Grey Gardens

Fresh from Broadway where it was nominated for ten Tony Awards in 2007, this new musical from Doug Wright tells the story of two interesting women, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter “Little Edie,” the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Once among the brightest names on the social register, these two women became East Hampton’s most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion with their 52 cats. From the glittering high society of 1940s New York to the tabloid headlines that rocked the Kennedy clan in 1970s, Grey Gardens takes you inside the fascinating world of “America’s royalty,” asking: when should the private be made public? And what are the limits of America’s right to know?

The story started with a documentary in 1975 when the tabloids revealed that the two former socialites were living in squalor. People would drive by to take pictures on the way to the beach. Finally Jackie Kennedy had to come to their defense and stopped the board of health from evicting them. The documentary was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2006, and an HBO film starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as the Eddies, aired this year. "Big Edie" died in 1977 and "Little Edie" sold the house in 1979 to former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. "Little Edie" died in 2002 at the age of 84.

The NY Times panned the documentary and suggested it never should have been made as it was a sad and bizarre invasion of privacy. When little Eddie wrote to defend the documentary they refused to print her letter, saying "we do not print letters from schizophrenics." I think that says it all.

Portland Center Stage

128 NW Eleventh Ave.

Portland, OR 97209

http://www.pcs.org/