CAROLINA FOREST HIGH SCHOOL PRESENTS

Book by Doug
Wright
Music by
Scott Frankel
Lyrics by
Michael Korie
Based on the
film Grey
Gardens by
David
Maysles,
Albert
Maysles, Ellen
Hovde, Muffie
Mayer and
Susan
Froemke

STUDY
GUIDE
Prepared by
Carolina
Forest High
School
Performing
Arts
Department
Based on the
Disney Study Guide

Welcome

Carolina Forest High School presents

Grey Gardens the musical
March 4-7

Purchase Tickets online at www.greygardensinfo.com

“In a statement released today, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis confirmed that her eighty-year-old aunt, Mrs. Edith
Bouvier Beale, and her adult daughter Edie are living in squalid conditions in an East Hampton estate known as
“Grey Gardens.” The house that once played host to Howard Hughes and the Rockefellers is now a refuge for
fifty-two stray cats, a few rabid raccoons, and its two reclusive inhabitants, all living in an environment the
Health Department calls “unfit for human habitation.”
--Grey Gardens, Prologue

How did these two women with such wealth and promise come to such ruins? Why did no one help? What led
them to this point? Grey Gardens the musical takes the audience on a heartfelt journey through the lives of Mrs.
Edith Bouvier Beale, and her daughter “Little” Edie Beale. Not only it is amazing to think that such characters
actually existed, but the historical connections in the show and in their lives are extraordinary. As a teacher, I
am excited about the educational experience that this show creates for many of our students. There is so much
history and literature integrated into the show. At Carolina Forest High School, we strive to bring you
“Broadway” level performances, and provide our students with opportunities to excel in all areas. We hope that
you will find this study guide to be a useful source in relating the educational aspects of Grey Gardens to your
students.

Kelly Hall
Theatre Teacher
Carolina Forest High School

Note from the Director

Wayne Canady
Director

Our Creative Team

Wayne Canady, Director

Kraig McBroom, Musical Director
Kelly Hall, Drama Instructor

Faculty of Carolina Forest High School Arts Education

G. Wayne Canady
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Department Chairman,
Director of CFHS Theatre Arts Department
and Curriculum Specialist

Kraig McBroom
Director of CFHS Choral Music Department

Kelly Hall
CFHS Theatre Arts Department
International Thespian Honor Society Sponsor

Chad Horsley
Director of CFHS Instrumental Music Department

Kristin Hawley
CFHS Visual Arts Department

Jenn Seay
CFHS Visual Arts Department

Thomas Mendenhall
CFHS Visual Arts Department

Meghan Bassett
CFHS Visual Arts Department

Administrative Team of Carolina Forest High School

Velna Allen, Principal

Jim Baxely, Assistant Principal
John Washburn, Assistant Principal
Robin Jones, Assistant Principal
Gaye Driggers, Assistant Principal
Maurice Murphy, Assistant Principal

Table of Contents

Page 5……………………………Who is Little Edie?

The Backstory
Awards and Nominations
Meet the Characters
Class Projects in Characterization
Class Projects in Costume Design
Class Projects in Plot and Story Telling
Class Projects in Setting and History
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Discussion Topics
Puzzles and Games
Useful Link and Resources

Who is Little Edie?

What comes to mind when you think of Edie Beale? Dancer. Singer. Actress. Model. Poet. Debutante.
Fashionista. Visionary. Philosopher. Revolutionary. Defiant iconoclast. Staunch character.

"Little" Edie Beale was born in Manhattan on November 7, 1917. The daughter of Edith Bouvier and Phelan
Beale, Edie grew up living the privileged lifestyle that her wealthy family could afford. She was practically
attached at her mother's hip, accompanying Edith to lady's luncheons and high society functions.

She attended the Spence School, a private school for the wealthy, located in New York until her mother
mysteriously took her out - apparently for a respiratory illness. She was kept out of the school for two years
(during the age of eleven and twelve), but accompanied her mother to movies and plays nearly every day.

In 1935 she graduated from Miss Porter's School, a highly-selective finishing school for ladies, located in
Farmington, Connecticut. She had her debutante debut (a formal introduction to society) at the Pierre Hotel on
Fifth Avenue, New York on New Year's Day in 1936. She socialized at the Maidstone Club, the first private
sports club in East Hampton, Long Island.

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A tall, blue-eyed blonde with a superb figure, John Davis, Bouvier family historian, said Edie was one of the
reigning beauties of East Hampton society, "surpassing even the dark charm of [her cousin] Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy." She was known around town as "Body Beautiful Beale" and had a steady following of beaus. To
the dismay of her father, she dabbled in professional modeling. One of her photos was displayed in the studio
window of famed photographer Louis Bachrach; Phelan Beale reportedly smashed the window in anger.
Another photo hung unauthorized in the Macy's elevator in Manhattan.

