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Actresses Without A Stage, On Stage
By LINDSAY WARNER, For The Bulletin
The real-life character of Edith Bouvier Beale is too often faulted for the disgrace of the Beale family estate, and of her own daughter, Edie.
“You have become that most pitiable of creatures: an actress without a stage,” says Major Bouvier to Edith, castigating his daughter for their dysfunctional family dynamics. Yet one can argue that the blatant disregard shown by Edith’s father and by Edith’s absent husband toward her talent and character is the true cause for blame in the musical Grey Gardens, on stage at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre through June 28.
The infamous story of the Beales, originally immortalized in the 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, is told here with an expanded ticket of songs performed by two of the most tragic divas to have ever graced the high-society circles of New York.
The true story of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie, aunt and cousin to Jackie Bouvier Kennedy and keepers of the immense mansion Grey Gardens, is recited in whispers: Two formerly wealthy Kennedy relatives end up the sole occupants of a dilapidated, filthy mansion unfit for habitation, carrying on in a manner that suggests mental instability and possible insanity. The newspapers were relentless when the Board of Health discovered them in 1973, house-bound and living amid a sea of feral cats, opossums, raccoons and cans of cat food piled 5 feet high.
The potential to dramatize the already eccentric story proved irresistible, resulting in the film and this musical derivation, which premiered on Broadway in 2007. Both women at one time desired roles on the Broadway stage; Edith (Hollis Resnik) gave as many local concerts and recitals as possible, and Edie (Kim Carson) pursued an unsuccessful career in New York City. Yet while the singing and dancing for which Edith and Little Edie were known is certainly an integral part of the story, it is a disservice here to trivialize their tragic fall with the treatment of a stage musical.
Most unfortunate, however, is the disjointed manner in which Doug Wright (book), Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie (lyrics) approach the story. The first half teems with song and dance, showcasing the dramatic Edith using the stage to assert independence over her erstwhile husband and her popular daughter, who is briefly engaged to Joseph Patrick Kennedy. Edith intends to steal the glory at Edie’s own engagement party with a full docket of opera and stage tunes, accompanied by her live-in accompanist George (Todd Almond), and these snippets of song are fantastic — she pulls from the dreaded repertoire of established concert pieces, and her vocal cavorting perfectly evokes the life of an indulged socialite. Edie too, when pressed by her mother, contributes several wonderful concert ditties, among them the cheery little “Peas in a Pod.” Here, the musical side of the script fits in seamlessly.
When music is engaged to enhance the story, rather than accompany it, Grey Gardens falls to pieces in a melodramatic, overly sensitized mess that only increases in volume, not pathos, the closer the women inch toward insanity. Grown Edie, now played by Ms. Resnik, belts out a passionate swan song (“Around the World”) just moments after Edith, played by Joy Franz in the second act, sings a little ditty about corn on the cob. While the intention is surely to show the varying stages of madness and despair the two women endure, the disparity between the two ranges merely alienates in its bizarre approach.
While such jarring moments occur with too-frequent regularity during the second half, it’s impossible to ignore the extremely fine performances by the entire cast, especially that of Ms. Resnik, whose tortured Grizabella face is haunting in its trapped desperation. Ms. Resnik, both as Edith in Act I and as Little Edie in Act II, is fully aware of her neuroticisms and failings, yet is unable to either face up to them or run away. Truly, she is trapped in Grey Gardens, projecting her woeful emotional needs to an empty stage, an uncaring husband and an audience that doesn’t care.
Sadly trivialized throughout too much of the musical version, the mother-daughter bond that is at the heart of this strange story still prevails in the moments where Ms. Resnik, Ms. Carson and even Ms. Franz are permitted to transmit the inherent emotions of their characters. A fantastic set by David Zinn, with lights by Matthew Richards, achieves much with few set changes, aided by projection-lighting designs by Jorge Cousineau. Appropriately sparse until the audience is treated to the full squalor of the Act II Grey Gardens, the story comes alive through its proximity to real life. If only the music also reflected the fine line one walks between society’s finest and poverty’s dearest.
