Garden Party

It was a far cry from her cousin Jacqueline’s Oscar de la Renta outfits and pillbox hats, but Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale had a style all her own. If by “style” you mean haphazard turbans and layers of clothing in various stages of disrepair. We have to admit that it’s memorable. And that it seems more comfortable than a de la Renta gown. But what doesn’t seem comfortable at all is the world of Grey Gardens, a stranger-than-fiction story of Little Edie and her mom, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, aka “Big Edie.” Named for the rambling East Hampton, New York, mansion that they inhabited, the story follows the multi-year decline of both the women and, literally, the walls around them. The aunt and cousin of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis seemed to share her social trajectory, but instead found themselves nearly destitute, living in squalor and descending into a sad sort of madness. Grey Gardens The Musical shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through October 25 at the WaterTower Theatre at the Addison Theatre Centre, 15650 Addison Road. Tickets are $22 to $40. Call 972-450-6620 or visit watertowertheatre.org.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Oct. 1. Continues through Nov. 1, 2009