Grey Gardens Review
By: Delaney Brewer and Lindsey Zinbarg
Grey Gardens, a melancholy riches-to-rags tale, documents the lives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ relatives, Little Edie and Edith Beale. The story, a documentary-turned-film-turned-musical, delves deeply into the mother-daughter duo’s lives and into the reasoning behind their demise and eventual mental illness. The film, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, begins with a flashback of when the pair lived lavishly, with a vacation home in the Hamptons affectionately called “Grey Gardens.”
It spotlights for only a brief moment the future Jacqueline Kennedy, who in the film is but a young child. Little Edie is desperate to escape to New York and become an actress, but her mother continuously pulls her back. After her parents’ divorce, Little Edie is forced to come to terms with the fact that her lonely and unstable mother needs help and leaves her rising career as an actress in New York. As the two get older and poorer, they also become mentally ill, with Edith taking in stray animals and Little Edie constantly resentful about the life she could have had.
The musical, performed by the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre at the Arthur Miller Theater March 8, further displays the Beale women’s lavish young lives. With a greater emphasis on Edie’s attempts to escape her mother’s controlling grasps, it becomes clear how desperately she wanted her own life. In addition, young Jacqueline makes quite a few appearances, and the audience was able to get a better feel for her than they do while watching the film.
With such an intriguing story, it is hard to do wrong. The tragic tale of two women, both trapped in their own ways, is surprisingly interlaced with humor. Little Edie’s increasingly exaggerated accent, paired with her exasperated lines creates the perfect atmosphere for much-needed wit. There are a number of memorable lines throughout the play. One of our favorites: “If you can’t get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.”
The acting in the musical was well done, especially during the second half of the play. The emotions played by these actors felt genuine and is something many community theater productions miss. The intimate setting of the Arthur Miller Theater made it feel as though you were sitting in the living room of Grey Gardens, rather than watching the actions from afar.
While the first act touched on the happier side of the relationship, the second act was much grittier and showed Big and Little Edie at their worst. You could see that their minds, bodies, and surroundings were falling apart right before their eyes.
We really enjoyed the play, but the movie conveyed the story better overall. But it had on its side Hollywood producers, directors, and successful actors. We decided to give the play three and a half stars, because for a community theatre production it was very well done. We recommend seeing the movie, Grey Gardens, as well as the musical if the opportunity arises. The tale of the Beales is simply too good to miss.
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