Though never married, it is believed that she had proposals from Joe Kennedy, Jr. and J. Paul Getty. She even
dated jetsetters like Howard Hughes. Her one true love was Julius Krug, fomer Secretary of Interior. Her
mother apparently scared off every suitor Edie ever had for fear that she would one day be left alone with no
one to care for her.From 1947 to 1952 she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women, one of the earliest residential
housing alternatives for young women moving to New York City to take advantage of professional
opportunities. Codes of conduct and dress were enforced, no men were allowed above the lobby floor, and
prospective tenants needed three letters of recommendation to be considered residency. Edie hoped to land her
"big break" in showbusiness while in the city. Max Gordon, the successful Broadway producer, saw potential
in Edie and invited her to audition for the Theatre Guild that summer. To her dismay, she was forced to return
to Grey Gardens before that chance came; her mother could no longer afford to send her grocery money and
Edie had no legitimate way of supporting herself.

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From 1947 to 1952 she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women, one of the earliest residential housing
alternatives for young women moving to New York City to take advantage of professional opportunities. Codes
of conduct and dress were enforced, no men were allowed above the lobby floor, and prospective tenants
needed three letters of recommendation to be considered residency. Edie hoped to land her "big break" in
showbusiness while in the city. Max Gordon, the successful Broadway producer, saw potential in Edie and
invited her to audition for the Theatre Guild that summer. To her dismay, she was forced to return to Grey
Gardens before that chance came; her mother could no longer afford to send her grocery money and Edie had
no legitimate way of supporting herself.

On July 29, 1952 Edie returned to East Hampton to live with her mother at Grey Gardens. As famously
portrayed in the Maysles documentary, the pair would have daily routines of quarrels, reminiscences,
reconciliations, and (yes!) singing. Edie lived proudly in abject poverty and filth amongst cats and raccoons at
the crumbling manor until her mother passed away in 1977.

Edie inherited Grey Gardens from her mother, but little else (she, nor her mother, ever received a penny from
the Grey Gardens documentary). In order to pay the real estate and inheritance taxes on the house, she
auctioned a large collection of sterling silver pieces including a 195-piece set of Gorham flatware given to her
mother as a wedding gift.
After 25 years of practicing her dance routines and honing her voice under the watchful eye of her mother, Edie
would now finally have her chance to shine in front of an audience - at the age of 60. She was offered an eight-
show stint (January 10-14, 1978) performing in the Paradise Room of Reno Sweeny, a Greenwich Village
cabaret in New York. Patrons paid $7.50 a piece to watch Edie sing, dance, and answer questions from the
audience - all while wearing a patch over one eye (she had cataract surgery only two weeks before). She was
also reportedly asked to perform at a club in London, and to record an album. Those two propositions never
materialized, though.

On the day after her final performance at Reno Sweeney, Edie was driven back home to Grey Gardens. She
lived there for two more years with only five of the original cats (the rest were given up for adoption after her
mother died). She eventually sold the home for $220,000 under the assumed condition that the new owners
would not demolish it. She left behind many mementos in the attic including old letters, silver and china,
furniture, books, and figurines.

Little Edie moved around quite a bit after leaving Grey Gardens (taking two favorite cats along with her). She
initially moved to a rental cottage in South Hampton, New York, then to a small apartment in New York City
from 1980-1983. She relocated to Florida, then briefly resided in Montreal, Canada during the mid-1990's. She
briefly stayed with relatives in Oakland, California until she moved to an apartment in Bal Harbour, Florida in

6
1997. She lived out her final days there, swimming almost every day, until her death on January 14, 2002 at the
age of 84. She had not owned a cat in five years.
Edie was recognized in a video montage memorializing members of the film industry who died over the past
year during the 2002 Academy Awards.

Little has been reported about Edie's death. Her nephew and executor of her estate, Bouvier Beale, Jr., says the
Dade County coroner attributed the death to a heart attack or stroke resulting from arteriosclerosis (thickening
and stiffening of the artery walls from too much pressure). She appeared to have been dead for five days, and
was only discovered after a concerned fan notified the apartment office that he could not reach her by phone.

Little Edie reportedly said that she did not want to be buried near her mother, though it is believed that part of
her ashes were spread at the Bouvier family plot and in the Atlantic Ocean. She was later memorialized with a
grave marker beside her brother, “Buddy,” at Locust Valley Cemetary in Long Island . The marker is inscribed
with her quote, "I CAME FROM GOD. I BELONG TO GOD. IN THE END - I SHALL RETURN TO GOD."

