- . Digg It
- . Sphere It
- . E-mail This
- . Save to del.icio.us
- . Permanent Link
Grey Gardens' Swan Song
"Grey Gardens" leaves a mark on the Great White Way
If you have plans to take in the award-winning Broadway musical Grey Gardens, you'd better hustle. The production, which officially opened in New York City last November, will close on July 29 — but not without leaving a pretty memorable mark on the Great White Way.
Based on the 1976 film documentary of the same title, Grey Gardens follows the bizarre but fascinating true tale of aged East Hampton socialite Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale as the two charmingly demented, appallingly co-dependant women ramble around in their moldering-to-the-ground East Hampton mansion. Once card-carrying members of the Bouvier clan elite (Big Edie was Jackie O's aunt, Little Edie her cousin), the Beales withdraw from social life, and society in general, until they are oblivious to everything but the wild raccoons and feral cats that take up residence in their once stately home.
The film, directed by Albert and David Maysles, Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde, has become an underground sensation since its release – turning the real life Beales (both now deceased) into cult heroes and Little Edie in particular, with her oddball, homemade "costumes," into an unlikely fashion icon. The Broadway production follows the Beales from their days mixing with Long Island's hoi polloi through their descent into isolation and strangely blissful madness.
If you miss the final days of the musical, definitely track down the film. It pre-dates reality T.V. by about 20 years and is truly nuts. The Beales make the Osbournes look like the Osmonds.
Based on the 1976 film documentary of the same title, Grey Gardens follows the bizarre but fascinating true tale of aged East Hampton socialite Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale as the two charmingly demented, appallingly co-dependant women ramble around in their moldering-to-the-ground East Hampton mansion. Once card-carrying members of the Bouvier clan elite (Big Edie was Jackie O's aunt, Little Edie her cousin), the Beales withdraw from social life, and society in general, until they are oblivious to everything but the wild raccoons and feral cats that take up residence in their once stately home.
The film, directed by Albert and David Maysles, Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde, has become an underground sensation since its release – turning the real life Beales (both now deceased) into cult heroes and Little Edie in particular, with her oddball, homemade "costumes," into an unlikely fashion icon. The Broadway production follows the Beales from their days mixing with Long Island's hoi polloi through their descent into isolation and strangely blissful madness.
If you miss the final days of the musical, definitely track down the film. It pre-dates reality T.V. by about 20 years and is truly nuts. The Beales make the Osbournes look like the Osmonds.
What People Are Saying…
Leave a Comment