Grey Gardens, the hit Playwrights Horizons musical about two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, will be planted at the Walter Kerr Theatre for an opening on November 2nd; it will begin previews on October 3rd.
Christine Ebersole, as previously announced, will recreate her lauded Off-Broadway performance in the musical, which will be produced on Broadway by East of Doheny, in association with Playwrights Horizons. Mary Louise Wilson, Ebersole's co-star at Playwrights, is also on board for the Broadway transfer.Grey Gardens was so popular in its original Off-Broadway run that it was extended three times; it closed on April 30th after having begun previews on February 10th and opened on March 7th.With a book by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie, the show starred Tony Award-winner Ebersole (Steel Magnolias, 42nd Street) and Wilson (The Women, Cabaret), as well as Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Nine), Matt Cavenaugh (Urban Cowboy), Sarah Hyland (Paper Mill Playhouse's Annie), six-time Tony Award-nominee John McMartin (Sweet Charity, Follies), Michael Potts (Lennon), two-time Tony Award-nominee Bob Stillman (Grand Hotel) and Audrey Twitchell. Tony Award-nominee Michael Greif (Rent) directed.
Ebersole and Wilson are the only casting to be announced so far."Grey Gardens concerns the deliciously eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who were once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, and are now East Hampton's most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion. Facing an uncertain future, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter, 'Little' Edie, are forced to revisit their storied past and come to terms with it — for better, and for worse," according to Playwrights Horizons notes. In the musical, Ebersole and Wilson respectively played Edith in 1941 and 1973, while Gettelfinger and Ebersole played Edie in those same years.Grey Gardens' creative team included Allen Moyer (sets), William Ivey Long (costumes), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting), Brian Ronan (sound), Wendall K. Harrington (projections), Bruce Coughlin (orchestrations) and Lawrence Yurman (musical direction).A cast recording will be released by PS Classics late this summer. The cast went into the recording studios on April 27th. For more information on Grey Gardens, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.playwrightshorizons.org. For more on PS Classics, visit www.psclassics.com.