Rick Lewis, the musical director for Portland Center Stage's production of Grey Gardens talks about the nuances of this fine musical score.

On the main stage from May 26th - June 21st.
pcs.org/greygardens

Fresh from Broadway where it was nominated for ten Tony Awards in 2007, this new musical from Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) tells the hilarious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable 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?

If you’ve seen the Mayles Brothers documentary Grey Gardens you may be wondering how exactly Doug Wright has managed to translate that creepy/fascinating example of cinema verite into, well, a musical.