If you’ve seen the documentary (The Beales of Grey Gardens) and/or the musical (Grey Gardens) you already know “Little Edie” Beale. If you are a hard core fan of this absurdly pathetic character and cannot wait for the upcoming Jessica Lange/Drew Barrymore movie, you can feed your appetite further with Ganymede Arts’ world premiere production, After the Garden: Edith Beale Live at Reno Sweeney. If you lack any special affection for her, however, you’ll find this show only sporadically funny and increasingly tiresome.
For newbies to the Grey Gardens cult, Little Edie Beale grew up as a wealthy young woman at the height of New York society. Alas, the late Joe Kennedy Jr. (John F. Kennedy’s older brother) broke off their engagement, her father ran through their fortune, and she was eclipsed by her Bouvier cousins, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill. She wound up an old maid living with her mother, Big Edie, in an increasingly dilapidated East Hampton estate called Grey Gardens.
Little Edie Beale was a precursor to today’s so-called reality stars, quirky personalities who have little reason for their fame other than widespread media exposure. She certainly could not sing, a reality reflected in this show based upon a week of cabaret performances that she gave at the age of 60 in January, 1978 (after the death of her mother but before she sold the estate). All that’s left is the opportunity to laugh at this deluded woman and revel in her bizarre character.
Jeffrey Johnson makes a game attempt to recreate the Little Edie persona. Dressed in drag, he does bear an eerie resemblance to the woman. Vocally, he captures her lilt and cadences, although he slips in and out of a softened version of her distinctive accent. He does manage to project Little Edie’s personality, using a script based in part on actually comments made during her publicly embarrassing series of performances. The red evening gown held in place by safety pins and the accompanying accessories are also suitably gaudy.
The problem underlying the production is that Little Edie’s shtick has very little variety. She fluctuates from pitiable whining to vain self-congratulatory posturing. Few of her revelations are very interesting or insightful. In addition, much of the added dialogue consists of facts mostly known from the source material or exposition that comes across as merely didactic without being witty or humorous. In an effort to add meaning and atmosphere, the cabaret performance is moved to New Year’s Eve (which is historically inaccurate).
Some welcome relief is added by Little Edie’s two supporting players, her talented accompanist Thomas (Keith Tittermary) and her flamboyant manager and impresario Gerald (Michael Winstead). Still, those interactions cannot save Little Edie from becoming a progressively more annoying and tedious character who would normally send you fleeing from a party.
On a side note, theatre fans should welcome the nice new performance space that Ganymede Arts has helped develop upstairs from Miss Pixie’s wonderfully quirky home furnishings and antiques store. It is an intimate space suitable for a range of smaller works (are you listening, Capital Fringe Festival?). Let’s hope that it can be used for more satisfying productions in the future.
After the Garden: Edith Beale Live at Reno Sweeney
By Gerald Duval
Directed by Rick Hammerly & Jeffrey Johnson
Presented by Ganymede Arts
Reviewed by Steven McKnight
Running Time: 1:10 (no intermission)
Where: Miss Pixie’s Backroom Palace, 1626 14th Street NW, Washington, DC
When: Through March 29th. Fridays at 8:00 PM & 10:30 PM, Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 7:00 PM.
Tickets: $25. 
I know this writing is long past due and maybe nobody will read it however, without seeing the performance, Jeffrey was so illustrative of what the performance was destined to do. I have always loved and admired the Beales in their madness,(if you will) They were far from mad. I saw them as two gloriously human, beings who lived as close to life as one can get, basically two spirits somewhat akin to some of the characters in English novels who were delightfully “mad.” I wish I could have been there for your performance Jeffery. Congratulations for “getting it.” lovingly, donna
I will be looking for more on this story for years. People who put them down are,most likely, people who wish they could live so simply and be so happy!
It is unfortunate that Edie’s performance was not recorded. The Grey Gardens story has always fascinated me. I wonder what Caroline thinks of her first cousin ‘once removed’ (little Edie was Jackie O’s first cousin). Kudos to Jeffrey Johnson and Drew Barrymore for their portrayals of Little Edie (as well as Jessica Lange). I am sure the Beale’s would have thought it was all quite ‘mahvelous’!!
I had never heard of Edith Beale – until tonight. I decided to come visit a good friend for the weekend and took the train down this afternoon from New York City (where we are all theater snobs). He gave me a bit of history on Miss Beale and what to expect at the performance. I LOVED IT. It was funny, sad, and uncomfortable at times. Isn’t that what theater should be?
I must say that I don’t get why some did not get this show. I think it is extremely well conceived and strongly performed. I was very entertained and, more importantly to me, very moved by the performance. I was truly transported back to the actual event. When the show was over, “Little Edie” passed me on “her” exit and reached out for my hand, and I really felt I was touching the real Little Edie. I hope others have the same highly rewarding experience.
