Award-winning playwright Cary Gitter brings his hilarious and poignant play Gene & Gilda to the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ through December 22.
Gene & Gilda, directed by Joe Brancato, explores the relationship between American comedy legends Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. It tracks their romance and friendship from its inception until its end, giving the audience an inside look at two of the most raucous and celebrated figures in entertainment history.
Cary Gitter, the playwright-in-residence at Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, New York joined WBGO's Doug Doyle to talk about the play and his career.
The debut of Gene & Gilda took place in 2023 at Penguin Rep.
The show sold out by the time it opened at Penguin which was really delightful. That was clearly on the strength of these two figures and the continuing love for them."
Gene Wilder, the veteran actor known best for his roles in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein, married Gilda Radner in 1984, three years after meeting her. Radner gained fame while being an original SNL (Saturday Night Live) cast member. Her characters "Roseanne Roseannadanna" and "Emily Litella" are legendary.
Gitter says the genesis of the play started only a few years ago while working in New York.
"The idea for the play kind of came about in a funny way. In the summer of 2022, it was my first show back with Penguin. One of the stars of that show was Jonathan Randell Silver who is playing Gene Wilder in this show. I've know Jonathan since 2015-2016. We used to work together at a theater in New York City. He's been a long-time friend and is a really gifted comic actor who if anyone sees any photos from the show will attest is an uncanny doppelganger for Gene Wilder, but also the same type of performer. One day we were sitting around in rehearsal and director Joe Brancato and I were looking at Jonathan and started kicking around this idea of how fun it would be to write something with Jonathan as Gene Wilder. I had been a life-long fan of Gene Wilder's films. That's where it started."
Actress Jordan Kai Burnett portrays Gilda Radner in Gene & Gilda. Gitter says her enthusiasm for the project was a key as well.
"Jordan Kai Burnett walked in and did her audition with Jonathan and we were just blown away but not only her resemblance in certain ways but also her talent and comic flair. Jordan really idolizes Gilda too. She's was so thrilled by the chance to do this."
Radner and Wilder's love affair ended much too soon. Following a number of false diagnoses, Radner was found to have ovarian cancer in October 1986. She died less than three years later. Radner was 42. Gene Wilder passed away in 2016 at the age of 83.
Cary Gitter's other plays include The Steel Man (Penguin Rep); The Virtuous Life of Joseph Andrews (Penguin Rep and adapted from the Henry Fielding novel; and The Sabbath Girl (off-Broadway, 59E59 Theaters; Penguin Rep; Invisible Theatre; Theatre Ariel; published by Stage Rights).
His musicals include The Sabbath Girl (59E59, Penguin Rep) and How My Grandparents Fell In Love (New Jersey Repertory Company), both written with composer/co-lyricist Neil Berg.
Cary grew up in New Jersey. He's excited about the run at George Street Playhouse for several reasons.
"It's interesting to have the show in a different space. George Street is a bigger space. Penguin has about 100 or so seats and George Street's Arthur Laurents Theater is twice that. We've done work on the play since it premiered in 2023. It's about finding it in a fresh way in a new setting. The George Street team has been great. George Street was a theater I grew up going up."
Gitter is also a jazz fan. He remembers while growing up in Leonia, he and his dad would listen to WBGO together in the car.
You can SEE the entire interview with Cary Gitter here.
