In 1933, Charlie, a Polish-born Jew who emigrated to America a decade earlier, returns to his hometown of Rovno in search of a bride. There Charlie meets Chava, who works at a hat shop and hopes to become a scholar. However, Chava’s ambitions for the future and the growing clouds of European anti-Semitism and persecution threaten both their dreams.
July 17 – August 10, 2025
Tickets at NJ Rep
Article by NAME for Broadway World July 28, 2025
New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) is now presenting the world premiere musical, How My Grandparents Fell in Love. It is wonderfully crafted by playwright Cary Gitter and composer Neil Berg, the same team that brought The Sabbath Girl to area audiences. The show is adroitly directed by NJ Rep’s Artistic Director, Suzanne Barabas with snappy choreographies by Jordan Ryder, and fine musical direction by Aaron Benham. The production runs through August 10 with matinee and evening shows available. This two-hander is greatly entertaining but also depicts a story that has timeless social relevance.
Article by Curt Schleier for NJJN July 17, 2025
“How My Grandparents Fell in Love,” just began a run at the NJ Rep — to be formal, that’s the New Jersey Repertory Company — in Long Branch through August 10.
“How” is based on a short play he wrote in 2017, and it’s not the first time he’s added music to a play. Mr. Gitter is playwright in residence at the Penguin Theater in Stony Point. Joe Brancato, the company’s artistic director and something of a mentor to him, directed a successful production of “The Sabbath Girl” and then suggested it might make a good musical. He paired Mr. Gitter with composer Neil Berg, and the two transformed “The Sabbath Girl” to “The Sabbath Girl: The Musical,” which had successful runs at Penguin and 59 East.
The genesis of “How My Grandparents Fell in Love” is similar. It was initially performed at the NJ Rep in 2017, as part of a short play festival on the theme of immigration. At some point, NJ Rep artistic director Suzann Barabas suggested that, like “The Sabbath Girl,” the story of Mr. Gitter’s grandparents could be better told with music.
Mr. Gitter is a Jersey- and Jewish-centric writer. Many of his plays (and now his book) are centered in northern New Jersey, where he grew up. His family was largely secular, but his Italian-American mother, Virginia, converted to Judaism when he was about 7 and became active in Congregation Adas Emuno in Leonia. Eventually she became the synagogue’s president. Last year, Mr. Gitter told me she would attend Friday night services “while my father was home watching the Yankees.”
Article from New Jersey Stage July 15, 2025
NJ Rep presents the world premiere of How My Grandparents Fell in Love, a heartwarming and timely new musical by playwright Cary Gitter and composer Neil Berg, directed by NJ Rep Artistic Director SuzAnne Barabas. The production runs from July 17 through August 10, 2025.
From the team that brought audiences The Sabbath Girl (which Theatermania called “entertaining and legitimately charming”), this new musical blends humor, heart, and history, shedding light on love, legacy, and resilience in the face of looming darkness.
