

I saw it tonight and I think the book is much tighter. The addition of Erin Davie is a good one, even though I was just getting use to Sara’s voice on the recording. Erin is more believable as Little Edie and her chemistry (both physically and vocally) with Matt is much more cohesive. 'Goin' Places' was just alright for me but 'Marry Well' is a much improved song and does a better job of furthering the storyline. I was very apprehensive about the revised ending but it works. It’s not as optimistic as ‘Peas in a Pod’ (reprise) but it completes the arc of what happens to Little Edie. Christine’s performance was effortlessly dead on with every emotion, every movement, every note.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 2:38am

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.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 8:13am

The return to the fuller version of "5:15" makes good sense -- the number is a charmer -- so I'm delighted to learn the "Geisha" section is back. I would love to know what made them remove the framing device of Little Edie. Perhaps it simply wasn't landing with enough theatrical weight to justify its use for clarity. It was so brief, a blip, and I have to respect the many voices here and elsewhere who thought it stole from the reveal in act two, precediing "Revolutionary Costume."

Thanks Jrb.