In the Maysles brothers' eerie and masterful documentary Grey Gardens, we are drawn into the crumbling world of Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter Little Edie. As close relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy, they made headlines in 1973 when the health department threatened to demolish their home, a dilapidated mansion overrun by fleas, raccoons, and offal in tony East Hampton. For an actress, Little Edie — a faded beauty with a blue-blood mid-Atlantic drawl — is the role of a lifetime: Resentful, delusional, and impossibly charismatic, she makes Blanche DuBois look lightweight. Yet it wasn't until 2006 that Grey Gardens, the musical, hit Broadway to instant acclaim. Drawing on the Beales' well-documented love of song — and their fierce competition for the spotlight — the show sets composer George Gould Strong, Big Edie's real-life companion, as a principal character, turning the disturbing estate into a plausible stage. Über-fans should attend May 30, when Jerry Torre (the devoted handyman in the documentary) will be on hand to answer questions.
Grey Gardens opens at 8 p.m. and runs through June 21 at Gough Street Playhouse, 1620 Gough St., S.F. $20-$50; 415-798-2682 or custommade.org.
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