The six-week limited run is scheduled through Feb. 6.
Based on the iconic 1975 documentary "Grey Gardens" that told the real-life story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's aunt and cousin Edith and Edie Bouvier Beale, the musical has book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie. It follows their progression from American aristocrats to reclusive social outcasts living in such squalid conditions, in a home overrun by cats, that the Health Department deemed the mansion "unfit for human habitation."
It is produced by Danielle Tarento and directed by Thom Southerland, the team who previously brought new productions of Grand Hotel, Titanic, Parade and Mack and Mabel to Southwark Playhouse.
Hancock has starred in the original London productions of Annie and Sweeney Todd, and more recent roles include starring as Fraulein Schneider in a revival of Cabaret (for which she won an Olivier Award), Mother Superior in Sister Act the Musical (Olivier nomination); Emmie Packer in Barking in Essex and Mum in The Anniversary (a role played in a much earlier film version by Bette Davis while Hancock played the daughter-in-law).
Russell was Tony nominated for reprising her Olivier winning performance in Sunday in the Park with George when the Menier Chocolate Factory production transferred to Broadway's Studio 54. She has also been nominated for the Best Actress in a Musical Olivier Award for Guys and Dolls. She was seen in the West End in Urinetown, which transferred from the St. James, where she also recently starred in Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World. Other West End credits include Di, Viv and Rose, Martin Guerre, Follies and Les Miserables. To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7407 0234 or visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk for more details.
