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GREY GARDENS AT THE NORTHLIGHT THEATRE
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Hollis Resnik as little Edie and Ann Whitney as big Edith Beale
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FROM EAST HAMPTON TO BROADWAY, AND BROADWAY TO SKOKIE, IL
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by Robb Brawn
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From East Hampton to Broadway, and from Broadway to The Northlight Theatre in Skokie IL, Grey Gardens The Musical continues to entertain. I have recently had the pleasure of speaking with Director BJ Jones, Musical Director, Doug Peck, and one of the show's leads, Hollis Resnik, who's rendition of Revolutionary Costume you are hearing on this page (don't hear the sound ?? Turn up the volume !)
For me, speaking with these talented people has been a wonderful learning experience, as was the case when discussing in detail the show with it's lyricist, Michael Korie. My personal experience with musical theater is rather limited, so I find it even more fascinating to learn the challenges this specific cast and crew had to deal with in bringing a Tony Award winning Broadway musical to a much smaller venue.
So, for all lovers of musical theater, and especially those devoted Grey Gardens fans, I am very happy to add this section on The Northlight Theatre's production of Grey Gardens as a permanent part of our mygreygardens.com web site
In speaking with director, BJ Jones, one is immediately aware of the excitement in which he speaks of this production. This same excitement ran consistent in my conversations with Mr Peck and Ms Resnik. "I've received more phone calls and emails on this show, than any I ever have" BJ told me, adding that normally, he doesn't really attend many of the performances of a production during the run, or at least not entire performances anyway. This was not the case however with Grey Gardens, as he attended more of it's performances than any other show he had directed. Fairly unfamiliar with the Mysles Brother's documentary, having "possibly having found it rather troubling and turning it off the first time he viewed it, found himself years later watching The Musical in New York in previews. "I knew it was something I thought would be right for Northlight, but at the time didn't see myself as the director". BJ may not have seen it, but it appears those around him did, and he took on the project. He cast the show, immediately knowing Hollis Resnek, who he had already worked with, would be his first choice for the duel lead role of Big and Little Edie Beale. BJ explained that a unique feature of this production is the fact that in the lobby, they had video clips and pictures related to Grey Gardens, and that during intermission, patrons were lined up three deep to get a view ! Personally, I think this was great idea, because even though I really do think the show can stand by itself, it's the background of the real story that makes it all that much more entertaining.
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"We basically had a totally different audience than that of the Broadway Production. We really tried to study the turn abouts in both of the Edies characters and concentrate on that. The cast "got it", so it worked." BJ indicated that a major challenge was the set. The theater, which seats less than 400, is configured much differently than a broadway theater, with the stage being extremely close, actually projecting right into the audience.
Major challenge or not, set director, John Culbert, who serves as the dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University, did a brilliant job in constructing the most elaborate set Northernlights has had to date. Check out pictures of the building of the set as well as other pictures by photographer Michael Brosilow by clicking "slideshow" on the menu to the right.
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I totally enjoyed my conversation with Musical director, Doug Peck. Doug has known about Grey Gardens for quite some time, and as per Doug, his partner is quite the expert ! I understood his challenges of "reducing" the score from the original broadway score much more than the complicated logistical challenges of "shrinking" the whole production to a smaller venue. Doug, by the way is the talented pianist for the show. Many productions use synths to take the place of instruments that are not in the orchestra, but Doug indicated that although they thought about it, they stuck to piano, percussion, french horn, cello, and 2 woodwinds. "The cello player picked up a lot of the base lines" My personal obsession with the musical has made me pretty knowledgeable of most of the instrumental parts on all of the songs. Without a doubt, I've listened to the CD over a hundred times ! So with this in my brain, I expected to hear major gaps in Northlight's production, music wise.. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Although I did not see the production in person, the videos and MP3s that I have made it clear to me that Doug managed to tweak every last note to really maximize all of the parts. A great reduction of a score ! Doug explained to me that this is a two part process for him. Part one, he is AWAY from the piano, with just the score in front of him. At this step, he's deciding what should go where and what HAS to stay in, what can go. Doug told me that the trumpet and brass parts were the most difficult to cut, but added that the brass would have been a bit much for the size of the theater. Part two, he is at a digital keyboard hooked up to a computer. Part one took him about 4-5 days, and the 2nd, which he says is more "data entry" than musical in nature, took him about a week. Doug's favorite song from the musical is "Will You", his favorite to actually play, is "Around The World", and also commented that "Daddy's Little Girl" is also become a favorite.
Both Doug and Hollis indicated that they had a very good chemistry between them. There are several parts where, especially in such a small venue, the musical director and actor playing Edie really need to be in sync. Doug and Hollis had worked together before in Man of La Mancha and Carousel. Doug commented that it would have been extremely difficult to pull off had they not known each other "musically" so well.
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I have truly enjoyed getting to know some of the people who were a part of such a wonderful ensemble of talented people, who through there excitement for the project, produced a show that was a fond tribute to the broadway production, The Grey Gardens original documentary, and most imported both Big and Little Edie Beale...
Please check out the cast bios, slideshow, and more about the production from my interview with Hollis, by clicking on any of the topic on the menu to the right. PLEASE also check out Northlight Theatre's web site by clicking the link below:
NORTHLIGHT
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