'Grey Gardens' gives a sympathetic glimpse of fading aristocrats
Northlight Theatre likes to save the best for last. Having closed 2007 on a high note with its award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Northlight remains true to form, concluding 2008 with BJ Jones and Doug Peck's outstanding Chicago-area premiere of the oddly absorbing "Grey Gardens."
An examination of a mother-daughter dysfunction, "Grey Gardens" centers on faded American aristocrats and endearing eccentrics Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter "Little" Edie Beale, whose knotty relationship is underscored by benign madness and laced with casual cruelties and offhand slights. Yet for all that, the tale of mutual dependence and shared antagonism is not without compassion. The power of the droll, affecting musical by Doug Wright (book), Michael Korie (lyrics) and Scott Frankel (music) rests with its humanity. The oddball Beales - aunt and cousin to Jackie Kennedy and her sister Lee Radziwill - may be larger than life, but they are more than mere caricatures. They are fully formed characters sincerely evoked by A-listers Hollis Resnik and Ann Whitney. Add to that Jones' discerning and respectful direction and Peck's impeccable music direction and you have a powerhouse production that will serve as the yardstick by which subsequent revivals are measured.
"Grey Gardens" was inspired by Albert and David Maysles' 1975 documentary about the former New York society mavens who by then were living in squalor with 52 cats and other assorted critters in their once grand, now ruined East Hampton estate called Grey Gardens.
Set in 1941, the first act plays as a classic mid-century musical-comedy (think "High Society") centered around East Coast aristocrats and their easily resolved misadventures. It opens on the eve of the fictional party where Little Edie (golden-voiced Tempe Thomas) plans to announce her engagement to Joseph Kennedy Jr. (Lisle's Patrick Sarb, every bit the prince-to-be), the first Kennedy scion with presidential ambitions. Presiding over the festivities is the overbearing Edith (Resnik), a failed singer turned society maven who still craves the spotlight. With help from her pianist George (a stylishly sarcastic George Keating) a sponger who maintains his lifestyle by remaining in his hostess' good graces, she insinuates herself into it, to the chagrin of her daughter, the delight of her nieces Jackie and Lee (Grace Etzkorn and Arielle Dayan) and the disapproval of Edith's prickly father Major Bouvier (Dennis Kelly).
But breezy songs like the soft-shoe, mother-daughter duet "Peas in a Pod" and "Marry Well," a grandfather's admonition to granddaughters of their family obligations, give way to more disaffected tunes like "Daddy's Girl" and the reflective "Will You?" that hint at darker days to come.
The quirkiness hinted at in the first act has gone beyond eccentricity to madness in the more poignant second, which unfolds some 30 years later in 1973. Here Edith (Whitney as the still-feisty matriarch) and Little Edie (Resnik) appear as the Maysles found them, living in their dilapidated estate where they're tended to by teenage handyman Jerry (a low-key Sarb as the likable stoner). The act begins with the utterly engaging, "The Revolutionary Costume of Today," Edie's fashion manifesto that reveals this "staunch" woman's defiant streak. It concludes with the wistful "Another Winter in a Summer Town," an ode to middle-age regret in a starkly graceful performance by Resnik as the aging Edie whose delusions provide her only comfort.
Whitney provides formidable competition and Thomas certainly holds her own, but "Grey Gardens" belongs to Resnik. Deeply felt and finely nuanced, it's the kind of performance that could be described as career-making, except that the nine-time Jeff Award winner has several of those to her credit. Count this as one more.
"Grey Gardens"
Location: Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Times: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays (except Nov. 27); 1 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 28. No 7:30 p.m. show Dec. 10; no 7 p.m. show Dec. 7 and 21.
Running time: About 2 hours, 30 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $25-$59
Parking: Free lot adjacent to theater
Box office: (847) 673-6300 or northlight.org
Rating: For teens and older, adult subject matter and language
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=1&type=video&item=216">Clip from 'Grey Gardens'</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>