This 2007 Tony Nominated
musical is based on the 1975 documentary about “Big Edie”
and “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale, the eccentric aunt and
first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Grey
Gardens was the Beales’ actual 28-room mansion in the
Hamptons. With soaring musical numbers and a moving story,
Grey Gardens follows
this notorious pair as they spiral downward from rich,
socially polished aristocrats to an isolated existence in a
deteriorating house overridden by cats and raccoons.
Special Events:
Talk back performances February 2, 7 and 9
Stay afterwards for a
discussion of the play with the Director and Actors.
Groups:
Bringing 10+people? Call
Group Sales. 816-531-7529 x21
Don't forget to add/follow
us on
Facebook,
MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and
Digg.
Don't
Miss the "Edie" Martini:
Cafe Trio is helping support the
Unicorn by offering a special “Edie” Martini [Cooranbong
Vodka & ginger beer with a twist] at $8 with $4 being
donated to the Unicorn. This special is available through
the end of show [February 28th].
DOUG WRIGHT(BOOK) received 2007 Tony and
Drama Desk nominations for his book for the Broadway musical
Grey Gardens. In 2004, he was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize, a Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award, a
GLAAD Media Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama
League Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award for his play I
Am My Own Wife. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wright won an
Obie Award for outstanding achievement in playwriting and
the Kesselring Award for Best New American Play from the
National Arts Club for his play Quills. He went on to
write the screenplay adaptation, making his motion picture
debut. The film was named Best Picture by the National Board
of Review and nominated for three Academy Awards. His
screenplay was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and
received the Paul Selvin Award from the Writer’s Guild of
America. For director Rob Marshall, Doug penned the
television special “Tony Bennett: An American Classic”,
which received seven Emmy Awards. His stage work has been
produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San
Francisco, London, Stockholm, Bucharest, Krakow, Dublin,
Budapest, Brasov and Viterbo, among other cities. His titles
include The Stonewater Rapture, Interrogating The Nude,
Watbanaland, Buzzsaw Berkeley and Unwrap Your Candy.
For career achievement, Mr. Wright was recently cited with
an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and
the Tolerance Prize from the KulturForum Europa. He is a
member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild of
America, East, the Screen Actor’s Guild and the Society of
Stage Directors and Choreographers. Directing credits
include Kiki and Herb: Pardon Our Appearance in
Washington DC, Philadelphia and London. Acting credits
include the films Little Manhattan and Two Lovers.
Currently, Doug serves on the board of the New York Theater
Workshop. He lives in New York with his partner,
singer/songwriter David Clement.
SCOTT FRANKEL
(MUSIC) was nominated for the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer
Critics Circle awards for his work on Grey Gardens.
The show, which played a sold-out run at Playwrights
Horizons before transferring to Broadway, has generated two
original cast recordings and won the Outer Critics Circle
Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway musical and three 2007
Tony Awards. Frankel has also written the music for Doll
(Ravinia Festival; Richard Rodgers Award) and Meet Mister
Future (Winner, Global Search for New Musicals), both
with lyricist/librettist Michael Korie. As a music director,
conductor and pianist, he has been associated with the
original Broadway productions of Into The Woods, Les
Miserables, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, Rags and
Falsettos, as well as Off-Broadway’s Putting It
Together starring Julie Andrews. Motion picture credits
include Mike Nichols’ Postcards From the Edge, where
he can be seen (and heard) playing for Meryl Streep and
Shirley MacLaine. His many recordings include Barbra
Streisand’s “Back to Broadway” and a slew of original cast
albums. Mr. Frankel is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation
Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the Dramatists
Guild's Frederick Loewe Award. He is a two-time fellow of
the MacDowell Colony and a graduate of Yale University.
