I'm Gonna Deance for Ya Nao

Comments (0) By Hiya Swanhuyser Wednesday, Nov 3 2010

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We probably shouldn't even be encouraging this kind of obsessive behavior. And yet, here goes: Jeffrey Johnson is drag-re-creating Little Edie's 1978 cabaret act. If you don't know what that means, please, spare yourself and don't read any farther, because you'll wind up like the rest of us, all freaked out and fucked up by two insane dead women and no one can really explain why, exactly. For “us,” however: The Grey Gardens saga, as you know, led to the younger of the mother-daughter recluse team being invited to perform on a New York City stage, just as she always wanted to do; the death of Big Edie, the other star of the Maysles brothers' documentary, made it possible for her to accept such an invitation. Debate rages as to whether the show was “any good,” but that was the Beales' genius -- to fracture any possible lens. Edie Beale LIVE at Reno Sweeny, though, Johnson's show, contains but does not create such ambiguity -- reviews fawn over the production, even as they continue the deathless snit critics got into regarding Ms. Beale's debut in the first place. But there is only one person whose opinion actually matters here. Having just re-watched the adorably saccharine 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler, we can affirm the pure genius of Drew Barrymore, whose portrayal of Little Edie opposite an equally talented Jessica Lange as Big Edie in the feature film Grey Gardens was poetry. Let's all go see this show so we can know what Drew's talking about, later; also, to have our lenses re-fractured.
Nov. 5-6, 10:30 p.m., 2010