Realizing how great GREY GARDENS was...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:34pm

Kind of random but I've been listening to it a lot lately and each time I realize how brilliant and touching the music is. It, on first listen, sounds somewhat basic but with more listens and even if you read the lyrics, you understand how simply complicated it is...if that makes sense.

It had no chance against SPRING AWAKENING but it deserves credit for it's equally (and more low-key) stunning score. I know most people on here love it (it's flawed, certainly, but it's still --in my mind-- a nearly great musical).

I wish I could have seen the show more than once...Ebersole was just indescribably astonishing. She elevated already wonderful material to a night of theater I will never forget.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:45pm

It's a modern classic. It's brilliant. Frankel and Korie are bound to be major players in the next generation. And yes, Christine was THAT good.

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:49pm

I always pictured Alice Ripley playing Edith/Little Edie. Don't ask me why....

[jv92]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:51pm

Maybe at Encores! in 20 years time. She's only in her 30's, no?

[jake6970]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:53pm

I really liked this show. I saw it twice and didn't care for it the first time, but my view was completely changed the 2nd time. Great music and amazing performances.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:05am

Alice Ripley will be 45 in two days.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:13am

Grey Gardens was nothing short of brilliant. What a wonderful score. I hope someday it will be recognized as the amazing piece of theatre that it is. Let it never be said that I don't love Spring Awakening, but I think that Grey Gardens was the all-around best show that season.

[Broadwayfanatic2]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:22am

I would have LOVED to have seen this show...

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:02am

I wish I could've seen it too. I was in the city for a few days last year a few weeks before it closed and planed to see it on Sunday evening, the last night I was in town. I went to the theatre to get rush tickets for me and my gf and my heart broke when the box office attendent told me they didn't do Sunday evening performances.

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:10am

I am trying to picture Ripley in the role. It's very intriguing, I must admit. However, as much as I love the girl, I find it hard to imagine combining her voice with this score.

[tellybox]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:14am

I saw it a few weeks before it closed. I remember seeing online clips and such and knew that I had to see it. In a way, I felt obligated to see it, lol. I knew fully well that if I missed out, I would kick myself later.

One of the best theatrical experiences ever.

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:58pm

Its kinda a random choice for me too, but ever since I heard Alice sing Meadowlark on that site, I've always had the thought in my head.

I think this show doesn't work without the libretto. If you buy the cast recording, you have to the book with it or else it just doesn't work. I didn't appreciate it at all until I got the book.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 1:08pm

I disagree. The music is absolutely stunning on its own. Sure, Jerry Likes My Corn might make more sense once you see or read the show, but songs like Will You, Choose to be Happy, Another Winter, Drift Away... all these work alone. And those were just off the top of my head.

This is my absolute favorite show of all time. Perfect cast, perfect (in my opinion) show. I wouldn't change a thing about it. No theatrical experience for me has ever, ever come close to the first time I was in that thetare.

[DrewBill]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:38pm

Perhaps I'm in the minority on this thread, but I thought "Grey Gardens" was good, but not quite great. It was definitely lifted by incredible performances -- Ebersole and Wilson definitely deserved their Tony Awards.

But I think the first act is shaky, and doesn't come together until probably midway through (somewhere around "Drift Away"). The second act is very strong throughout, but I think the Broadway production could have done without the cheesy cat projections -- they were just a mistake.

Overall, a good show, but without incredibly talented leading performers, I think the show would more-or-less fall flat.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:50pm

You're not in the minority. Many people did not like Grey Gardens.

I loved it, however. I think that Act 2 is perfectly written. Act 1 may be shakier, but it is still VERY strong. It's true that without great performances the show falls a little flat. And you know what? That's the same with every show. You think that every show is performance proof? None of them are. Without great performances, Gypsy would fall flat, My Fair Lady, How to Succeed..., Fiddler. All of them.

Grey Gardens is an exceptional show, with an incredible score (Korie and Frankel are the best things to happen to musical theatre in a long time) and the incredible production with the phenomenal cast enhanced the material to dizzying heights. I will never forget it.

[kissynose]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 3:32pm

I think this was avshow that you coulld really love if you knew the source material. I'm curious what anyone who had not seen the movie thinks of the show

I loved it..

[fflagg]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 5:02pm

The best new musical of the 21st century. And like FOLLIES will not be fully appreciated until later and also was robbed of its major Tonys due to the 'gay mafia' drooling over the hotties in SPRING AWAKENING and Duncan Sheik.

Would love to see Cloris Leachman and Catherine O'Hara tackle the parts.

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 5:55pm

"...but without incredibly talented leading performers, I think the show would more-or-less fall flat."

I don't agree with this notion, drewbill. I thought the material was terrific. Though I did have a similar sentiment in that I felt that Ebersole had so defined the character of act II Edie, that I wondered if it would be too tied to her interpretation to ever allow another actress to own the part. I mean performers are always compared to those who did the role before them anyway. And those are usually fictional characters that can be interpreted in many ways.

With Edie, being a real person. There is an expectation of how she should move and sound. As Christine has already embodied this so well, I worried that future performers in this role could only look like they were doing an imitation of Ebersole's imitation of Edie.

Though with the few regional productions that have been done since, I'm glad to hear that this doesn't seem to be the case.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 12:12am

I think this was avshow that you coulld really love if you knew the source material. I'm curious what anyone who had not seen the movie thinks of the show

I had never seen the movie, or even really heard of it before I saw the show. Loving the show for me has nothing to do with the movie or the source material. Like I said, best show I've ever seen.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 12:23am

I have to say this is in my top five favorite shows of all time.
I saw it several times, but I will never forget seeing it closing night.
I was a puddle through all of Act II.

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 12:24am

I've also been listening more and more to Grey Gardens--saw the Broadway production two years ago at this time of year. "Another Winter" has been a sad sort of Christmas song for me because of that...

It really was a magnificent show, one of the few I feel truly lucky and grateful to have seen.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 12:42am

"The best new musical of the 21st century. And like FOLLIES will not be fully appreciated until later and also was robbed of its major Tonys due to the 'gay mafia' drooling over the hotties in SPRING AWAKENING and Duncan Sheik.

Would love to see Cloris Leachman and Catherine O'Hara tackle the parts."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 2:42am

I haven't seen the movie, and was not familiar with the plot/ characters or the score at all, and it was one of the best theatrical experiences of my life. IMO it is tied with Light in the Piazza as the best new musical of the 21st century.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 11:20am

The DC production with Barbara Walsh received great reviews, seeming to prove the show will live well with out the terrific Ebersole and Wilson. I'm seeing it in January--very excited to see what they have done with the piece.

Updated On: 12/14/08 at 11:20 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 11:52am

This was one of the best theater experiences I have ever had. Seeing it front row center was truly incredible, and there was nothing more frightening than Christine Ebersole as Little Edie staring me down during REVOLUTIONARY COSTUME.
Updated On: 12/14/08 at 11:52 AM