“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to tonight’s performance of “Grey Gardens.”As a reminder, please turn off your electronic devices and refrain from talking during the performance. No photography or recording is allowed. You might also unwrap those candies or cough drops now.”
A variation on this pre-show announcement is pretty standard but what made this one unique was that the voice was quite recognizable and was none other than the incomparable Angela Lansbury. At the end of the recording, much to the delight of the audience, in she walked and in an explosion of applause and cheers, the entire audience rose to its collective feet and gave this icon of stage, screen, and television a long, standing ovation. What a way to begin opening night of “Grey Gardens,” based on the film by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer, and Susan Froemke. One only hoped that the production would be as good as the pre-show excitement and, in fact, it more than rose to the occasion.

With the book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie, the play opens in 1973 with a Prologue. Edith Bouvier Beale, played in the opening scene by the amazing Betty Buckley, sings the first song of the 25 musical numbers, “The Girl Who Has Everything,” while her daughter “Little” Edie Beale, played by Rachel York, looks on.

Replicating the filming of the HBO documentary, a cameraman and his sound assistant, film Edith as she sings, resulting in giant images of her projected onto the stage. This creative device is used at different times throughout the play, allowing the audience to see very up close and personal the trials and tribulations and many comedic moments of these two high society women, who literally go from riches to rags – from opulence to squalor.

Act 1 goes back in time and takes place in 1941. A most-talented Rachel York, with a beautiful voice and sharp comic timing, now plays her mother Edith Bouvier as the young, beautiful, wealthy, socialite. She is preparing a long list of songs to sing at her daughter’s engagement to Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., played by Josh Young, an actor with a soaring voice. Her daughter, “Little” Edie, is well played by Sarah Hunt who is equipped with a voice that sparkles. Edith reprises “The Girl Who Has Everything,” which at that moment in time is absolutely true. Her accompanist, and sometime companion, in the absence of her husband, who seems to be absent a lot, is the smoking jacket attired, rather effete George Gould Strong, played by Bryan Batt. His character almost borders on being a bit cartoonish. However, Batt has a powerful, musical comedy belting voice and fits the part perfectly. Combined with that is his excellent comic timing in delivering many of the funny lines. For example, “I adore children – especially grown ones.”

Completing the people living in what Edith refers to as her “summer cottage,” which in actuality is an opulent, magnificently furnished mansion with crystal chandeliers and a long winding staircase, is their faithful butler, Brooks, Sr., played by Davon Williams, another very talented cast member with a full, rich voice. Set designer Jeff Cowie, did the remarkable set design and his contrast between the stately mansion in Acts 1 and Act 2 is shockingly brilliant.

This posh engagement party is to be held on the front lawn of Grey Gardens, which overlooks the ocean in East Hampton, Long Island, the playground of the rich and super rich. Underneath the exterior love between them, it becomes clear that Edie is not happy with the number of songs her mother wants to sing and it soon becomes evident that upstaging her daughter is not new behavior. Edie sings “Mother Darling” which is her attempt at getting her mother to shorten the list of songs. Edith has her own agenda and in a most lighthearted manner, shares with Joe some provocative stories about her daughter. Now, this Kennedy knows he’s being groomed for political office and has to make a decision as to whether or not Edie will fit into his public life. He and Edie sing two duets – “Goin’ Places,” and “Daddy’s Girl.” Later, despite the mother-daughter competition, they recognize they are inextricably bound together and harmonize in “Two Peas in a Pod,” which could serve as a blueprint for what lies ahead.

Arriving for the party are two young adorable cousins – Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier, played by an amazing Katie Silverman, and her sister Lee, brought to life by Peyton Ella. It was rather a jolt to see these two famous women portrayed as little girls, especially when Lee, referring to Jackie’s horse riding skills says: “She can’t even canter.”* The final family member to arrive is Edith’s crusty old father, J.V. “Major” Bouvier, played to perfection by Simon Jones. He’s a bit on the cynical side and has some of the funnier laugh lines such as, “Marriage is for tax codes and Mormons.” Act 1 ends with Edie making an unexpected decision.