Wow. I must have seen a different show. At the one I saw, the only time we weren’t laughing was when we were absorbing the real implications of this life we saw unfolding. The two men who alledgedly fell asleep need to go in for medical checkups.
I was at the same performnace that your reviewer attended, because I sat behind him, and watched him taking notes. The audience was hardly in stitches. In fact, the two men next to me fell asleep. The show started out funny and as Mr. McKnight pointed out correctly, it got tiresome quickly. And, having the auudience ask questions slowed the ahow down to crawl In fact, there were 15 minute stretches where nobody laughed, and there was no reaction at all. Yes, Mr. Johnson made a valiant effort trying to bring life and humor to a script that was all over the place. After I got home from the show, I looked up Edith Beale on Wikopedia, and reading that was more entertaining than what I saw that night Hopefully, the show has gotten better.
I strongly disagree with the thrust of the review. “After the Garden” is a most entertaining, fast-paced, laughter-filled piece of theater. At the same time, it manages to get at the pathos, and essential tragedy, of a woman who continually rejected the opportunities that came her way, evidently in the belief that something better was always just in the offing. Jeffrey Johnson completely inhabits the persona of Little Edie. There are many moments of insightful acting (and writing) as we are swept up in a character who is constantly revealing new and interesting things about herself. The night I saw the show, if anyone (excepting, I suppose, your reviewer) was tiring of her “schtick,” they certainly weren’t showing it. In fact, most of the time they were in stitches.
I am saddened that I will not be in New York to see this amazing show. As a huge fan of Grey Gardens and the Beales I wish I could be there. Going on that concept of the time machine, if you could bring Little Edie here from that time period and give her a chance to perform now she herself have the sold out crowds that the musical had, perhaps not on Broadway but in small cabarets around the country. She has become a cult phenomenon and the people who would love to see her in real life are the same people who will come out in droves to see this loving recreation. I do hope you take this show on the road or at least consider bringing it to Los Angeles.
I am glad to know that this show is as close as can be just like Edie’s original. I assumed that it was not that great of a show……..or it would have lasted more than 7 days. But still it is part of her life story and good or bad I would be interested in seeing it. I wish the show were here in Pittsburgh…….I would be up front!
I guess I wanted to comment on this review of the show. Or maybe, more importantly, to clear up what seems to be a misunderstanding. Perhaps the fault of the misconception lies in our promotion of the show, maybe not – I’m not quite sure, but it seems that the point was missed somehow and thus, I’d like to clear that up.
This is not a “play”. It’s not a show that we wrote to dramatize the event of Edie’s cabaret performance. This IS the cabaret performance that Edie did. (Or as close to THE cabaret show the she did.)
Mr. Duval was the person who sat with Edie Beale for over a month to help come up with/create her performance that she did those seven nights in 1977. (There is dispute over when the show actually took place but Gerald and others from Reno Sweeney insist that it was between Christmas and New Years Eve of ’77 – but when it comes right down to it WHEN it happened is rather irrelevant – the fact that it DID happen is what is the focus).
As there were no recordings (either video or audio) of the event, all Mr. Duval had to go on were his notes, the memory of the rehearsals and the conversations he had with her about the structure and content of what would become Edie’s cabaret show. And that is what we have worked to re-stage. We didn’t want to bastardize the piece by adding theatricality to it and fictionalizing it to make it something that it was not. We didn’t want to create “Grey Gardens the Musical 2.” It was important for us to present what it actually was. So criticizing the dramatic value of the piece kinda of seems like a moot point – what is being criticized is what was presented 32 years ago. There’s no drama intended.
Think of that game we all play every now and then about “if I had a time machine, I would like to go back and see/experience…”. This is one of those moments in time I would have liked the opportunity to see – as much of a freak show as it was – it still holds interest to me – and others I am sure. THAT is what we wanted to offer. The closest representation of what those nights and what that show and the crazy, chaotic style of the “LIVE” Edie were like. The information that she gave is the information that we give. The people that she talks to from the stage in our production (I hate using that word in this context) are the people she talked to back then. The forgetting of lyrics and loosing her place in the show, the getting side tracked in gossip and the total joy of her one chance to perform is what everyone who did see the real Edie remembers about it.
I do appreciate the opportunity to explain this a little more. And again, I apologize if there was the guise of this being a play or “dramatic interpretation.” This just is what it was – if that makes sense. And those who have been curious about “what that was” now have a chance to experience it and have a better idea. There were two women there opening night that did see the real Edie at Reno Sweeney and their response was: “This was too eerie…eerie in a good way! It was just like we remembered it.” And that is exactly what we set out to do – nothing more.
I really do appreciate your interest in the piece and the fact that you sent someone there to give a take on it. It means a lot to me and to everyone else in this community who are over worked and underpaid that you guys are here and have such a passion to make sure we are all represented. (Plus the new site looks great!)
Thanks again!
Jeffrey Johnson