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The Musical "Grey Gardens"
The Musical is Grey Gardens, March 4-7, 2010 at CFHS. For more information and to purchase tickets for this
year's show at CFHS go to our Web site for our show.... www.greygardensinfo.com The musical opened on
Broadway in 2006 and was nominated during the 2007 Tony Awards for ten awards and won three. Time
Magazine proclaimed it the Best New Musical of 2006. It is our pleasure to continue bringing quality theatre to
our Carolina Forest High School family, community, and loyal patrons reaching in new and exciting directions.

The story:
Grey Gardens is a musical with book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie,
based on the 1975 documentary of the same title about the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and
her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") by Albert and David Maysles. The Beales were Jacqueline
Kennedy's aunt and cousin, respectively. Set at Grey Gardens, the Bouviers' mansion in East Hampton, New
York, the musical tracks the progression of their lives from their original status as rich and socially polished
aristocrats to their eventual largely isolated existence in a home overridden by cats and cited for repeated health
code violations. However, its more central purpose is to untangle the complicated dynamics of their
dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship. The show takes place in two acts, the first of which is a speculative
take on what their lives might have been like in their glory days and the second of which hews closely to the
1975 documentary in its portrayal of their lives in later years. In the first act, which takes place in 1941, Little
Edie is 24 and Big Edie is 47; in the second act, taking place in 1973, Little Edie is 56 and Big Edie is 79. The
same actress who plays Big Edie in the first act plays Little Edie in the second act.

Factual Background used in Grey Gardens

Despite the decrepid state of the 28-room mansion in which the destitute Edith Bouvier Beale and her daugher
"Little" Edie lived with dozens of cats and more than a few racoons, these loopy ladies were scrappy enough to
make their story more interesting to the Maysles brothers than that of the rest of the family. (It was their cousin
Lee Radziwill who contacted the brother about making a film about the Bouvier family).
Edie Bouvier Beale was in actuality a frustrated professional singer, who in deference to her conservative
husband, limited herself to living room concerts. Like the Edith of the musical she did have a live-in
accompanist named George Gould Strong (about whose later years nothing is known) and even when not
concertizing, the ladies of the house were known to burst into a Cole Porter song at the drop of a hat. Beale did,
as per the letter at the end of the first act, obtain a Mexican divorce which yielded no alimony. That, combined
with her being disinherited by her father, accounted for the lack of funds to maintain Grey Gardens or anything
resembling her former life style. She died in 1977, after falling off a wobbly chest of drawers.
What about Jacqueline Kennedy and the destitute Beales? Though Kennedy didn't appear in the Maysles film
she is said to have visited her aunt occasionally and provided enough financial help to satisfy the board of
health grievances.
In the 1940s Edie Bouvier Beale was a prominent and much sought after debutante, whose suitors included the
Rockefeller Brother and J. Paul Getty. She actually was nicknamed "Body Beautiful Beale" (per one of the
songs) after her bathing suit came undone mid-dive at East Hampton's posh Maidstone Club. She really was
engaged to Joe Kennedy Jr but Doug Wright's presentation of how the engagement ended is as credible a
scenario as anyone has come up with. The mother and daughter love-hate relationship depicted in songs like
"Mother, Darling", and "Peas in a Pod" serve as an apt precursor to the later years of dysfunctional and and
oddly loving togetherness captured in the documentary.
While Edie never achieved the career to which she aspired, the film gave her a degree of fame as an influential
fashionista. Well known designers like John Bartlett, Todd Oldham and Calvin Klein declared her
extradordinary way of assembling various mismatched garments into what she called her "revolutionary
costumes" as trendsetting fashion statements. Small wonder that Christine Ebersole's "The Revolutionary
Costume for Today" in her first number as little Edie at age 57 is the musical's super show stopper. The real "
little" Edie tried to capitalize on the documentary's fate with a short-lived night club singing act. After her
mother died, she moved to Miami Beach where she died in 2002.
A second act character, a young caretaker named Jerry who's played by Matt Cavanaugh, is like his Joe
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Kennedy Jr. of the first act, based on a real young man named Jerry Torre. The Grey Garden ladies really did
nickname name him for Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (which graces the Playbill cover). The film
makers looked for Torre for years, but he wasn't discovered until years after the film came out (driving a taxi).
There's an article, The Marble Faun, in the March 6th issue of the New Yorker which includes some of his
recollection of the Edies and his reaction to seeing a preview of the musical.
Grey Gardens, the Musical is not the final chapter in the social register cat ladies saga. A film which followed
starred Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

