The fascinating true story of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis' eccentric relatives comes to life in the form of a musical as the Buck Creek Players, the award-winning all-volunteer community theater on Indianapolis' southeast side, continues their 2008-2009 Award-Winning Season with the U.S. Community Theater Premiere of Grey Gardens: The Musical. Opening Friday, May 29th, and continuing for a limited run through Sunday, June 14th, this Tony Award-winning musical brings the delightfully eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to life. Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, Edith ("Big Edie") Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith ("Little Edie") Bouvier Beale became East Hampton's most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion alongside dozens of cats and piles of rubbish. Set in two eras -- in 1941 when the estate was at its full grandeur and in 1973 after it had been reduced to squalor -- Grey Gardens: The Musical chronicles the unique and memorable tale of fallen American royalty.
Captured in the landmark 1975 Maysles' Brothers film
Grey Gardens, the two "Edies" were revealed to have a most unique and engaging mother-daughter relationship, built upon powerful interdependence, quirky eccentricity, courage, devotion and love. This unconquerable spirit soon catapulted them to a cult icon status of a sort that was an ironic counterpoint to Mrs. Onassis's own such status. Three decades later, the Beales received the ultimate homage: being portrayed on the Broadway stage.
Grey Gardens: The Musical reminds of us of the power of the Beales' story to arouse a multitude of emotion seven decades later.
The story had a personal resonance for composer
Scott Frankel, who conceived the Broadway production. Frankel's previous work had never gone as far as he'd hoped, and he identified with the Beales' story of unrealized, unfulfilled promise. Frankel, lyricist
Michael Korie and Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist
Doug Wright tackled the difficult task of bringing the complex story alive on stage. The Broadway musical earned three Tony Awards and, just as important, introduced the unforgettable Beales to a new generation.
Leading the nine-member cast is BCP newcomer Laura Duvall-Whitson playing the dual role of Big Edie in the first act (1941) and then donning "the revolutionary costumes for the day" as Little Edie in the second (1973). Susan Page Freeman returns to
The Playhouse for the first time since her 2006 role of Hannah Ferguson in The Spitfire Grill: The Musical to take on the iconic role of the elderly bed-ridden Big Edie. Erin M. Rettig will take on the role of the youthful Little Edie of the 1940's who is eagerly awaiting the announcement of her engagement to Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., played by Daniel
Robert In his stage debut at BCP. Fondly remembered by our audiences as The Cat in last summer's musical production of Honk: The Ugly Duckling Musical, Trevor Fanning tickles the ivories as Big Edie's live-in accompanist, George "Gould" Strong. Ken Ganza portrays J.V. "Major" Bouvier, Big Edie's gruff father and also grandfather to Little Edie, Jackie (Paige Brown) and Lee Bouvier (Emma Weber), who believes that a woman's name should only appear publicly once in a lifetime in her nuptial announcement. Ganza doubles in the second act as the champion of positive thinking, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, while Robert switches gears to portray
Jerry Torre, the seventeen-year-old handyman and friend to the Beales. Carvis Herron, Jr. rounds out
The Ensemble cast as the Beales' butler, Brooks Sr., in the first act and then becomes gardener of the
Grey Gardens estate in the second as Brooks Jr.
Responsible for bringing this captivating story to Indianapolis audiences is Director D. Scott Robinson. Based on the belief that there is more than Rodgers & Hammerstein in this world, he has previously directed the area premieres of Lizzie Borden: The Musical (2000), Side Show (2002), Violet (2004), The Spitfire Grill: The Musical (2006), Parade (2007), and Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery (2008). Joining Robinson on the production staff are the talents of Lynne B. Robinson (Producer), Kevin D. Smith (Musical Director), Aaron B. Bailey (Set Design/Technical Director), Linda Rowand and Donna Jacobi (Costumes), Joanne M. Johnson (Lighting Design), and Mary Byrd and Dawn Frick (Stage Managers).
Curtain times for the three-weekend limited run are 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Ticket prices are $16 for adults and $14 for students and senior citizens aged 62 and older. Group rates are available for groups of ten or more. To place recommended reservations for this U.S. Community Theater Premiere, please call the BCP Reservation Line at 317-862-2270. Buck Creek Playhouse is located on the southeastside of Marion County at 11150 Southeastern Avenue. For more information or directions, please visit us online at www.buckcreekplayers.com.
Photo credit Aaron B. Bailey
