Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens.

Grey Gardens is a musical based on the documentary of the same title about the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") by Albert and David Maysles.

Cast

• Mary Louise Wilson - "Big" Edie Beale
• Christine Ebersole - "Little" Edie Beale
• Bob Stillman - George Gould Strong
• Michael Potts - Brooks Sr./Brooks Jr.
• Sarah Hyland - Jacqueline Bouvier
• Audrey Twitchell - Lee Bouvier
• Matt Cavenaugh - Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr./Jerry
• John McMartin - J. V. 'Major' Bouvier/Norman Vincent Beale

Plot

The first act depicts the characters in their heyday and is a speculative take on what their lives might have been like when they were younger, when Little Edie was 24 and Big Edie 47. The second act is set 32 years later in 1973 at the decaying Grey Gardens estate and hews closely to the Maysles Brothers' documentary in its portrayal of them in their later years, when Little Edie is 56 and Big Edie is 79. While the first act is almost entirely fictional (the central event, the engagement between Little Edie and Joseph Kennedy, never happened), the second act takes much of its dialogue and action directly from the film. The same actress who plays Big Edie in the first act plays Little Edie in the second act.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "The Girl Who Has Everything" — Recording of Edith's voice
• "The Five-Fifteen" — Edith, Gould, Brooks, Jackie and Lee
• "Mother Darling" — Edie
• "Goin' Places" — Joe and Edie
• "Marry Well" — Major Bouvier, Brooks, Jackie, Lee and Edie
• "Hominy Grits" — Edith, Gould, Jackie and Lee
• "Peas in a Pod" — Edie and Edith
• "Drift Away" — Gould
• "The Five-Fifteen" (Reprise) — Edith
• "Daddy's Girl" — Edie and Joe
• "The Telegram" — Edie
• "Will You?" — Edith

Act II

• "The Revolutionary Costume for Today" — Edie
• "The Cake I Had" — Edith
• "Entering Grey Gardens" — Ensemble
• "The House We Live In" — Edie and Ensemble
• "Jerry Likes My Corn" — Edith
• "Around the World" — Edie
• "Choose to Be Happy" — Norman Vincent Peale
• "Around the World" (Reprise) — Edie
• "Another Winter in a Summer Town" — Edie and Edith
• "The Girl Who Has Everything" (Reprise) — Recording of Edith's voice