Not to be missed, ‘Grey Gardens’ is extraordinary, deeply touching
By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic
For playwright and book-writer Doug Wright, nothing beats reality for subject matter. Following his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning “I Am My Own Wife,” based on face-to-face research with German transsexual Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Wright next wrote the book for the musical “Grey Gardens” based on a 1975 documentary about the reclusive Beales of East Hampton, Long Island. Then, he used a film documentary for the La Jolla Playhouse-sprung musical “Hands on a Hardbody,” still playing on Broadway.
A splendid production of “Grey Gardens” continues at ion theatre company through April 28. The theater is small and the emotions are huge, due to the performances of Linda Libby, Annie Hinton and Charlene Koepf, all as the Beale mother and daughter. Part of the wealthy Bouvier family, “Big” Edith Bouvier Beale and “Little” Edie Beale were Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and her sister Lee Bouvier Radzewill’s aunt and cousin, respectively.
Following a prologue set in 1973, playgoers are privy to happier days in 1941 when Grey Gardens, built in 1897, was filled with gaiety. Big Edith (Libby in Act I) had been an amateur singer-performer before marrying the wealthy Phelan Beale, a financier and lawyer in her father’s law firm. Three decades later the divorced mother and her daughter were discovered living in squalor in the filthy and dilapidated 14-room East Hampton “cottage” known as Grey Gardens.
In Act I Little Edie (Koepf) and her fiancé, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. (Charles Evans), await the arrival of guests for a festive party to announce their engagement. They hope to persuade Edith (Libby) not to entertain along with her boozy, gay, live-in accompanist – “We didn’t have a black sheep of our own so we imported one” – who is played by Ruff Yeager in a riotously understated performance. Edith contrives for the arch conservative Kennedy to learn of Edie’s wild college escapades. Kennedy breaks off the engagement just as the guests arrive, killing Edie’s hopes of escape. Disgusted with Edith, Edie leaves for Manhattan to break into show business.
Act II is set in 1973, when Edie (now played by Libby) is 56 and her mother (now Hinton) is 79. These two women are truly wondrous singers. Edith, who hasn’t left the house for many years, has taken to her bed and is grudgingly attended by Edie. Edith, who subsists on “pâté” and canned soup, is visited by an awestruck teenage boy (Evans), who not only finds her record and record player, but also finds the old woman enchanting. Other actors from Act I (including Yeager, Koepf, Kevane La’Marr Coleman, Emma Rasse, Lou Rasse and Ralph Johnson) appear in Edith and Edie’s hallucinations. The final scene is a humdinger, one of those magical moments never to be forgotten.
The women’s physical and mental disarray and the rancor of their ongoing love-hate relationship are pitiable and funny even though portrayed in something akin to vaudeville style in Act II.
Hinton, Libby and Yeager are consummate actor-singers and beautifully cast anchors for Wright, Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie’s (lyrics) extraordinary, deeply touching musical. They are supported by Wendy Thompson on keyboards and Yeager on the onstage baby grand. The music director is Janie Prim.
Erick Sundquist’s upside down, sideways and backwards costumes add pathos and humor with wigs and makeup by Courtney Fox Smith; Michael Mizerany’s choreography evokes character and period; Karin Filijan’s lighting enhances the mood, and Claudio Raygoza’s set is a mini-miracle as detailed by David Medina’s props.
The biggest asset, other than music and lyrics, may be Kim Strassburger’s loving and canny direction. Do not miss this show.
“Grey Gardens”
WHERE: ion theatre company, 3704 Sixth Ave. (Hillcrest)
WHEN: Thurs. – Sat. at 8 p.m., and Sat. at 4 p.m. through April 20.
INFO: 619-600-5020
WEB: iontheatre.com
