CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF GREY GARDENS AT GUILD HALL
Contributor - Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences • 6/25/26
Two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole returns to the musical that defined a generation of theater lovers. Celebrating 20 years of Grey Gardens at Guild Hall, this special East Hampton evening combines live performance, conversation, and local history in one of the Hamptons' most fitting cultural settings.
Some stories become part of New York's cultural fabric. Others become inseparable from a specific place. Grey Gardens belongs to both.
Equal parts Hamptons folklore and New York legend, the story of Edith and Little Edie Beale has captivated audiences for decades, first through documentary film, then through one of the most celebrated musicals of the 21st century.
This summer, Guild Hall in East Hampton celebrates the 20th anniversary of the acclaimed musical with a special evening featuring two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and composer Scott Frankel, hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Frank DiLella and directed by Marc Tumminelli.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
For theater lovers, the event offers a rare opportunity to revisit one of the most celebrated musicals of the last two decades. For everyone else, it offers something equally compelling: a chance to spend an evening in the Hamptons immersed in one of the East End's most fascinating true stories.
Long before Grey Gardens became a Tony Award-winning musical, it was already part of New York and Hamptons lore.
The story centers on Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edith "Little Edie" Beale, relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who lived in a once-grand East Hampton estate that had fallen into startling disrepair. Their lives became the subject of the landmark 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, a film that remains one of the most beloved and endlessly quoted documentaries ever made.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
The musical, featuring a book by Doug Wright and a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, transformed that story into something unexpected. Rather than simply recreating the documentary, it explored the Beales across two distinct eras, examining family dynamics, ambition, social status, isolation, and reinvention.
At the center of the original Broadway production stood Christine Ebersole.
Her performance as both Edith Beale and Little Edie became the stuff of Broadway legend, earning her a Tony Award and cementing Grey Gardens as one of the defining American musicals of the 21st century. It remains one of those performances theater fans speak about with a certain reverence, often accompanied by stories of where they were sitting and how quickly they bought tickets after hearing the reviews.
Twenty years later, Ebersole returns to the material that helped define her career.
Joined by composer Scott Frankel, she will revisit songs from the score while sharing stories about the show's creation and lasting legacy. Film clips, conversation, and live performance will combine to create an evening that feels less like a formal concert and more like an intimate gathering among artists and audiences who continue to be captivated by the world of Grey Gardens.
What makes this event especially appealing is its setting.
There is something uniquely satisfying about hearing the story of Grey Gardens while sitting in East Hampton, only minutes from where the real events unfolded. The Beales' story is woven into the cultural fabric of the East End. Their names still carry a kind of mythic resonance, equal parts glamour, eccentricity, tragedy, and resilience.
For visitors spending time in the Hamptons this season, the program offers a welcome alternative to the usual summer routine of beach days, dinner reservations, and social calendars.
It is an opportunity to engage with a piece of local history through the artists who helped transform it into a modern theatrical classic.
The evening also lends itself naturally to a full Hamptons outing.
Guests might begin with cocktails at the bar at Guild Hall before the performance, then continue the conversation over dinner afterward. Nearby favorites such as 1770 House, Swifty's at the Hedges, and Camp Rubirosa are excellent choices, offering polished hospitality and dining rooms that feel distinctly East Hampton. For those looking to extend the evening, a nightcap at The Palm East Hampton provides a fitting conclusion.
As someone who spends much of the year searching for cultural experiences worth recommending, I am always drawn to events that could only happen in one place.
This is one of them.
You could attend a concert anywhere. You could attend a theater talkback anywhere. But sitting in East Hampton listening to Christine Ebersole revisit Grey Gardens while discussing the real-life figures who once captivated this community feels uniquely connected to its surroundings.
Contributor — Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences
Jack effortlessly transitions from the entertainment industry to the world of luxury hospitality and travel, bringing a rich background of collaboration with celebrated artists and extensive personal travel experiences. When not consulting, he can be seen onstage with cabaret and theatre performances. Jack's enduring passion centers on fostering a sense of belonging for LGBTQ travelers wherever their journey takes them.
