Can the new musical version re-create the magic?
On his 2002 album, “Poses,” Rufus Wainwright named a song for David and Albert Maysles’ 1975 cult documentary, “Grey Gardens”: Trying to get my mansions green After I’ve Grey Gardens seen I think this line speaks to something universal in the film, which tapped into a strangely exhilarating fear that we all share. What befell the residents of Grey Gardens could happen to almost anyone: What would happen, the movie tacitly asks, if we let go of the rope, went with the flow and let entropy have its way with us? The film will cause a shudder in anyone who has felt insufficiently vigilant in regard to fending off decay. Some flirt with entropy more than others, but the Maysles’ documentary certainly scared many viewers straight, inspiring them to tighten up and keep their “mansions green,” both physically and mentally. I know I ran home sober, did the dishes, paid the bills and exorcised all the cobwebs I’d been choosing not to see in the corners. “Grey Gardens” showed that it might be ter
