Grey Gardens announces casting

Newcomer Erin Davie will make her Broadway debut as young socialite Edie Beale in the new American musical Grey Gardens this fall. Davie has appeared in the national tours of Wicked, Swing!, and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Set in 1941, the first act shows a momentous day in the life of "Little" Edie Beale, who is about to start of future with young Joe Kennedy Jr.; Christine Ebersole plays Little Edie's vivacious, controlling, spotlight-hungry mother, Edith Bouvier Beale. By Act 2, it's 1973, and their lives at their ramshackle Long Island mansion, Grey Gardens, have deteriorated. By then, Ebersole assumes the part of late-middle-aged Little Edie, and Mary Louise Wilson plays the haggard Edith--alone together and haunted by the past.

Playbill.com announced that Davie would be joining the production and featured a complete list of the cast. Repeating their performances from last spring's Playwrights Horizons production will be five-time Tony award nominee John McMartin (Follies, Show Boat, Into the Woods) as Major Bouvier; two-time Tony award nominee Bob Stillman (Dirty Blonde, Grand Hotel) as Gould; Matt Cavenaugh (Urban Cowboy, national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie) as both Joe Kennedy Jr. and Jerry; Obie award winner Michael Potts (Lennon) as Brooks; and Sarah Hyland (title role in Paper Mill Playhouse's Annie) as young Jacqueline Bouvier. Christine Ebersole will play Little Edie's vivacious, controlling, spotlight-hungry mother, Edith Bouvier Beale.

Also joining the company will be 9-year-old Kelsey Fowler as Lee Bouvier. Audrey Twitchell--the young actress who created the part earlier this year--has physically outgrown it.

Grey Gardens had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, opening March 7, 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. Grey Gardens is by out writer Doug Wright (book), Scott Frankel (music), and Michael Korie (lyrics).

Performances will begin October 3, and the show will open officially November 2 at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City. (The Advocate)