Act II goes full circle and once again it’s 1973. The once magnificent Grey Gardens is not even a shadow of its former splendor. It is unrecognizable and has been deemed unfit by the Board of Health and other local agencies. Betty Buckley is once again the aging Edith and Rachel York now plays her very eccentric daughter Edie. Neither of them seems to playing with a full deck and are oblivious to the squalor in which they live. Fifty-two cats have taken up residency and require food, some of which this bizarre mother and daughter duo eat themselves. They have no plumbing, garbage is stacked in the corners, and newspapers cover their windows. Edie has a sardonic sense of humor and tosses off such lines as “It’s a mean, nasty Republican town,” or “It’s a goddamn beautiful day, so shut up.” They have one friend named Jerry, sweetly played by Simon Jones, who visits them from time to time. In a more lucid moment, and remembering her opulent past, Edith sings “The Cake I Had,” meaning she had her cake and ate it too. The dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship, including what sacrifices and responsibilities are expected within that complex liaison, is certainly one of the several underlying themes of this play and is explored through the narrative and songs. Regarding the beautiful music, it’s interesting to note that while you will not leave the theatre humming any of the songs, each one is gorgeously sung. The score never feels contrived but more like it was created organically to reflect the action taking place at a precise moment.

A production of this caliber takes a director with a strong hand, clear overall vision, patience, and the ability to help actors delve deeply into their characters to mine the many complex layers. Michael Wilson has done a masterful job directing this play, eliciting strong acting and vocal performances from this amazing ensemble. His excellent production team helped in achieving his vision and includes, in addition to scenic designer Jeff Cowie, the enhancing lighting by Howell Binkley, exquisite costumes by Ilona Somogyi, sound design by Jon Weston, and the haunting projection design by Jason H. Thompson. “Grey Gardens” is another notch in the Ahmanson’s expanding belt of successful productions.

Ahmanson Theatre

135 N. Grand Avenue

Los Angeles, 90012

Run: Tuesday – Friday: 8:00 p.m.

Saturday: 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.

Sunday: 1:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Tickets: $25-$130 Ph: 213.972.4400

or CenterTheatreGroup.org

Closing: Sunday, August 14, 2016

*The canter is a controlled,

three-beat gait performed by a horse.

David Horowitz

By Carl Samrock

David Horowitz, regarded by many as the dean of Hollywood publicists, and a political adviser best known for twice helping revitalize Bill Clinton’s image, died on July 17 at his home in Los Angeles. His passing was confirmed by his wife, Lynn Horowitz.

While Horowitz’s primary specialty over the course of more than five decades was entertainment publicity, he also involved himself in social and political causes such as the Civil Rights Movement, Native American issues, American presidential campaigns, and the state of Israel.

Horowitz’s participation in the fight for civil rights began in the early ‘60s and included the 1963 March on Washington. In the wake of 1965’s Watts Riots, Horowitz helped assemble talent for a show to raise funds for the hard-hit community. And in 1968, he joined in organizing a July fundraiser for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, now headed by the Rev. Ralph Abernathy Sr. after Martin Luther King’s April assassination. One of Horowitz’s key contributions was arranging for client Barbra Streisand to be one of the star performers at a sold-out benefit concert, attended by 18,000, at the Hollywood Bowl.

In the late ‘70s, Horowitz worked on a motion picture project recounting the “Trail of Tears,” during which 19th-century Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral lands to an area in Oklahoma designated by 1830’s Indian Removal Act. Some 10,000 perished in forced marches. The eventually unrealized movie was one of many Native American projects Horowitz urged colleagues to pursue over the years. And as recently as last year, he was seeking a publisher to produce a textbook about Native Americans for use in American high schools.

In 1988, after relatively unknown Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton gained notoriety for a speech at the Democratic Convention that ran too long (through no fault of his own), Clinton friends and TV producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason sought David’s help to undo the perceived gaffe by having the Governor play the saxophone on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. David got the booking, Clinton played, and Carson got a huge laugh by bringing out a giant hourglass at the start of the interview. “That was a good night for Clinton,” recalls Thomason.

The Thomasons again asked David for advice to bolster Clinton’s candidacy in 1992. That led to another late-night sax-playing gig, this time on The Arsenio Hall Show, where Clinton jammed on “Heartbreak Hotel” and “God Bless the Child.” The appearance immediately energized the campaign by increasing Clinton’s popularity among minority and young voters.

Subsequently, the new president wanted David to move to Washington to work in his administration, but he declined. “I didn’t want to leave Los Angeles and the film business, not to mention our pets.”

On behalf of Israel, Horowitz was active with a number of organizations including Peace Now, which is dedicated to an equitable two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and whose pressure on the government is said to have helped move Israel toward 1993’s Oslo Accords, signed by Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat. A year earlier, Horowitz had offered his opinion to Rabin on what he might do to win re-election as prime minister. David’s suggestions were adopted and Rabin won. Again, in 1995, politics called when Rabin asked Horowitz to come to Israel to work on a project. While Horowitz was weighing this, Rabin was assassinated.

