| Grey Gardens | |
|---|---|
Cover of Broadway original cast recording of Grey Gardens |
|
| Music | Scott Frankel |
| Lyrics | Michael Korie |
| Book | Doug Wright |
| Basis | 1975 Documentary Grey Gardens |
| Productions | 2006 Off-Broadway 2006 Broadway |
Grey Gardens is an American musical with book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie, based on the 1975 documentary of the same title about the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") by Albert and David Maysles. The Beales were Jacqueline Kennedy's aunt and cousin, respectively. Set at Grey Gardens, the Bouviers' mansion in East Hampton, New York, the musical tracks the progression of their lives from their original status as rich and socially polished aristocrats to their eventual largely isolated existence in a home overrun by cats and cited for repeated health code violations. However, its more central purpose is to untangle the complicated dynamics of their dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship.
The show takes place in two acts, the first of which is a speculative take on what their lives might have been like in their glory days and the second of which hews closely to the 1975 documentary in its portrayal of their lives in later years. In the first act, which takes place in 1941, Little Edie is 24 and Big Edie is 47; in the second act, taking place in 1973, Little Edie is 56 and Big Edie is 79. The same actress who plays Big Edie in the first act plays Little Edie in the second act.
Contents |
The musical opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on February 10, 2006 and ran through April 30, 2006. Directed by Michael Greif with choreography by Jeff Calhoun, it starred Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, and John McMartin.
It received mixed reviews, but attracted particularly good reviews for Ebersole and Wilson. It earned five Lucille Lortel Award nominations and twelve Drama Desk Award nominations. The Off-Broadway cast album was released on August 22, 2006. Christine Ebersole received the Obie Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle, and the Drama League Award for Performance of the Year for her dual roles of Edith and Edie Beale in the Off-Broadway production of Grey Gardens.
The show opened, with some revisions, on Broadway on November 2, 2006 at the Walter Kerr Theatre and closed on July 29, 2007, after 307 performances and 33 previews.
The Broadway production was enthusiastically received by the critics. Time Magazine named Grey Gardens as the Number One show of 2006.[1] The production was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2007, winning three, including awards for both Ebersole and Wilson in leading and featured actress categories, respectively.
The Original Broadway Cast album was released on March 27, 2007 through PS Classics. It was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
A documentary, Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway, about the making of the musical, was screened on October 18, 2007, at the Hamptons International Film Festival Long Island,[2] and was later shown on television on PBS stations.
Prologue (1973)
| Off-Broadway | Broadway |
|---|---|
| Prologue (1973) | |
| "Toyland" — Edith & Edie | "The Girl Who Has Everything" — Edith & Edie |
| Act One (1941) | |
| "The Five-Fifteen" — Edith, Gould, Brooks, Jackie, Lee | "The Five-Fifteen" — Edith, Gould, Brooks, Jackie, Lee |
| "Body Beautiful Beale" — Gould, Edith, Brooks, Edie, Jackie, Lee, Joe | |
| "Mother, Darling" — Edie, Edith, Gould | "Mother, Darling" — Edie, Edith, Gould |
| "Better Fall Out of Love" — Joe & Edie | "Going Places" — Joe & Edie |
| "Being Bouvier" — Major Bouvier, Brooks, Jackie, Lee, Edie | "Marry Well" — Major Bouvier, Brooks, Jackie, Lee, Edie |
| "Hominy Grits" — Edith, Gould, Jackie, Lee | "Hominy Grits" — Edith, Gould, Jackie, Lee |
| "Peas in a Pod" — Edie & Edith | "Peas in a Pod" — Edie & Edith |
| "Drift Away" — Gould & Edith | "Drift Away" — Gould & Edith |
| "The Five-Fifteen" (reprise) — Edith | "The Five-Fifteen" (reprise) — Edith |
| "Tomorrow's Woman" — Edie, Jackie, Lee | |
| "Daddy's Girl" — Edie & Joe | "Daddy's Girl" — Edie & Joe |
| "Being Bouvier" (reprise) — Major Bouvier, Jackie, Lee | |
| "The Telegram" — Edie & Edith | "The Telegram" — Edie & Edith |
| "Will You?" — Edith | "Will You?" — Edith |
| Act Two (1973) | |
| "The Revolutionary Costume for Today" — Edie | "The Revolutionary Costume for Today" — Edie |
| "The Cake I Had" — Edith & Edie | "The Cake I Had" — Edith & Edie |
| "Entering Grey Gardens" — Company | "Entering Grey Gardens" — Company |
| "The House We Live In" — Edie & Company | "The House We Live In" — Edie & Company |
| "Jerry Likes My Corn" — Edith & Edie | "Jerry Likes My Corn" — Edith & Edie |
| "Around the World" — Edie | "Around the World" — Edie |
| "Choose to Be Happy" — Norman Vincent Peale & Company | "Choose to Be Happy" — Norman Vincent Peale & Company |
| "Around the World" (reprise) — Edie | "Around the World" (reprise) — Edie |
| "Another Winter in a Summer Town" — Edie & Edith | "Another Winter in a Summer Town" — Edie & Edith |
| "Peas in a Pod" (reprise) — Edith & Edie | "The Girl Who Has Everything" (reprise) — Edith & Edie |
According to an article in Playbill.com (November 21, 2007), composer Scott Frankel said there are no plans for a national tour based on the 2006-07 Broadway production, but "Dramatists Play Service, Inc. is handling the show's licensing to stock, amateur, university and resident theatres. Independent productions will start playing in those markets in 2008." [3]
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Theatre World Award | Erin Davie | Won | |
| Tony Award | Best Musical | Nominated | ||
| Best Book of a Musical | Doug Wright | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | Scott Frankel and Michael Korie | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Christine Ebersole | Won | ||
| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Mary Louise Wilson | Won | ||
| Best Direction of a Musical | Michael Greif | Nominated | ||
| Best Orchestrations | Bruce Coughlin | Nominated | ||
| Best Scenic Design | Allen Moyer | Nominated | ||
| Best Costume Design | William Ivey Long | Won | ||
| Best Lighting Design | Peter Kaczorowski | Nominated | ||
| 2008 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Show Album | Nominated | |