MICHAEL KORIE (LYRICS) received
the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony nomination for his
lyrics to Grey Gardens, music by Scott Frankel, book
by Doug Wright, directed by Michael Greif. Produced at
Playwrights Horizons and transferred to Broadway, the show
was recorded on P.S. Classics. Korie wrote the libretto to
composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera The Grapes of Wrath,
premiered to acclaim at Minnesota Opera followed by
productions at Utah Opera, Opera Pacific and Pittsburgh
Opera, and a recording issued by P.S. Classic. His librettos
for operas composed by Stewart Wallace include Harvey
Milk (San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera),
Hopper’s Wife (Long Beach Opera), Kabbalah
(Brooklyn Academy Next Wave Festival), and Where’s Dick?,
directed by Richard Foreman (Houston Grand Opera). He co
wrote lyrics with Amy Powers to composer Lucy Simon’s
Doctor Zhivago, book by Michael Weller, directed by Des
McAnuff at La Jolla Playhouse with a West End production
slated for 2009. Happiness, created for Lincoln
Center Theater with Scott Frankel, John Weidman and director
Susan Stroman, opens in 2009. Also with Frankel and
bookwriter Allan Knee he is writing lyrics to Finding
Neverland for The Weinstein Company. Korie’s lyrics have
received The Kleban Award and Jonathan Larson Foundation
Award. He serves on the Council for the Dramatists Guild,
and teaches lyric writing at Yale.
NEDRA DIXON’s
(DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER) rich and diverse theatrical
career includes performing, directing, choreography,
concert and cabaret work in venues from Broadway and
Off-Broadway to stock and regional productions. Naming
just a few: Bubblin’ Brown Sugar, Tintypes, Hair,
Once On This Island, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Kiss Me
Kate, Into The Woods, Jesus Christ Superstar, Children
of Eden, Anything Goes, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Honk,
Having Our Say, Beehive and Songs for a New World.
Staging the critically acclaimed, awarding winning
musical, Grey Gardens, marks Nedra’s directorial
debut with Unicorn Theatre. Audiences may remember
seeing her as a performer in the Unicorn’s productions
of The Women of Brewster Place and bare.
She is featured weekly as a vocalist/host on Kansas
City’s hot, new radio show, 12 O’clock Jump, a
jazz, blues and comedy hour broadcast live on NPR
affiliate, KCUR (89.3 FM), from the Mutual Musicians
Foundation in the Historic 18th and Vine Jazz
District. Nedra’s theatre life has been filled with
unforgettable, artistic moments shared with so many
precious, gifted, stellar friends. However, the most
brilliant nova in Nikki’s (as her friends know her)
universe is her beautiful daughter, Jasmin.
ANTHONY T. EDWARDS (MUSICAL DIRECTOR)a
native of Humboldt, Tennessee, is delighted to be a part
of this Unicorn production.Anthony is currently
the Resident Musical Director for the American Heartland
Theatre, All Souls Unitarian Church, Starlight and Epic
Entertainment. He completed a Bachelor of Music degree
in commercial music and piano performance at Belmont
University in Nashville, TN and graduate studies in
piano performance at the University of
Missouri-Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, MO. He
has appeared with Kansas City Repertory Theatre, New
Theatre Restaurant, Quality Hill Playhouse, Starlight
Theatre, Theatre in the Park, American Heartland
Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, Red Barn Theatre and
Waterfront Playhouse in Key West, FL., Casa Manana in
Fort Worth, Theatre Under the Stars in Atlanta and Late
Night Theatre. With a resume that reads like the history
of American Musical Theatre, there are just way too many
shows to mention, but you may remember these Unicorn
productions: Hedwig and the Angry Inch; BatBoy: The
Musical; Crowns; Convenience; The Great American Trailer
Park Musical; tick, tick…BOOM!; rightnextto me; The
Women of Brewster Placeandbare.
Anthony lives in here in Kansas City with a great
guy named Scott and a really incredible dog named
Samantha. Congratulations to Cynthia, the Cast and the
Unicorn staff on this Kansas City premiere!!
