Complete Casting Announced for Broadway's Grey Gardens

By: BWW News Desk Aug. 28, 2006

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Complete casting for the Broadway premiere of the award-winning new musical Grey Gardens has been announced. Set to begin previews on Tuesday, October 3, the production will open on Thursday, November 2 at The Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street).

Joining the musical's previously-announced leading ladies – Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (42nd Street, Dinner at Eight) and Tony nominee Mary Louise Wilson (Cabaret, Full Gallop) – are five cast members from the original Off-Broadway production and two performers new to the show. Recreating their acclaimed performances from last spring's Playwrights Horizons production will be five-time Tony Award nominee John McMartin (Follies, Show Boat, Into the Woods) as 'Major' Bouvier; two-time Tony Award nominee Bob Stillman (Dirty Blonde, Grand Hotel) as Gould; Matt Cavenaugh (Urban Cowboy, national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, "One Life to Live") as both Joe Kennedy, Jr. and Jerry; Obie Award winner Michael Potts (Lennon) as Brooks; and Sarah Hyland (title role in Paper Mill's Annie) as Young Jacqueline Bouvier.

Following a summer-long search, the producers have announced the casting of Broadway newcomer Erin Davie in the pivotal role of Young 'Little' Edie Beale. Davie, who previously appeared in the national tours of Wicked, Swing! and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, will be making her Broadway debut. Also new to the production and making her Broadway debut will be 9 year-old Kelsey Fowler as Young Lee Bouvier.

Based on the legendary 1975 documentary Grey Gardens (by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer & Susan Froemke – a Maysles Brothers Films Inc. Production), 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 world premiere recording, featuring the Off-Broadway cast, has just been released on PS Classics. For more information, visit www.psclassics.com.

Tickets ($86.25-$111.25) are currently available by visiting www.telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-4200. The Walter Kerr Theatre box office (219 West 48th Street) will open Tuesday, September 5. Balcony seats ($36.25) will only be available in person at the box office. For additional information, visit www.greygardensthemusical.com.

Photo by Joan Marcus--Christine Ebersole and Matt Cavenaugh

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