“Grey Gardens” Heads to Los Angeles

Rachel York in Bay Street Theater's production of "Grey Gardens."

Bay Street Theater announced this week that Tony Award winner Betty Buckley and Drama Desk Award winner Rachel York, who starred as Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale in “Grey Gardens” at Bay Street this past summer, will reprise their performances in a new production at the Ahmanson Theater next summer. The Center Theatre Group will produce the show in Los Angeles. The book is written by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie. Michael Wilson directs. This new production will feature the same direction, lead actors, and many of the same elements as the Bay Street Theater production.

“Grey Gardens” tells the story of Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis. It is based on the 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Set at the Bouvier mansion in East Hampton, this bold musical follows a mother and daughter on their hilarious and heartbreaking journey from glamorous aristocrats to notorious recluses in a crumbling house filled with memories and cats.

The Bay Street cast featured Ms. Buckley as Edith Bouvier Beale and Ms. York as “Little” Edie Beale/Edith Bouvier Beale; other cast members included: Gracie Beardsley as Jacqueline; Matt Doyle as Joe/Jerry; James Harkness as Brooks Sr./Brooks Jr.; Sarah Hunt as Young Edie; Howard McGillin as Gould, Simon Jones as Major/Peale, and Dakota Quackenbush as Lee.

“I am very excited that the wonderful work done on ‘Grey Gardens’ at Bay Street last summer will now be seen again in this production by Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theater,” says Scott Schwartz, Artistic Director at Bay Street Theater. “The brilliant Betty Buckley and Rachel York brought great humanity, depth and humor to their dazzling performances and director Michael Wilson did a thrilling job reimaging this daring musical for our audience. All of us at Bay Street are so proud that their work that began on the East End will reach another audience on the West Coast.”