After a Feb. 27 screening, audiences can return for a Feb. 28 special performance of the musical (still in previews at that time) and a reception with the cast and the creative team.
The evenings will be presented at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd Street, as follows:
Tickets are $75 each for the screening and Q & A, and $250 for the "double feature," which includes the screening, Q & A and Feb. 28 musical and reception.
A limited number of premium tickets (at $500) are also available. It includes all of the above, plus supper with Albert Maysles and the creative team of the musical following the screening on Feb. 27.
Based on the acclaimed cult 1975 documentary "Grey Gardens" (by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer & Susan Froemke), Grey Gardens "concerns the deliciously eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who were once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, and are now East Hampton's most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion," according to Playwrights Horizons. "Facing an uncertain future, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter, 'Little' Edie, are forced to revisit their storied past and come to terms with it — for better, and for worse."
The musical features a book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, which premiered at Playwrights Horizons), music by Scott Frankel (musical director for Broadway's Falsettos, Putting It Together) and lyrics by Michael Korie (Harvey Milk). Musical staging is by Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun (the recent Big River, Grease!).
Directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Rent), Grey Gardens begins previews on Feb. 10, with an official opening on March 7 at 7 PM. Performances will continue through Sunday, March 26 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater.
The cast features Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (42nd Street, Dinner at Eight, Steel Magnolias), Tony nominee Mary Louise Wilson (Cabaret, Full Gallop), Matt Cavenaugh (Urban Cowboy, national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie), Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Nine), Sarah Hyland (title role in Paper Mill's Annie), five-time Tony nominee John McMartin (Follies, Show Boat, Into the Woods), Obie winner Michael Potts (Lennon), two-time Tony nominee Bob Stillman (Dirty Blonde, Grand Hotel) and Audrey Twitchell (stage debut).
Tickets for the benefit can be reserved online by visiting www.ticketcentral.com or by calling Jill Garland, director of development, at (212) 564-1235, extension 3140.
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The 35-year-old Playwrights Horizons is under the leadership of artistic director Tim Sanford and managing director Leslie Marcus.
Grey Gardens is presented by special arrangement with Nathan Riley.
For ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 PM daily, or visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
