By Christy Hudson
The Lyric Repertory Company presents Grey Gardens, playing at the Caine Lyric Theatre in Logan, Utah. Grey Gardens is based on the 1976 documentary of the same name by Albert and David Maysles. The music is by Scott Frankel, lyrics are by Michael Korie, and the book is by Doug Wright.
I will admit, I knew nothing about this musical going into the show, nor about the people it is based on. I had no idea what to expect. The stage is not covered by a curtain, but there is a scrim, projecting the image of the outside of the Grey Gardens house. You can faintly see the set of the inside of the house through it. Creaky sound effects play, giving it an ominous feel, and I wondered if somehow it was going to be some kind of scary-movie-type musical, which is not what I was expecting at all.
However, it is definitely not a scary musical. It focuses on Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (more commonly known as Big Edie), and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (or Little Edie). They were members of high society (and could arguably be considered the Kardashians of their time). The show explores their crazy, toxic mother-daughter relationship.
Although the musical is based on the lives of real people, the first half of the musical is not entirely factual. It’s more of an imaginative look of what their lives would have been like at about the time when Big Edie was 47 and Little Edie was 24. It is centered around a celebration of Little Edie’s engagement to Joseph Kennedy, Jr., which did not really happen. The second half is more closely based on their real lives. It takes place in 1973, and it features a lot of the things that were portrayed in the documentary, including dialogue.
The actress that plays Big Edie in Act One is the same actress that plays Little Edie in Act Two. Tamari Dunbar has the tough task of pulling off two different women at different points in their lives. Dunbar makes both of the characters distinct. While both women are pretty manic, they are manic in different ways. Dunbar shows us the self-absorbed, insecure mother who seems determined to sabotage her daughter’s future, and then turns around to give us the daughter 32 years later, after feeling her mother has ruined and wasted her life. Dunbar pulls both of these distinct characters off well. Once you catch on that she has switched which Edie she is playing after the intermission, it is easy to get on board and see her as a completely new person. Her voice is also incredibly beautiful.
Of course, that means there has to be two other actresses to play the Edie’s. Clarissa Boston plays Little Edie in Act One, and Karen Bruestle plays Big Edie in Act Two. Both have powerful soprano voices, and really show us the characters’ descent into madness, of mother and daughter driving each other crazy. I wondered about Boston’s accent in Act One, and I thought it did not really make sense for Little Edie to speak differently than everyone around her. But when we jump to 1973, and she is now being portrayed by Dunbar, the accent makes it a lot easier to distinguish that the two actresses are playing the same character. And Bruestle has a very strong stage presence. Even though she spends the majority of her stage time sitting in bed, she never fades into the background.
The show also features Anna Bodily as Jackie Bouvier and Sophia Call as Lee Bouvier. To me, their characters do not have much to do, but the actresses are engaging. Mitch Shira is Joseph Kennedy, Jr. and Jerry, two extremely different characters. Shira is, however, very convincing in both parts. The show also includes Terrence Goodman as Major Bouvier and Norman Vincent Peale, Trent Dahlin as George Gould Strong, and Christ Mansa as Brooks, Sr. and Brooks, Jr.. All of these actors come back in the second act as the ensemble (and as cats, in one number that randomly makes you feel like you’re watching a production of Cats).
In some of the songs, I felt the words were not always on beat with the music. It can be difficult to tell when you hear music you are not familiar with, so I could be wrong about that. But the voices are strong, and the numbers are well-acted and full of emotion.
Grey Gardens is directed and choreographed by Jim Christian. His production is dramatic and engaging. The show is entirely set at the Grey Gardens, with the main set being the interior of the house. Set designer Spencer Potter and light designer Cole Adams turn the house from a beautiful mansion in the 1940’s into a decrepit, deteriorating landfill that looks like it could be in a 1970’s version of Hoarders.
One of my favorite effects of the show was the use of the scrim, which I mentioned is used to show a projection of the exterior of the house before the show starts. Projection designer Patrick W. Mathis also uses the scrim effect to show the deterioration of the house. When it is brought back during the intermission, animated vines grow over the house, showing the passage of time. By the end, the house is completely covered in vines so that you can’t even see it anymore. It is an impressive effect.
Andrea Davenport designed the costumes for the show. I love the elegant style of the 1940’s, and the costumes are beautiful. Of course, when we get to the second act, the elegance is gone. Little Edie features an unusual ensemble of a tight, short dress, and adds various materials to it throughout the remainder of the show. Act Two opens with her song, “The Revolutionary Costume for Today,” in which she sings about the significance of the outlandish outfit. Big Edie spends much of the second act in bed, wrapped in a sheet that leaves her shoulders and arms bare. Despite her old age, she still wants to believe she is young and beautiful, and she does so by displaying herself in this way.
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The audience at the performance was mainly older. I imagine Grey Gardens was a different experience for me than it was for the other people who were there. I went in knowing nothing about the story. I had never heard of the Grey Gardens, or the Beale’s. I don’t really know how prominent they were as public figures when they were alive. I knew who Jackie Kennedy is, but I didn’t know anything about her background before becoming the First Lady of the United States. There are jokes in the show that went right over my head, but made others laugh. I’m not saying that Grey Gardens can’t be enjoyed by millennials.
I did do some research on Big and Little Edie afterward, because there are things that are referenced in the show that I didn’t entirely understand, which made it a little harder to follow. But the important things, the things they were trying to portray in terms of the characters’ experiences, shined through. The emotions are real and relatable, the frustration Big and Little Edie have at not feeling heard or understood by each other is palpable.
Caine Lyric Theatre’s Grey Gardens has many themes that are relatable today. The themes expressed in the show are still relevant: unfulfilled potential, complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, regret, dreams, and growing old, just to name a few. But I wonder, if I had known a bit more about the people portrayed, I would have understood what was happening a little better. It makes me want to call my own mother and thank her for loving and supporting me all my life, and for not being crazy. Thanks, Mom!
Grey Gardens has some mild language, and some sexual references.
Lyric Repertory Company presents Grey Gardens, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, book by Doug Wright
Caine Lyric Theatre, 28 W Center St, Logan, Utah 84321
June 28-August 3, 2018, 1:00 PM, 7:30 PM
Tickets: $21-$35 Ticketing site
Caine College of the Arts Box Office: 435-797-8022
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