Sincerely,

Wayne Canady & Kraig McBroom, CFHS Fine Arts Department

Awards and Nominations

Tony Awards
Nomination/Best Musical
Nomination/Best Book of a Musical
Nomination/Best Original Score
Win/Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole)
Win/Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Louise Wilson)
Nomination/Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Allen Moyer)
Win/Best Costume Design of a Musical (William Ivey Long)
Nomination/Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Peter Kaczorowski)
Nomination/Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Greif)
Nomination/Best Orchestration (Bruce Coughlin)
Drama Desk Awards
Nomination/Outstanding Musical
Win/Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole)
Nomination/Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (John McMartin)
Nomination/Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Louise Wilson)
Nomination/Outstanding Director of a Musical (Michael Greif)
Nomination/Outstanding Music (Scott Frankel)
Nomination/Outstanding Lyrics (Michael Korie)
Nomination/Outstanding Book of a Musical (Doug Wright)
Nomination/Outstanding Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin)
Nomination/Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (Allen Moyer)
Nomination/Outstanding Costume Design (William Ivey Long)
Nomination/Outstanding Sound Design (Brian Ronan)
Outer Critics Circle Awards
Win/Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical
Nomination/Outstanding New Score
Win/Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole)
Win/Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Louise Wilson)
Nomination/Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Michael Greif)
Nomination/Outstanding Set Design (Allen Moyer)
Nomination/Outstanding Costume Design (William Ivey Long)
Drama League Awards
Nomination/Distinguished Production of a Musical
Win/Distinguished Performance (Christine Ebersole)
Nomination/Distinguished Performance (Mary Louise Wilson)
New York Drama Critics Circle Awards
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Win/Special Citation to Christine Ebersole
Theatre World Award
Win/Erin Davie
Grammy Award
Nomination 2008 Best Musical Show Album

Meet the Characters

Edith Bouvier Beale

“Little” Edith Beale
George Gould Strong
Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.
Lee Bouvier
J.V. “Major” Bouvier
Jerry
Norman Vincent Peale
Brooks, Sr.
Brooks, Jr.

Class Project

Bring Grey Gardens to Life!

Note to teachers: In the following pages, you’ll find interactive lessons that span across the curriculum. The
lessons cover subject areas such as Language Arts, History, Theatre, Visual Arts, Music, and Dance. These
lessons are designed to help your students think about the show while learning key curricular skills. We hope
that you will find these activities as useful resources in your classroom.

A good way to analyze any story is through the 5 W’s:

WHO (Character)
Who are the different characters?

WHAT (Plot)
What happens to the characters during the story?

WHEN (Setting)
When during the year does the story take place? What historical time periods are covered?

WHERE (Setting)
Where does the story take place?

WHY (Theme)
Why do the characters act as they do?

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WHO
Who is the leading character?

Throughout the story, you are drawn into the world of Edith Beale and her daughter “Little” Edie Beale. You
are captured into their past, present, and future. But who are these women?

Who do you believe is the leading character and why?

Write ten words describing the leading character’s appearance.

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
4._____________________________________
5._____________________________________
6._____________________________________
7._____________________________________
8._____________________________________
9._____________________________________
10.____________________________________

Both Edith and Edie have a distinct personality. It is their unique personality that makes them so fascinating to
watch. Write ten words that you feel describe the personality and emotion of the lead character.

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
4._____________________________________
5._____________________________________
6._____________________________________
7._____________________________________
8._____________________________________
9._____________________________________
10.____________________________________

How does their personality and emotion change throughout the story?

Variations: Students can use these adjectives to write a one paragraph description of Tarzan.

Learning Objectives
English/Language Arts: Students will provide details of characters
Students will write in response to literature

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WHO

Who are the other characters? Imagine that you are directing Grey Gardens. As a director, you must know who
each character is, in order to cast the show and to inform each actor of their character. For each character below
write three adjectives. Then, with your three adjectives create a descriptive sentence about each character.

George Gould Strong

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Lee Bouvier
1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

J.V. “Major” Bouvier

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Jerry
1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
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 _____________________________________
_____________________________________

An additional character of your choosing: ________________________

1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3._____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Variations: How would the characters describe each other? For example, in Act II, Scene 7 Edith is describing
Gould. She says that Gould “was the most brilliant man I’ve ever met, that includes Mr. Beale and Mr.
Bouvier! Completely Brilliant”.

Learning Objectives
English/Language Arts: Students will provide details of characters
Students will write in response to literature

WHO

Journal Writing

As Grey Gardens illustrates, people see the world from different points of view. Take the events listed below

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