PS Classics to Release New Grey Gardens Album March 27

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of the acclaimed hit musical Grey Gardens - crowned the #1 Show of the Year by Time Magazine - will be available starting Tuesday, March 27.  Recorded February 13 on PS Classics, the album is produced by multiple Grammy winner Steven Epstein (The Light in the Piazza). 

In a unique development, the Original Broadway Cast Recording will replace the currently-available World Premiere Recording, also released by the Grammy-nominated label and featuring the Off-Broadway cast, based on the musical's original run at Playwrights Horizons.  

The new recording will feature the Broadway cast and preserve the significant changes made for the Broadway production by author Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie.  This includes four new songs ("The Girl Who Has Everything," "Goin' Places," "Marry Well" and the new ending), one previously unrecorded track ("The Telegram") and all-new performances on several previously-recorded songs (including "Mother, Darling," "Peas in a Pod" and "Daddy's Girl").  In addition, the entire album has been completely remixed and remastered.  The new recording will also feature an all-new, 32-page color booklet with complete lyrics and new photos.

While the new CD will initially be available exclusively online at the PS Classics website, it will eventually become available at all stores and online retailers (including Virgin Megastores, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Amazon and iTunes) during the month of April.  PS Classics expects the new CD to be available everywhere by April 15th.  Once supplies of the old CD have run out, that recording will then go out of print. 

In addition to stars Christine Ebersole (42nd Street, Dinner at Eight) and Mary Louise Wilson (Cabaret, Full Gallop), Grey Gardens stars John McMartin, Bob Stillman, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Potts, and Sarah Hyland (all from the Playwrights Horizons production), as well as Broadway newcomer Erin Davie as Young 'Little' Edie Beale, and Kelsey Fowler.

The musical features a book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, the play and film Quills), music by Scott Frankel (musical director for Broadway's Falsettos, Putting It Together) and lyrics by Michael Korie (Harvey Milk, Zhivago). Directed by Tony Award nominee and Obie winner Michael Greif (Rent), the production has musical staging by Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun (Big River, Grease!). It will be produced by Producers East of Doheny, Randall L. Wreghitt/Mort Swinsky, Michael Alden and Edwin W. Schloss, in association with Playwrights Horizons,

The show "brings to life both the delightfully eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, these two women became East Hampton's most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion. Set in two eras - in 1941 when the estate was in its prime and in 1973 when it was reduced to squalor - the musical tells the alternately hilarious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable individuals, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter 'Little' Edie," according to production notes.

The Broadway production of Grey Gardens reunites the original creative and design team, featuring scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Peter Kaczorowski, sound design by Brian Ronan and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin and Music Director is Lawrence Yurman.

Grey Gardens had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, opening March 7, 2006 and completely sold out its initial limited engagement as well as three extensions. The musical was named Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical by the Outer Critics Circle Awards and was also the winner of a 2006 Richard Rodgers Production Award, administered by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It was most recently honored by the theater annual Best Plays as one of the ten best of the 2005-2006 season, and the only musical cited. Leading lady Ebersole also won several awards, including the Obie and the Drama Desk.

The initial release will be offered exclusively online at www.psclassics.com. Visit www.greygardensthemusical.com for more information.

Photo of Christine Ebersole by Ben Strothmann