Lois Wright, Michael Sucsy, and Drew Barrymore at Grey Gardens

I got an e-mail from the Libra Man with an update on Michael Sucsy's Grey Gardens feature film. It's a short but great little story about Sucsy surprising Lois Wright with Drew Barrymore and a visit to Grey Gardens. He's promised more information about the visit when he gets it. How excited are you?

I had a short phone call with Lois Wright yesterday, who said that she had a visit from Mike Sucsy on Friday, and was surprised by Drew Barrymore, whom I guess is out in the Hamptons with Mike doing some research. The three of them went out to visit Doris Francisco, who was very close to Big Edie, and who never sees anyone (well, hardly anyone). And then they went to Grey Gardens the house.

Lois says Drew couldn't be nicer, and they stopped by the Post Office on their trip and Drew carried in a package for her. Just thought I'd pass this along. I expect I'll have a much longer chat with Lois after the holidays when I'm back home, and I'll send on any other interesting info and gossip.

Update

I received the following followup from the Libra Man:

Hi, Buster,

I got some of the facts wrong in my first e-mail to you. Drew Barrymore and Mike Sucsy visited Lois, and all three went to visit Doris Francisco, but only Drew and Mike visited Grey Gardens on that day.

"Little" Andrew

Video of Little Edie's fashion show

Film432.com uploaded the Little Edie fashion show segment from The Beales to YouTube! Here it is:

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Grey Gardens the Musical stars chat & perform at Barnes & Noble

Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson are doing another promotion for Grey Gardens the Musical!

From BroadwayWorld.com, by BWW News Desk, on 22 December 2006

Ebersole and Wilson to Appear at Barnes & Noble, 1/11

On January 11th, Grey Gardens stars Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson will appear at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle (1972 Broadway at 66th St.).

The stars will discuss the show, as well as perform. Other cast members are expected to appear at the free event, as well.

Grey Gardens, after a hit run at Playwrights Horizons, began previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 3rd and opened on November 2nd.

In addition to Ebersole (42nd Street, Dinner at Eight) and Wilson (Cabaret, Full Gallop), Grey Gardens stars John McMartin, Bob Stillman, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Potts, and Sarah hyland(all from the Playwrights Horizons production), as well as Broadway newcomer Erin Davie as Young 'Little' Edie Beale, and Kelsey Fowler.

The musical features a book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, the play and film Quills), music by Scott Frankel (musical director for Broadway's Falsettos, Putting It Together) and lyrics by Michael Korie (Harvey Milk, Zhivago). Directed by Tony Award nominee and Obie winner Michael Greif (Rent), the production has musical staging by Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun (Big River, Grease!). It will be produced by Producers East of Doheny, Randall L. Wreghitt, Mort Swinsky, Michael Alden and Edwin W. Schloss, in association with Playwrights Horizons,

The show "brings to life both the delightfully eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, these two women became East Hampton's most notorious recluses, living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion. Set in two eras – in 1941 when the estate was in its prime and in 1973 when it was reduced to squalor – the musical tells the alternately hilarious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable individuals, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter 'Little' Edie," according to production notes.

The Broadway production of Grey Gardens reunites the original creative and design team, featuring scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Peter Kaczorowski, sound design by Brian Ronan and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin and Music Director is Lawrence Yurman.

Grey Gardens had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, opening March 7, 2006 and completely sold out its initial limited engagement as well as three extensions. The musical was named Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical by the Outer Critics Circle Awards and was also the winner of a 2006 Richard Rodgers Production Award, administered by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It was most recently honored by the theater annual Best Plays as one of the ten best of the 2005-2006 season, and the only musical cited. Leading lady Ebersole also won several awards, including the Obie and the Drama Desk.

For tickets and information, visit www.greygardensthemusical.com.

Source

Rare Beale photos from The Beales of Grey Gardens

Al Maysles made a "new video introduction" for The Beales of Grey Gardens DVD and the joint Grey Gardens/The Beales of Grey Gardens DVD set. There are many never-before-seen pictures of the Beales in the into. In the spirit of this post, I've taken screengrabs of these images and posted them below. Be sure to view all twenty pictures by clicking on the link after the first one!

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Lois Wright's book on Grey Gardens, available shortly?

I'm wracking my mind about posts I hadn't completed for the old blog before it went down, and I'd started one about Lois Wright's book, My Life at Grey Gardens. It's currently only available as an eBook, but according to this post, it should be available soon (hopefully), and you can sign up to be notified when it's available on Lois's website. Here's hoping it's available sooner rather than later! I signed up a few weeks ago and haven't heard anything yet. The eBook was great; I'd just rather have the paperback version of it!

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Beales collages

Jonno, host of the Grey Gardens tribe, added a couple of collages from The Beales to his Flickr photostream. There's this:

"The Beales of Grey Gardens"

And this:

Little Edie One Hundred Times

Source: here via here

Liz Smith on Christine Ebersole

Oh, Christine Ebersole! How much I love you for... what it says you did in the last line of this article!

From Variety, by Liz Smith, on 13 December 2006

Around Gotham with Ebersole

Interviewing a big Broadway star between the matinee and evening performances can be risky. I went to see Christine Ebersole backstage at "Grey Gardens," before being whisked up to Lincoln Center to sing at the ASCAP Foundation Awards. (Her composers Scott Frankel and Michael Korie were getting the Richard Rodgers honor.) By the time this day ended, Christine would have sung the song "Around the World" in performance three times. This didn't seem to bother her. "Grey Gardens," she says, "started as a musical only two years ago. That's considered a whirlwind for getting a show on Broadway." ... She and Billy Stritch will perform at Birdland on Sunday. Christine burbled on saying that performing for Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Kennedy Center recently had been the "thrill of a lifetime ... I hear he had tears in his eyes when I sang 'As If We Never Said Goodbye.' I sat at dinner between George Stevens who runs the Kennedy Honors and Ben Bradlee who now owns the 'Grey Gardens' house in East Hampton. It was quite a fabulous seat." Returning from Lincoln Center in the Christmas holiday crush, Christine decided she couldn't take a chance on her 8 o'clock curtain. On 56th Street she left the limousine, now stuck in traffic, and ran all the way to 48th Street to the Walter Kerr Theater.

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Edie Beale's Grey Gardens Couture

The most important fashion video of 2006 wasn't Signe Chanel; it was Edith Bouvier Beale's Grey Gardens couture segment from The Beales of Grey Gardens.

The following are a set of screencaps of every outfit worn by Edie from the "Fashion Show" segment of The Beales. I presume that this collection encompasses everything that Edie wore for the weeks that the Maysles were at the house filming. These screencaps don't attempt to replace seeing Edie's motion and body language in the clothes on film. I hope they serve as useful references and inspiration.

But please don't use these just as just a reference for your 2007 Halloween costumes. Draw some inspiration for what you'll be wearing tomorrow!

What was my favorite outfit? It's a toss-up between these:

I love you, Edie!