"Grey Gardens," reading

So, today was a really fun day. After class, I went to midtown and snagged me a front row ticket to the third preview of Grey Gardens, a new musical based on the documentary film.

Between getting the rush ticket and the show, I hung out in Starbucks for a pretty long time reading On Liberty by John Stuart Mill for my Foundations of Journalism class. It's a wonderful book so far, and I'll post quotes and further thoughts on it later when I've finished.

Anyway, so the show was absolutely amazing. I'd heard a lot of positive reactions last year when the show was at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway, and I enjoyed the CD without being overly enthusiastic about it, but seeing the show just bowled me over. The entire cast was just wonderful, the score was great, and the show managed to have a nice balance between comedy and drama, which is something I always enjoy.

The show is based on the 1970s documentary Grey Gardens, which follows two aging socialites Big Edith and Little Edie Bouvier Beale in their dilapidated Hamptons mansion, Grey Gardens. The first act explains how the two women came to be recluses, and the second act mostly mirrors the movie.

The highlight in this evening full of highlights was Christine Ebersole, who took on the role of Big Edie in Act One and Little Edie in Act Two. I hugely resent the overwhelmingly common act of giving a standing ovation based on simply liking a performance rather than finding it one of the few special performances you've witnessed, but I have to say I was itching to stand at the end of the curtain call, because she gave such a stunningly nuanced peformance.

Since there wasn't much wrong with the show, I have so much less to say about it. I was just in a place today where I needed something to erase the bizarre memories of The Times They Are A-Changin', and Grey Gardens did just the trick.