Grey Gardens Full Australian Premiere Cast Announced

Grey Gardens Full Australian Premiere Cast Announced

The complete cast for the Australian premiere of Grey Gardens, to be produced by The Production Company at the Arts Centre’s Playhouse for 12 perfrmances from November 25 has been announced.

Pamela Rabe returns to the production Company in the virtuoso roles of Edith Bouvier Beale and ‘Little’ Edie, while Nancye Hayes plays the role of the aged Edith.

They are joined by Bert LaBonte as Brooks, Sr. and Brooks, Jr., James Millar as George Gould Strong, John O’May as J.V. ‘Major’ Bouvier/ Norman Vincent Peale, Alex Rathgeber as Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. / Jerry, Liz Stiles as Young ‘Little’ Edie Beale, Ariel Kaplan as Young Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Bouvier and Lucy-Rose Coyne & Caitlin Vipond as Young Lee Bouvier,

Chairman, Jeanne Pratt said “The musical, Grey Gardens premiered Off-Broadway at the Playwrights Horizons in March 2006. It ushered in a resurgence of interest and fascination in the Grey Gardens phenomenon. The New York Times has described it as ‘an experience no passionate theatregoer should miss’. I’m in complete agreement with this.”

Grey Gardens is the compelling and moving real-life story of Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter, ‘Little’ Edie, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. As a young society debutante in the early 1940”s, ‘Little’ Edie Bouvier Beale (1917-2002) was one of the brightest names in the social register. Known as ‘body beautiful beale’ she was the It Girl of her generation, even eclipsing her young cousin, Jacqueline Bouvier. In the years following the Second World War, however, life at their 28-room mansion, Grey Gardens, took an unexpected turn. While Jackie and her sister, Lee Radziwill played out their lives on the world stage, Edie and her mother, Edith Bouvier Beale (1896-1977), became East Hampton’s most notorious recluses.

Grey Gardens was their fabled home in the elite seaside village of East Hampton, Long Island; this Tony®-Award winning Broadway musical is based on a landmark documentary that revealed the singular world of a famous American family in crisis.

Set in two eras – 1941 when the estate was in its prime and early in 1973 when it was reduced to squalor – this celebrated musical tells the alternately glorious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable women. Once among the brightest names in the New York social world, now they are East Hampton’s most notorious recluses.

Creative Team

Director: Roger Hodgman. Musical Director: Kellie Dickerson. Choreographer: Dana Jolly. Costume Designer: Fleur Thiemeyer. Set Designer: Richard Roberts Lighting Designer: Matt Scott. Sound Design: Sydtem Sound

Grey Gardens was written by Doug Wright, Music by Scott Frankel and Lyrics by Michael Korie. It is based on the cinema verite documentary Grey Gardens by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffle Mayer and Susan Froemke.

BOOKINGS: CALL 1300 182 183 or visit theartscentre.com.au or call in at the Arts Centre’s Box-Office.

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