NEWS & REVIEWS: GENE & GILDA at George Street Playhouse

Beloved entertainers Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner come to vivid life in this hilarious and heartfelt play from Cary Gitter. Follow the famous couple from their first meeting through their personal and professional ups and downs, all the way to their poignant farewell. An intimate portrait of two comic legends in love—and the lives they led beyond the laughter!

Running at the Arthur Laurents Theatre
Dec 3-22, 2024
Tickets $25+
Ticket info here

Jordan Kai Burnett and Jonathan Randell Silver in George Street Playhouse’s 2024 Production of GENE & GILDA (Photo by T. Charles Erickson)

Review from Out in New Jersey 12/11/2024

One of the great love stories of the late 20th Century was that of comic actor Gene Wilder and quicksilver comedienne Gilda Radner. George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick has brought forth for this holiday season the smartly loving tale of their lives together in Gene & Gilda, written by Cary Gitter and directed by Joe Brancato. It is a tale of love and loss and all the messiness that keeps the course of true love from ever running smoothly. It is a heart-warming, uplifting story, and it is one you should take the opportunity to see.

Review from Front Row Center 12/9/2024

If the enthusiasm of the opening night audience is any guide, this production will be a highlight of the theater’s 24-25 season.

Anyone who remembers Gilda Radner’s irrepressible personality and the wacky characters she portrayed in the first years of Saturday Night Live or the sweet boyish charm of Gene Wilder through his many movies will resonate with this charming play. The actors do a fine job of conveying the familiar personalities as well as imbuing them with more complex personalities than evidenced in their on-screen personas. Their physical comedy is spot-on too. Gilda (played by Jordan Kai Burnett) and Gene (Jonathan Randell Silver) banter, they quarrel, they make up, and if their ups and downs are dramatic, they are full of heart and essential good will.

Review from Broadway World 12/9/2024

George Street Playhouse (GSP) at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) is now presenting a two-hander that should be on your December entertainment schedule.  Gene & Gilda tells a captivating story about the relationship of the two celebrated performers, Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. The show will be on the New Brunswick stage for a limited run through December 22 with matinee and evening performances available.

This finely written play by Cary Gitter used sources that include the vivid memoirs”Kiss Me Like a Stranger,” by Gene Wilder; “It’s Always Something,” by Gilda Radner; and the 2018 documentary “Love, Gilda,” directed by Lisa Dapolito. Gitter also relied on a plethora of interviews and archival footage.  Gene & Gilda enjoys the ingenious direction of Joe Brancato, the Founder and Artistic Director of Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, NY. 

News from Playbill 11/12/2024

George Street Playhouse’s Gene & Gilda Will Live Stream. The streams are being presented in partnership with The League of Live Stream Theatre. Tickets are available at LOLST.org. In-person tickets are available at GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org.

News from Playbill 10/28/2024

New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse has found full casting for their upcoming run of Cary Gitter‘s Gene & Gilda, about the relationship between film icons Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. The production will begin previews December 3 ahead of a December 6 opening night, with a limited run continuing through December 22.