Grey Gardens: If Ever I Would Leave You

I daresay if Christine Ebersole were born somewhere around the beginning of the 20^th Century, there may have been at least one or two Broadway stars whose careers might not have surpassed the point of serving pancakes at Child's. She is the reining queen of fizz and effervescent high comedy when there isn't much of the monarchy left to rule. With her ability to play erudite while remaining loveable, her exquisite phrasing of lyrics and her finesse with clever dialogue, her career would no doubt have flourished in the Broadway of Phillip Barry, George S. Kaufman and Noel Coward. Can you imagine what Cole Porter songs she might have introduced? Alas, there is little demand for such talents in today's Broadway and though she is a Tony-winning popular star, there's never been a vehicle for her to truly showcase her extraordinary talents.

Till now.

In the new Off-Broadway musical, Grey Gardens, Christine Ebersole has what is certainly the most perfectly matched starring role of her career. If this unusual and admirable new musical had nothing else to offer, it is a must-see for the experience of witnessing the elegance, daffiness, intelligence and empathy she displays. This is a musical comedy star performance. I never saw Merman. I never saw Drake. Thank goodness we have Ebersole around in a role that does her justice.

Not that all is completely well with the new offering at Playwrights Horizons. An absolutely yummy first act is followed by a second that contains many splendid moments that never quite jell into a unit that takes the audience anywhere.

The unusual source for this one is David and Albert Maysles' 1975 documentary, Grey Gardens, a cult favorite about two reclusive relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The East Hampton mansion known as Grey Gardens was once the fabulous home of society A-Lister Edith Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and her daughter, the social resister darling known as Little Edie, aunt and first cousin to Jackie O. In 1941, Little Edie's intended engagement to Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. was dissolved under mysterious circumstances. Thirty years later, the Suffolk County Board of Health was threatening to evict the two ladies from their now dilapidated home, unheated, cluttered with mountains of garbage, flea infested, and inhabited by over fifty cats with not a litter box in sight. It became a national scandal that the former first lady declined to discuss, calling it a private family matter, while giving monetary assistance to bring Grey Gardens up to minimal standards. The eccentricities of these two fiercely independent ladies, 58 and 81 years of age at the time of shooting, helped the film achieve a loyal following.

After a brief prologue, bookwriter Doug Wright sets act one in cleanlier times. The fictitious first half of the musical is based on true events, many of which were referred to in the film. It's the day when the engagement of Edie (Sara Gettelfinger) to Joe, Jr. (Matt Cavenaugh) is to be announced, but on the day when her daughter should be the center of attention, Edith (Ebersole) is planning a full cabaret act's worth of songs to perform as a little entertainment for the party. That is pretty much the extent of the plot, as this expository act simply introduces us to the tense mother/daughter relationship and suggests a reason why the marriage never occurred.

But if nothing much happens, it's still done deliciously. Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie (lyrics) have written an old-school American Songbook score with words and melodies that will have you thinking, "That's the Cole Porter list song… That's the Noel Coward number… There's the Berlin ballad…" Gettelfinger is nicely cool as Edie, showing her sunny side with youngsters Sarah Hyland and Audrey Twitchell (both fine as Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier), and Cavanaugh plays his handsome charm with style.

Many juicy bon mots are tossed by Bob Stillman, who is wonderful as the gay songwriter George Gould Strong (on seeing Cavenaugh: "Somewhere in Greece there's a pedestal missing its statue."), the source of Edith's romantic frustration. He and Ebersole are quite touching together.

John McMartin is a crusty hoot as the elder Bouvier and Michael Potts, as their black servant, reacts perfectly while watching Edith and the kids rehearsing the racially insensitive (but hilariously bad in context) "(All God's Chillin Love) Hominy Grits."

Under Michael Grief's direction, with very effective musical staging by Jeff Calhoun, the first act is breezy, clever fun with a slightly acidic current underneath. If, like me, you have not seen the film, the second half of Grey Gardens may be a bit of a letdown, but fans of the documentary may get much more out of seeing their favorite moments musicalized. Indeed those cheering wildly for a strikingly different looking Ebersole making an entrance in a slapped-together ensemble she calls, in song, "The Revolutionary Costume For Today" were certainly laughing with recognition. But the song's a comic winner and her delivery of it is hilarious, even for those out of the know.

This time Ebersole is playing Little Edie, 30 years later, with Mary Louise Wilson now the elderly Edith. There's even less plot here. As in the documentary (so I'm told) the second act is simply a snapshot of what the ladies have become. Allen Moyer's set, so stylish and attractive in act one, is replaced by pieces that don't come close to suggesting the horrendous state the home must have been in.

There are individually fine moments in this act, such as Wilson's amusing little song "Jerry Likes My Corn", sung to a visitor (Cavenaugh) as she serves him up a snack, and anytime the ladies lash out to each other in love/hate fashion, but the main problem here is that Ebersole's older Little Edie, while tremendous fun, is in no way recognizable as the character Gettlelfinger played before her. Likewise, there's no firm connection between Wilson's Edith and Ebersole's.

And yet the final moments, when Edith considers a life-changing decision, are played so sublimely that no matter what flaws Grey Gardens has, the artistry of Christine Ebersole can keep you enraptured through it all.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Christine Ebersole and Bob Stillman

Center: Bob Stillman, Christine Ebersole, Matt Cavenaugh, Sarah Hyland, John McMartin, Audrey Twitchell, Sara Gettelfinger and Michael Potts

Bottom: Mary Louise Wilson