Lindsay Warner can be reached at culture@lindsaywarner.net
“You have become that most pitiable of creatures: an actress without a stage,” says Major Bouvier to Edith, castigating his daughter for their dysfunctional family dynamics. Yet one can argue that the blatant disregard shown by Edith’s father and by Edith’s absent husband toward her talent and character is the true cause for blame in the musical Grey Gardens, on stage at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre through June 28.
The infamous story of the Beales, originally immortalized in the 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, is told here with an expanded ticket of songs performed by two of the most tragic divas to have ever graced the high-society circles of New York.
The true story of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie, aunt and cousin to Jackie Bouvier Kennedy and keepers of the immense mansion Grey Gardens, is recited in whispers: Two formerly wealthy Kennedy relatives end up the sole occupants of a dilapidated, filthy mansion unfit for habitation, carrying on in a manner that suggests mental instability and possible insanity. The newspapers were relentless when the Board of Health discovered them in 1973, house-bound and living amid a sea of feral cats, opossums, raccoons and cans of cat food piled 5 feet high.
The potential to dramatize the already eccentric story proved irresistible, resulting in the film and this musical derivation, which premiered on Broadway in 2007. Both women at one time desired roles on the Broadway stage; Edith (Hollis Resnik) gave as many local concerts and recitals as possible, and Edie (Kim Carson) pursued an unsuccessful career in New York City. Yet while the singing and dancing for which Edith and Little Edie were known is certainly an integral part of the story, it is a disservice here to trivialize their tragic fall with the treatment of a stage musical.
Most unfortunate, however, is the disjointed manner in which Doug Wright (book), Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie (lyrics) approach the story. The first half teems with song and dance, showcasing the dramatic Edith using the stage to assert independence over her erstwhile husband and her popular daughter, who is briefly engaged to Joseph Patrick Kennedy. Edith intends to steal the glory at Edie’s own engagement party with a full docket of opera and stage tunes, accompanied by her live-in accompanist George (Todd Almond), and these snippets of song are fantastic — she pulls from the dreaded repertoire of established concert pieces, and her vocal cavorting perfectly evokes the life of an indulged socialite. Edie too, when pressed by her mother, contributes several wonderful concert ditties, among them the cheery little “Peas in a Pod.” Here, the musical side of the script fits in seamlessly.
When music is engaged to enhance the story, rather than accompany it, Grey Gardens falls to pieces in a melodramatic, overly sensitized mess that only increases in volume, not pathos, the closer the women inch toward insanity. Grown Edie, now played by Ms. Resnik, belts out a passionate swan song (“Around the World”) just moments after Edith, played by Joy Franz in the second act, sings a little ditty about corn on the cob. While the intention is surely to show the varying stages of madness and despair the two women endure, the disparity between the two ranges merely alienates in its bizarre approach.
While such jarring moments occur with too-frequent regularity during the second half, it’s impossible to ignore the extremely fine performances by the entire cast, especially that of Ms. Resnik, whose tortured Grizabella face is haunting in its trapped desperation. Ms. Resnik, both as Edith in Act I and as Little Edie in Act II, is fully aware of her neuroticisms and failings, yet is unable to either face up to them or run away. Truly, she is trapped in Grey Gardens, projecting her woeful emotional needs to an empty stage, an uncaring husband and an audience that doesn’t care.
Sadly trivialized throughout too much of the musical version, the mother-daughter bond that is at the heart of this strange story still prevails in the moments where Ms. Resnik, Ms. Carson and even Ms. Franz are permitted to transmit the inherent emotions of their characters. A fantastic set by David Zinn, with lights by Matthew Richards, achieves much with few set changes, aided by projection-lighting designs by Jorge Cousineau. Appropriately sparse until the audience is treated to the full squalor of the Act II Grey Gardens, the story comes alive through its proximity to real life. If only the music also reflected the fine line one walks between society’s finest and poverty’s dearest.
Lindsay Warner can be reached at culture@lindsaywarner.net
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