Quick question! Which U.S. city currently has Grey Gardens: The Musical playing on an extended run, a Grey Gardens mimosa brunch coming up featuring the original documentary and The Beales of Grey Gardens, and a drag-superstar in the making belting “I Dreamed a Dream” as Little Edie? Seattle, that’s which city. Yes, it’s the Emerald City, but Seattle knows (and loves) all shades of grey/gray.
Taking the last item first, let’s go now to Queerty: “The unquestionable champion of the night, however, was Jinkx Monsoon,” said Chris Kelly, who was at the momentous Gramercy Theatre show starring six queens from the last five seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Denizens of Capitol Hill already know Jinkx from Julia’s (or alter-ego Jerick Hoffer from such hit musicals as Spring Awakening), but RuPaul’s audience has been agog over the Jinkxed-up “Little Edie.” Hearing her sing “I had a dream my life would be / so different from the hell I’m living” seems utterly apt.
If you’ve always meant to sit down and catch up with the Beales of Grey Gardens, but haven’t yet, then get to work coming up with a revolutionary costume perfect for April 14. The Grey Gardens mimosa brunch at SIFF’s Film Center (on Seattle Center campus) begins with the mimosas (naturally) at 11 a.m., then Grey Gardens screens at 11:30 a.m. A continental brunch is served at 1:15 p.m., and then The Beales of Grey Gardens screens, the Maysles brothers’ 2006 sequel to their earlier documentary. (Grey Gardens is also available on Netflix if you’d like to try this at home.)
SIFF’s brunch is in celebration of Grey Gardens: The Musical now playing at ACT Theatre. That stars “dynamo Cohenour as Little Edie and an utterly fearless, gutsy Suzy Hunt as Big Edie,” as I mentioned in this review (“Grey Gardens & the American Songbook of Dysfunction at ACT“).
