Clovelly Fox Productions: Grey Gardens review

Ever intriguing boutique musical Grey Gardens makes a very welcome Melbourne return in this insightfully directed, splendidly cast new production. 2006 Broadway musical Grey Gardens had its memorable Melbourne premiere from The Production Company in 2011. For this revival, the most ambitious staging to date from Clovelly Fox Productions, Grey Gardens is perfectly housed at the fortyfivedownstairs theatre, where the chipped, stained paintwork evocatively adds to the recreation of crumbling Long Island estate Grey Gardens. With act two based on the cult classic 1976 documentary Grey Gardens, book writer Doug Wright has concocted an eventful summer afternoon thirty years earlier to round out the musical with a satisfying first act. Interest in the fabled Kennedy clan is high in 2026, with John Kennedy Jr romance Love Story airing recently and Netflix series Kennedy well into production. Act one sees Grey Gardens all abuzz with final preparations for that evening’s engagement party for…