Grey Gardens

Ever since I moved here I wanted to see Grey Gardens - but kept putting it off due to finances. Well, now that I have a job I thought I'd finally go and see it, but the timing is bad because it is the last week and EVERYONE wants to see it now. So the show that was available on TKTS is now being sold out daily, it seemed my only hope would be Stand Room Only tickets. But yesterday, that plan was even thwarted as a lot more people than tickets were already standing in line before I got there after work.

I knew my chances were better before the weekend but also knew that if the crowd was that way on a Tuesday night, my chances weren't good. Do I trudge back over there again Wednesday or just head home? I decided to trudge. Forgetting until I arrived that timing was actually in my favor as the show started at 8pm, not 7pm like Tuesday night. No one was in line yet for Standing Room Only. Since Balcony and SRO seats were the same price I decided to check on Balcony seats first (they aren't available for purchase online, only at the Box Office). They were sold out. I asked about the SRO tix and the lady said to come back around 6:30pm and they'd sell them at 7pm - IF they sold out (that meant that even the premium seat $200+ tix would have to be bought). It was 5:45pm. Remembering the line from yesterday I decided to just stick around. Another person asked about SRO tickets and the ticket lady pointed at me for the line. I was first and I was keeping my fingers crossed.

As I stood there I quickly became the unofficial guide to lines as people weren't sure which was the SRO line and which was the general line. A guy behind me said, "They'd better be paying you to do that." Har - if only. Another gal stepped in front of me, starting the cancellation line. There's not a lot of room in the lobby of the Kerr Theater so it was easy to get confused about lines and the more people that piled in the steamier (as in humid) it got in there.

I over heard one lady trying to get tickets for her and a friend that wasn't there yet. She was just shy of having enough money. I asked how much she was short, thinking I could help her out so she could get her tickets now and then (hopefully) get money from her friend later. She said not to worry about it (as another person standing in line was offering to help too) and that she was embarrassed. Of course, making her feel embarrassed was not my intent - I just knew I'd appreciate it if someone did that for me!

About 10 til 7pm, a man appeared and said there would be SRO tix available. Woo-Hoo!

My view of the stage was partially cut off at the top due to the balcony overhang but the distance from the stage wasn't bad at all.

Christine Ebersole certainly earned her Tony! The vocal ranges in the songs were all over the place - not to mention the dual roles she had to play.

I had heard from those that had seen it that the connection between the acts wasn't totally cohesive. As the first is put together more like a traditional musical and the second is inspired by the documentary so there's lots of talking to the audience. But yet the story does tie the two acts together - using characters from the past as "ghost-like" figures in the "present" of the second act (it takes place in the 70s.) A touch that I thought was well executed.

I REALLY wanted to see the documentary the musical is inspired by before the show but that didn't happen. Now I MUST see it!

It is truly a sad story, but a wonderfully performed show. Of course, the song that Ebersole performed at the Tony's is the highlight. But her performance of "Around the World" is what truly captures the sadness of what became of Grey Gardens and those that lived there.

Although I didn't stick around to meet Ebersole and get her autograph, during her curtain call she struck me as a truly genuine person and I was impressed with how she seemed to keep her character fresh after all those performances. Although I know that Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson are the featured actors I think that Erin Davie - who played Young Little Edie should have been up there with them on the final bow as she was just as much a contributor to the show/plotline as Wilson (Wilson only appeared in the 2nd Act, Davie was in the 1st and played "ghost" in the 2nd) was. But who am I? ;)