Staged by TheatreWorks director of new works Kent Nicholson, the musical was penned by composer Scott Frankel, lyricist Michael Korie and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright.
The production stars Beth Glover and Dale Soules in the parts that garnered 2007 Tony Awards for Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson. Glover (Off-Broadway's Take Me Along) is seen as Big Edie in the 1941-set first act and as daughter Little Edie in the musical's 1973-set second act. Soules, who understudied and performed the role with the original Broadway company, portrays the elder Beale in the second act of the musical.
Also featured are Elisa Van Duyne (110 in the Shade) as the 1941 version of Little Edie, Nicholas Galbraith as Joe Kennedy/Jerry, Michael Winther (Songs from an Unmade Bed), Michael LeRoy Brown, Kathryn Foley, Carolyn Di Loreto, Isabella Wilcox and Paul Myrvold.
Press notes describe the piece as such: "Edith ('Big Edie') Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith ('Little Edie') Bouvier Beale were once the toast of the New York social circle of the 1940s. Grey Gardens brings to life a delightfully eccentric tale of fallen American royalty. Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, the Beales became East Hampton's most notorious recluses."
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is located at 500 Castro Street (at Mercy) in Mountain View, CA. For tickets call (650) 903-6000 or visit theatreworks.org. Below is a look at the production, which runs through Sept. 14:
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All photos by Mark Kitaoka