CATHY BARNETT (“LITTLE” EDIE BEALE/EDITH BOUVIER
BEALE) is delighted to return to the Unicorn where she
previously performed in The Great American Trailer
Park Musical. She was last seen in the American
Heartland Theatre’s production of Are We There Yet?
in 2009. Cathy has appeared in numerous productions at
New Theatre Restaurant including Don’t Dress For
Dinner with Jamie Farr, Rumors with John
Davidson, Church Basement Ladies with William
Christopher, Aspirin and Elephants with Jack
Klugman and On Golden Pond with Don Knotts.
Appearances at other area theaters include Private
Lives, Dinner With Friends, Talley & Son and
Fifth of July at the Actors Theatre of Kansas City
and Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of
Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. Cathy has
toured nationally and internationally in both
Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood.
She has also traveled across the nation as Louise in
Always, Patsy Cline. She also portrays the Hallmark
greeting card character, “Maxine,” and can give you
directions to anywhere you want to go as the voice of
the Garmin GPS Navigation Systems.
KATHLEEN WARFEL (EDITH BOUVIER BEALE)
returns to the Unicorn having most recently appeared in
Speech & Debate as the Teacher and the Reporter.
Other performances here include Nat in Rabbit Hole
Susie in Omnium Gatherum, Maureen in Beauty
Queen of Leenane, as well as Desert Holiday,
Keeley and Du, The Waiting Room and
Burn This. A familiar face on area stages, you may
have seen her perform at the Heart of America
Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Kansas City, The
American Heartland Theatre, or Kansas City Repertory
Theatre. This is her first musical in ump-teen years
(how ’bout that, Molly!) and she is very excited to be
working among such accomplished talent.
ROBERT GIBBY BRAND (J.V. “MAJOR” BOUVIER/NORMAN
VINCENT PEALE) was last seen at the Unicorn in I am
My Own Wife and is very happy to appear in Grey
Gardens. Kansas City audiences most recently saw Bob
as Joe in The Time of Your Life at
Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre. A
familiar face to Kansas City theatre-goers, Bob has
appeared at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the Lyric
Opera, New Theatre Restaurant, Heart of America
Shakespeare Festival, American Heartland Theatre, and
Coterie Theatre. He is looking forward to Light in
the Piazza at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre in
the Spring.
BRANDON SOLLENBERGER (JOSEPH PATRICK KENNEDY
JR./JERRY) is happy to be back with this incredible
company at the Unicorn in Grey Gardens. His last
appearance here was in bare as Jason. He has
been seen all around town in venues such as Quality Hill
Playhouse, New Theatre Restaurant, Starlight Theatre,
Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre and Musical Theater
Heritage. You may have also seen him bounding around
stage at Kansas City Repertory Theatre's production of
Into the Woods as a Prince. He sends his undying
love to family and friends. Let’s not forget the two
most important people in the world, Mom and Dad. Peace,
Love and Hope.
LAUREN BRATON(YOUNG “LITTLE” EDIE BEALE) is making her Unicorn
Theatre debut. Ms. Braton was awarded the 2008 Emerging
Artist Honor by The Kansas City
Star
and was featured in TheStar
Magazine.
She recently played Rapunzel in
Moisés Kaufman's Into the Woods
at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Mary Hatch in
It's
A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play at
the American Heartland Theatre. Locally she has appeared
at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, American Heartland
Theatre, Quality Hill Playhouse, Metropolitan Ensemble
Theatre, Musical Theater Heritage and Civic Opera
Theater of Kansas City. Her regional credits include
productions at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre and Seagle
Music Colony in New York. Ms. Braton’s upcoming
productions include Lullaby
of 42nd Street
at Quality Hill Playhouse and The 25th Annual Putnam
County Spelling Bee
(Olive Ostrovsky) at American Heartland Theatre.
