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A Love Story With a Lifeline: “How My Grandparents Fell in Love” Resonates at NJ Rep
Photo Courtesy: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy (Cary Gitter and Neil Berg)

A Love Story With a Lifeline: “How My Grandparents Fell in Love” Resonates at NJ Rep

By: Jim Manley

In a time when the world can feel precarious, New Jersey Repertory Company (NJRep.org) offers a welcome reprieve in the form of an unexpected love song. How My Grandparents Fell in Love, the affectionately crafted new musical by playwright Cary Gitter and composer Neil Berg, is a deeply personal, disarmingly charming, and quietly impactful world premiere that gently reminds us that even the smallest human moments—shared glances, nervous introductions, a dance floor kiss—can carry significance beyond the moment itself. Staged with intimacy and care at NJ Rep’s theater in Long Branch, the production radiates a sense of heart and history, telling a story of survival, legacy, and the enduring power of human connection.

The show had humble beginnings. Gitter’s one-act version, produced in NJ Rep’s short-play festival in 2017, earned a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Encouraged by Artistic Director SuzAnne Barabas to expand it into a full musical, Gitter joined forces with veteran composer Neil Berg to build a more expansive world for Chava and Charlie—two Polish Jews who find each other in 1933, just as the clouds of fascism begin to gather over Europe. For Gitter, the leap to musical theatre was both daunting and deeply fulfilling. “It was always a secret dream of mine to write a musical,” he says. “Having music as a storytelling tool is a joy and a privilege.”

At the center of this fictionalized—but truth-rooted tale is Chava, a bright young woman with a scholar’s spirit, and Charlie, a Jewish-American returning to Europe in search of a bride. Gitter based the couple on his real-life grandparents, right down to their names. “She was the only one in her family who survived the war,” Gitter shares. “It means so much to honor their memory by telling their story.”

The musical finds buoyancy not by avoiding the shadow of what’s to come, but by embracing the urgency of life before history has declared its terms. As Gitter puts it, “The audience brings their knowledge of the Holocaust to the show, but the characters don’t yet know what’s to come.” That balance of levity and gravity—a romantic comedy set against an ominous backdrop—is what gives How My Grandparents Fell in Love its emotional resonance.

Composer Neil Berg’s score helps strike that balance with a blend of styles that echo both old-world Europe and 1930s Americana. “I wanted to write music that felt honest to the characters, rooted in tradition but alive with contemporary sensibility,” Berg says. That means melancholic melodies when Chava sings of her hometown, and swing rhythms when Charlie teaches her to jitterbug. “It’s like She Loves Me if it were written today,” he notes.

Berg and Gitter previously collaborated on The Sabbath Girl, and their creative shorthand is on full display here. Berg calls Gitter “an old soul with a young heart,” while Gitter praises Berg’s instinct for melody and emotional truth. Their collaboration reaches a compelling moment in the simple, devastating ballad Why Do They Hate Us, sung by Chava as she begins to grasp the world’s capacity for cruelty—a song that feels especially relevant in today’s climate.

A Love Story With a Lifeline: “How My Grandparents Fell in Love” Resonates at NJ Rep

Photo Courtesy: Dee Iwrin

 

A Love Story With a Lifeline: “How My Grandparents Fell in Love” Resonates at NJ Rep

Photo Courtesy: Dee Iwrin
Rehearsals of How My Grandparents Met? at NJ Rep

Rehearsals of How My Grandparents Met? at NJ Rep

The production stars Broadway’s Harris Milgrim (Tootsie, Cats) and Becca Suskauer (Pretty Woman national tour), who bring warmth, wit, and quiet emotional depth to their roles. Suskauer, who dedicates her performance to her grandmother—a Holocaust survivor—grounds Chava with radiant strength and vulnerability. Milgrim offers a deft mix of charm and introspection as Charlie, making his return to Europe feel like both a mission and a personal reckoning.

Barabas’s direction allows the romance and the tension to breathe side by side, maintaining a delicate balance between sentiment and sorrow. Under her guidance, the musical becomes more than a nostalgic memoir—it emerges as a tribute to resilience, a dance between memory and immediacy, and a heartfelt acknowledgment of those who dared to build new lives amid uncertainty.

Following strong interest from audiences, NJ Rep has added a special Sunday night performance at 7 PM. How My Grandparents Fell in Love runs through August 10, 2025, with performances on Thursdays at 7 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 2 PM and 7 PM, and Sundays at 2 PM (including the added 7 PM performance). NJ Rep is located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, NJ. Tickets and more information are available at www.njrep.org or by calling 732-229-3166.

In a cultural moment often marked by disconnection, How My Grandparents Fell in Love offers a poignant reminder that intimacy is its own kind of revolution—and that love stories, especially those grounded in truth, can continue to echo long after they’re first told.

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