PBS's "Independent Lens" Goes Backstage in December

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The Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Independent Lens," hosted by Terrence Howard, takes viewers behind the scenes of two major artistic productions -- the acclaimed opera Doctor Atomic ("WONDERS ARE MANY: The Making Of Doctor Atomic") and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Grey Gardens ("GREY GARDENS: From East Hampton To Broadway").

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Doctor Atomic

Premiering on Tuesday, December 16, is "WONDERS ARE MANY: The Making Of Doctor Atomic," in which veteran filmmaker Jon Else goes behind the curtain to follow the collaborative process of composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars as they work to forge the tale of J. Robert Oppenheimer into a music drama like no other: the strange and beautiful Doctor Atomic. As Sellars and Adams struggle to create high art from the most savage weapon in history, the film explores the spectacular and unnerving 60-year history of nuclear weapons.

Grey Gardens

Captured in the landmark 1975 Maysles' Brothers film "Grey Gardens," the indomitable Edith Beale and her daughter, Edie, aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, were revealed to have a most unique and engaging mother-daughter relationship, built upon powerful interdependence, quirky eccentricity, courage, devotion and love. Living in squalor in a rundown Hamptons mansion, their indomitable spirit soon catapulted them to cult icon status. Three decades later, the Beales received the ultimate tribute: being portrayed on Broadway. Combining a backstage look at the creative process, lavish clips from the original film, and insightful interviews with the Broadway show's creators and cast, Albert Maysles, and a host of Beale authorities, devotees and cultural commentators, "GREY GARDENS: From East Hampton To Broadway," premiering on Tuesday, December 23, reminds us of the power of the Beales' story to arouse a multitude of emotions even decades later. "GREY GARDENS: From East Hampton To Broadway" is a film by East of Doheny and Albert Maysles.