SETH GOLAY (GEORGE GOULD STRONG) is thrilled to
return to the Unicorn and be part of this exciting
adventure! Previous Unicorn credits include Bat Boy in
Bat Boy: TheMusical - for which he won a
Pitch Weekly “Best Of” award. Other KC credits include:
A Christmas Story: The Musical, Winesburg Ohio,
Pirates of Penzance, The Front Page (Kansas City
Repertory Theatre), Tapestry, Curtain Up!, Love is
Here to Stay (Quality Hill Playhouse), Big River,
Bernstien’s Broadway (Musical Theater Heritage),
Twice Upon a Time, Stuart Little, Seussical (Coterie
Theatre), Her
Anything Goes (Starlight Theatre), I Love You
Because, Forever Plaid, The Rainmaker, The 1940’s Radio
Hour (American Heartland Theatre), and The
Foreigner (New Theatre Restaurant). This summer Seth
will have the pleasure of appearing in Lucky Duck
at Coterie Theatre.
KEENAN MANUEL RAMOS (BROOKS JR./SR.) is
returning to the Unicorn stage again this season after
being seen in My First Time.
Recently he’s been seen at The Coterie Theatre in Little
House on the Prarie and
U:Bug:Me.
Keenan is excited to be back in Kansas City after
spending a year on tour with the Kennedy Center ’s TYA
tour of Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa
Major. Keenan attended Kansas State University
majoring in theatre with an emphasis in performance. He
would like to thank his loving family and as always,
Shannon.
MATTIE FAITH BELL (JACQUELINE “JACKIE” BOUVIER) is
delighted to make her debut at the Unicorn among such a
talented cast. Mattie was most recently seen in
Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls) at The
Coterie Theatre. Some of Mattie’s other credits include
The New Theatre Restaurant’s The Sound of Music (Brigitta)
and The Culture House’s The Wizard of Oz
(Dorothy) and Annie Jr. (Kate). She trains in
dance and vocal performance and attends sixth grade at
Heatherstone Elementary School in Olathe. Mattie is an
avid reader who loves finding a cozy spot to curl up to
a good mystery. She would like to thank the directors
for allowing her to step in to this opportunity. Mattie
also sends her love and thanks to Dad and Mom, and hugs
to her brothers and sister. You guys rock! Matthew
5:16
ERIN LOWE (LEE BOUVIER) is very excited to be in her
first production at the Unicorn. She is in the fourth
grade and has loved to perform for everyone who would
watch since she was a toddler. Erin takes acting, dance
and piano lessons and has been fortunate to perform at
both Starlight Theatre and Shawnee Mission Theatre in
the Park.
Cafe Trio is helping support the
Unicorn by offering a special “Edie” Martini [Cooranbong
Vodka & ginger beer with a twist] at $8 with $4 being
donated to the Unicorn. This special is available through
the end of show [February 28th].
DOUG WRIGHT (BOOK) received 2007 Tony and
Drama Desk nominations for his book for the Broadway musical
Grey Gardens. In 2004, he was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize, a Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award, a
GLAAD Media Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama
League Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award for his play I
Am My Own Wife. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wright won an
Obie Award for outstanding achievement in playwriting and
the Kesselring Award for Best New American Play from the
National Arts Club for his play Quills. He went on to
write the screenplay adaptation, making his motion picture
debut. The film was named Best Picture by the National Board
of Review and nominated for three Academy Awards. His
screenplay was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and
received the Paul Selvin Award from the Writer’s Guild of
America. For director Rob Marshall, Doug penned the
television special “Tony Bennett: An American Classic”,
which received seven Emmy Awards. His stage work has been
produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San
Francisco, London, Stockholm, Bucharest, Krakow, Dublin,
Budapest, Brasov and Viterbo, among other cities. His titles
include The Stonewater Rapture, Interrogating The Nude,
Watbanaland, Buzzsaw Berkeley and Unwrap Your Candy.
For career achievement, Mr. Wright was recently cited with
an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and
the Tolerance Prize from the KulturForum Europa. He is a
member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild of
America, East, the Screen Actor’s Guild and the Society of
Stage Directors and Choreographers. Directing credits
include Kiki and Herb: Pardon Our Appearance in
Washington DC, Philadelphia and London. Acting credits
include the films Little Manhattan and Two Lovers.
Currently, Doug serves on the board of the New York Theater
Workshop. He lives in New York with his partner,
singer/songwriter David Clement.
Website design by