Based on the brilliant documentary film about two decayed Bouvier cousins of Jackie Kennedy, Grey Gardens (book by Doug Wright) gives us a vocal glimpse into a South-Shore Long Island past in 1941 and the life of a wealthy mother (Christine Ebersole) and her daughter (Sara Gettlefinger) who is courted by Joe Kennedy. The voices are excellent, and the lyrics by Michael Korie and music by Scott Frankel give us the real flavor of the forties while being clever and pleasurable. But although I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the songs so well performed, I wasn't really engaged. The almost romance with Joe Kennedy, written here as a prig and a nutless wonder, almost caught me, and John McMartin's lively scene did. And there's even a little dance (staged nicely by Jeff Calhoun). But the entire first act is a setup: establishing character and setting, and not advancing the story until near the end. Act 2, sticking close to the documentary, is a different story. It's 1973, and Ebersole now plays the daughter in an amazing, stylized portrayal giving us the grotesqueness of the reality in the original film. Mary Louise Wilson is now the pitiless mother. It starts as full camp, and becomes heartbreaking, true drama.
The very flexible set by Allen Moyer and costumes by William Ivey Long are also quite different species in Act 2, where they come to full imaginative flower.
In totality, Grey Gardens is a rich, enjoyable theatrical evening with Ebersole's portrayal one that I'll long remember -- it should win her awards.
