Theater collaborations are becoming more common in this tight economic era, and now two St. Paul organizations — the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Park Square Theatre — are preparing to stage the regional premiere of the Tony Award-winning "Grey Gardens," opening March 17.

It's even more of an all-St. Paul production because Penumbra Theatre will build the set. (The Ordway doesn't have its own scene shop.)

Though it makes sense to team up in a down economy, the theaters have been planning the joint production for more than a year — well before that nosedive. "Grey Gardens," which ran on Broadway from November 2006 to July 2007, is a musical about two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis who once were bright lights on the social scene but end up living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion in the Hamptons. The Broadway stint brought three Tony Awards — two for acting, one for costume design. You can sample a bit of the music from "Grey Gardens" here.

The St. Paul collaboration began with the friendship of James Rocco, the Ordway’s producing artistic director, and Richard Cook, Park Square’s artistic director.

"Richard and I are friends and have been wanting to collaborate: We have huge respect for each other's theaters," Rocco said. "We decided this is the right show to make a citywide celebration, a perfect way to pull together all the things we do well."

Cook said: "I was afraid at first that the show might be too ‘culty’ and intense for our audience. But then James and I had lunch."

That's when Rocco suggested that "Grey Gardens" would be perfect for Park Square.

"When I finally decided to produce the show and applied for the rights, I found out that Ordway had applied the very same day. Another quick phone call, and the collaboration started," Cook said.

Rocco and Jayme McDaniel, the Ordway’s associate artistic director, will co-direct the production in the Ordway's McKnight Theatre, which can hold about 300 people. Park's Square's auditorium on 7th Place in downtown St. Paul seats 344.

"What I value is that Ordway specializes in musicals and we only dabble in them. The show can be successful because each of us really cares about this material and can bring our strengths to it," Cook said.

The collaboration also will expose patrons of each theater to the other.

"I was amazed to learn that out of more than 10,000 combined subscribers, there are only 49 that subscribe to both Ordway and Park Square," said Ordway President and CEO Patricia Mitchell.

Rocco calls it an "edgy show, very edgy with some classical musical theater moments but also some progressive, contemporary moments. It's jagged, with short bits of information coming at you."

Wendy Lehr and Christina Baldwin will play mother and daughter, "Big" Edie and "Little" Edie, the relatives of Jackie O. Here's an Independent Lens clip that offers a glimpse of the women and their home.

Others in the show include veteran Richard Ooms, Zoe Pappas, Reggie Phoenix, Kacie Riddle, Hayley Koop and Addie Johansen. Also cast are Minnesota native Joshua James Campbell, fresh off the first national tour of "Legally Blonde — The Musical," and Michael Gruber of Broadway fame.