'Grey Gardens' Shines in Chicago

Grey Gardens, the 2007 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical opened in Chicago on Friday, November 21, 2008, at the Northlight Theatre, and it's one heck of a good piece of theater and history. The run has already been extended for good reason. From the moment you walk into the theater lobby you are treated to an intimate look at Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter "little" Edie. An excerpt from the 1974 documentary of the same name, by the Maysles brothers, plays on television monitors. Reprints of photos and articles about the mother and daughter, their house in East Hampton and their niece and first cousin, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, are mounted in the lobby.                                                                                                       

Grey Gardens, the house that is central to the storyline, goes from grand elegance to abject squalor in two acts. Act One takes place in 1941 and establishes the relationship between mother and daughter exploring their shared accentuated sophistication, borne of money and position and the jealous competitiveness and insecurity that portends things to come.  Act Two takes place in 1941 and the dissonance and interdependence of Edith Beale  "little Edie", their mutual love and hate and mirrored psychoses or heightened eccentricity (contingent on gracious you want to be) are on full display.

Hollis Resnik who is one Chicago's most respected actors and musical theater performers takes on a challenge of playing two different personalities in the two different eras. In Act one she is Edith Bouvier Beale and she is every bit the disillusioned and slightly delusional prima donna with no stage on which to perform.  Ignoring the realities of the crumbling relationships around her, she uses Grey Gardens as her venue for performance. Resnik beautifully captures the nuance and angst of Beale's relationship with her daughter, her father, her absent husband and the dilettante pianist who is as much a pet as an accompanist for her singing and dancing performances.  George Keating, another well known and busy Chicago actor, avoids making George Gould Strong a caricature, which would have been possible in the hands of a less talented performer and instead allows him to serve as a mirror for the other characters. Tempe Thomas is the young "little Edie". Thomas' voice and looks work well for the role and her strident struts of perceived independence and neediness, as displayed when her soon to be fiancé Joe Kennedy Jr. decides not to go through with the engagement.  This denouement is triggered by Edith Beale's hyper and inappropriate telling of her daughters escapades and serves as a denouement of the relationship between mother and daughter.

In Act Two Resnik adopts the personae of "little" Edie and Ann Whitney beautifully captures the elder Beale. Resnik, who is a most attractive and agile woman buries herself within the now 56 year old daughter. Her mannerisms and body language tell as much, if not more, than the dialogue, about the mental and emotional state of the woman. 

Grey Gardens is a show that requires careful listening.  Much of the storyline is in the lyrics. This is not a musical where you leave the theater singing any of the songs.  In fact, this writer could not tell you one number that was particularly noteworthy.  Instead the music works like an ensemble, it tells the story and provides the segues from one period to the other capturing the lyrical quality of the pre-world war two period among the shielded wealthy, to the discordant and atonal world inhabited by the Beales during the last  years of the Vietnam Era. Scott Frankel and Michael Korie tells the story of the Beales articulately and with a wonderful mixture of pathos and humor and  in his musical direction Doug Peck, once again, shows a sensitivity and intelligence that is fully captured by the excellent voices of the cast. His interpretations together with the excellent staging and tight direct of BJ Jones bring the periods and personality to life.

Northlight Theatre has, over the past several years, become one of the premier professional venues in a city that has theaters and theater companies on virtually every corner.  With Grey Gardens Northlight, for the most part, again delivers quality theater. The two weakest elements of the product are the performance by Patrick Sarb who presents an inconsistent and superficial imitation of Joe Kennedy and whose discomfort on stage is displayed again in Act Two when he is takes on the role of Jerry a 17 year old boy.  Neither characterization works and distracts from the remainder of the talented cast.  The other weak element is the semi-round theater environment and the way in which the staging plays more to one side and center of the venue.  The full impact of the degradation of the house and the characters is lost if you are sitting to the far stage right or left.  But all of this not withstanding, Grey Gardens is a fascinating snapshot of the dark side of Jackie Kennedy's family and a wonderful psychological study set to music.

Northlight Theatre is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, IL. 

 

 

 

 

 

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