Grey Gardens original Broadway cast album on CD

This story, the musical telling it, the documentary film the musical is based on, and the Tony Award-winning performance of Christine Ebersole all drove me to pick this cast album out of the bin at the library. While I knew some of the story and had heard one song (which Ms. Ebersole had performed on the Tonys), I was unprepared to be so taken with Grey Gardens. The story, score, and lyrics are all compelling and very well written. Ms. Ebersole's singing ability is tremendous, and I'm only sorry that I didn't see her performance; I suspect her acting was as good as her singing.

The story surrounds Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter "Little" Edie, of the socially prominent Bouvier family--as in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis, who was Edie's younger cousin. Most of Act One takes place in 1941, as Edie is set to marry Joseph Kennedy, Jr. before he is sent off to battle in WWII. Edie is desperate to escape from her attention-demanding and extrovert mother, Edith (played by Ebersole). The marriage does not happen and Edie becomes trapped in the Hampton's home she and her mother share, called Grey Gardens.

Act Two takes place in 1973 as Edith and Edie are in jeopardy of being homeless as Grey Gardens has become very run-down and overrun by cats, and is about to be condemned. Mother Edith is still attention-demanding and now bed-ridden. Edie, now in her 50s, has spent her life in isolation at Grey Gardens, tending to (and always in the shadow of) her mother. Act Two Edie is played by Ebersole.

The music for this show is particularly wonderful, offering pastiche big band and Gershwin-like songs (appropriate to the 40s era) along with character songs that have a slightly Sondheim-esque feel to them. My favorite song of the score has to be "Another Winter in a Summer Town" which Edie sings near the end of the show. If there is another song which so completely captures longing, disappointment, and resignation I can't think of it now. The music, lyrics, and primarily Ms. Ebersole's singing of it, combine to make a very poignant and touching close to the show.

The credits on the Internet Broadway Database differ from the credits on the cast album for the role of the Act One younger "Little" Edie. The album lists Sara Gettelfinger, while the database lists Erin Davie. Inquiring minds want to know why.

This was composer Scott Frankel's first musical to be mounted on Broadway. I'm certain it won't be his last. I don't know if there are plans for Grey Gardens to tour. It closed on Broadway after only 308 performances. Whether it tours or is allowed to be mounted by a Chicago-based company, I look forward to having the opportunity to see this show.

Grey Gardens
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie
Book by Doug Wright
Cast: Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, Matt Cavanaugh, John McMartin, Sara Gettelfinger