As a publicist and studio executive, Horowitz worked with top stars and filmmakers including Woody Allen, Robert Altman, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Mel Brooks, George Burns, Diahann Carroll, Kevin Costner, Bette Davis, Judi Dench, Kirk Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Jodie Foster, Katharine Hepburn, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Dorothy Lamour, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Bob Newhart, Al Pacino, Richard Pryor, Robert Redford, Don Rickles, The Rolling Stones, Rosalind Russell, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, The Who, Billy Wilder, Flip Wilson, and (a testament to his versatility) The Muppets.

Horowitz began his close association with Streisand with “Funny Girl,” followed by “Hello, Dolly!,” “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever,” “The Owl and the Pussycat,” and “What’s Up, Doc?” He also promoted such memorable films as “The Graduate,” “The Lion in Winter,” “The French Connection,” “All the President’s Men,” “Tommy,” -and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and such television projects as the ground-breaking “Roots,” “The Thorn Birds,” and Katharine Hepburn’s “The Corn is Green.”

Some of Horowitz’s posts included president of corporate entertainment, president of the film division and president of the TV division at Rogers & Cowan; advertising and publicity VP with Kirk Douglas’ Bryna Productions; unit publicist for several Billy Wilder pictures including “Irma La Douce” and “The Fortune Cookie”; and VP of publicity at TriStar to handle “The Natural,” at Robert Redford’s request.

In the ‘70s, Horowitz joined Warner Bros. for a decade-long stint with the studio, first as the film division’s head of publicity under Ted Ashley and Frank Wells and then as vice president of advertising, publicity and promotion for Warner Bros. Television under Alan Shayne.

During the latter post, Wells called upon David to advise on several movie campaigns, and Warner Communications chief Steve Ross appointed David to put in place systems to promote synergy among various corporate divisions. Subsequently, David helped with the early expansion of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, which today has become a highly popular L.A. tourist attraction – an interactive tour (of actual filming on the studio’s iconic Burbank backlot) that annually employs some 200 tour guides and draws more than 300,000 visitors.

Beginning in 1990, for nearly two decades, Horowitz specialized in Academy-Award campaigns. He was highly valued for his skills in this arena becoming, in effect, one of Hollywood’s first Oscar bloggers. In phone calls, lunches, and at meetings, he polled media, industry tastemakers, and studio executives and then issued the results to key press and Academy members in what became an influential document.

Highlights of his campaigns included the New Line sweep for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” which took 11 Oscars out of 11 nominations, still a record; back-to-back Best Picture wins for Orion Pictures’ “Dances with Wolves” and “The Silence of the Lambs”; and many other key wins amid some 140 nominations for Orion, Warner, Miramax, Paramount and New Line.

David H. Horowitz was born on July 21, 1929, in New York City. He soon moved to Miami with his family and later, when he was 11, to Los Angeles. He graduated from University High School at the age of 15 and, following his parents’ wish, entered UCLA as a pre-med student. A summer job with an advertising agency confirmed how much he disliked his math and science courses, and he informed his parents he was done with medicine. After graduation, he found employment at KERO-TV in Bakersfield, first as a cameraman then as a director of local shows. After three years, in the mid-’50s, he moved back to advertising as an account executive at The Goodman Organization, handling Warner Bros., United Artists, and American International Pictures.

A colleague at Goodman told David that filmmaker Robert Aldrich was seeking a publicity vice president. In the interview, Aldrich asked about David’s experience. “Well, I do know advertising but, actually, nothing about publicity.” “You’re hired,” Aldrich exclaimed. “You’re the first honest publicist I’ve ever met.” David’s campaign helped “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” become a critical and commercial success and garner five Oscar nominations, including Bette Davis for Best Actress, and one win. David had indeed become a publicist.

In 1959, he married the former Lynn Rockman and after a brief period living in Hollywood, they settled in their home of 52 years in Westwood.

Two of David’s passions were dining and travel and he shared with friends lists of where to go, what to see, and where and what to eat. His favorite foods were pasta –- Bolognese or with oil and garlic -– and a Langer’s pastrami sandwich on a roll, with Bubbies pickles on the side. He fostered close friendships with several chefs, including Gino Angelini of Angelini Osteria; Tanino Drago of Tanino and Via Alloro; and the late Mauro Vincenti, of Rex and Alto Palato, with whom he and Lynn once traveled to Italy and enjoyed 27 meals in eight days.

A third passion was the arts and he and Lynn often attended theatre, opera, ballet, classical concerts, and art exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, London and continental Europe.

In addition to Lynn, his wife of 56 years, Horowitz is survived by his sister-in-law Norma Rockman; godchildren Annelis and Will Laakko and their parents Keith and Betsy Laakko; and surrogate daughter Linda Dresie and her family.

Services will be held at Mount Sinai Memorial Park on Forest Lawn Drive in Los Angeles on Monday, July 25 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org), to Mazon (www.mazon.org) or to any charity of one’s choice.