I wish I had more time to fully process and report on Grey Gardens: The Musical, which we saw last night at Playwright’s Horizons. Basically, this: they nailed it. The elements of the show meant to be mimicry felt as if the film had simply blasted into three dimensions before our eyes. Smartly, the show extends and dramatizes plot elements hinted at in the film — it almost feels like a discovered new 90 minutes of extra scenes. The story is basically the same; some blanks are filled in, but the main mysteries remain. The transition works, here, because they didn’t go for easy jokes; “Grey Gardens,” despite its many side-splitting moments, has always been a tragedy concerning two women who love and hate indiscriminately as well as the sick poisoning of blue blood. So I was pleased, in a way, at just how straight the show is — the whole first act is, as the writers noted, “subversively traditional.” (But don’t worry, Big Edie does belt out a lovely ballad called “Jerry Likes The Way I Do My Corn.” Now that’s revolutionary.)
