Grey Gardens Standby's Include Maureen Moore
By: BWW News Desk Sep. 26, 2006
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Maureen Moore, the respected performer who has previously gone on for such stars as Bernadette Peters, will serve as the standby for Christine Ebersole in the upcoming Broadway musical Grey Gardens.
After having played hit run at Playwrights' Horizons, Grey Gardens, based on the 1975 Maysles Brothers documentary, will begin previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 3rd and open on November 2nd.
Other standbys include Dale Soules, who will serve as standby in Wilson's role of Big Edie (in Act 2), as well as Megan Lewis (Little Edie), Asa Somers (Joseph Kennedy Jr/Jerry/Gould), Donald Grody (J.V. "Major" Bouvier/Norman Vincent Peale), Abigail Ferencz (Jacqueline Bouvier/Lee Bouvier), and Michael Howell (Brooks).
Moore performed as a standby in Gypsy, Sunset Boulevard, Cabaret, Song & Dance (and even the one-nighter The Moonie Shapiro Songbook) and was the first replacement for Fantine on Broadway. Her extensive list of Broadway credits also includes the 1998 revival of Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Jerome Robbins' Broadway (Claire), Amadeus (Constanze), Falsettos (Cordelia), Big River, I Love My Wife (Cleo) and last season's revival of The Threepenny Opera (Betty). Other credits include A Little Night Music (Countess Charlotte Malcolm) at New York City Opera, First Lady Suite at The Public and the American premieres of Blood Brothers and Marowitz's Hamlet.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.
Grey Gardenshad 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.
For tickets and more information, visit www.greygardensthemusical.com.
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