Be Our Guest with Neil Berg & Cary Gitter (The Sabbath Girl)

Musical Theatre Radio presents "Be Our Guest"

Neil Berg's latest musical The Sabbath Girl: The Musical, written with book writer/co-lyricist Cary Gitter, just finished an incredible, sold-out run at The Penguin Repertory Theatre (directed by Joe Brancato), before transferring to NYC for a six-week summer run Off-Broadway at 59 East 59th Theaters to rave reviews. The Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of The Sabbath Girl: The Musical is available on Centerstage Records. Producers are now in the process of moving the show for an open-ended commercial run. Neil is the composer/co-lyricist, along with Pulitzer Prize/TONY-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, of the award-winning new musical The 12, which just finished a very successful pre-Broadway tryout to critical and audience acclaim at the Goodspeed Opera House, directed by TONY award-winning director John Doyle, produced for Broadway by Cody Lassen & Joe Grano. The 12 previously ran at The Denver Center to unanimous rave reviews and won the 2015 HENRY Award for best new play or musical. Original Cast recording will be available in the winter of '24. Broadway opening anticipated in 2025/2026 season.

Neil is currently in development as the composer of the new Broadway-bound musical version of My Cousin Vinny, based on the iconic movie, with book/lyrics by original screenwriter, Dale Launer.

Neil has a new commissioned musical, How My Grandparents Fell in Love, opening in July of '25 at The NJ Rep Theater, collaborating again with book writer/co-lyricist Cary Gitter, directed by Artistic Director SuzAnne Baribas.

Neil's other new musical, Charlie Hustle, with book/lyrics by Ryan Noggle, is about controversial baseball icon Pete Rose and the story of his gambling addiction that led to his downfall. Charlie Hustle will have its first developmental production in Detroit, Michigan in the fall of '24.

Neil is the composer for the popular musical version of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, based on the Warner Brothers movie classic starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which had its official U.S. Premiere at The Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine to rave reviews, and La Mirada Theater in LA, starring Cathy Rigby. Other actors include F. Murray Abraham, TONY Award winner George Hearn, Marilu Henner, and Carole Kane. It is currently produced/licensed at many regional & community theaters across the United States. Licensing rights are with TRW (Theatrical Rights Worldwide). The Original Cast Recording of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical is available on Centerstage Records.

Neil Berg is also the composer/lyricist of the hit Off-Broadway musical The Prince and the Pauper, which ran for two years at the Lambs Theater in New York City. The New York Times raved that The Prince and the Pauper "[soars] on wings of theatrical fun." The original cast CD is released internationally on Jay Records, sheet music published by Hal Leonard, and licensing by Samuel French Inc. Songs from this show are also featured with many other classic songs in the official Off-Broadway Songbook, published by Hal Leonard.

CARY GITTER is the playwright-in-residence at Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, New York. His plays include THE STEEL MAN (Penguin Rep); GENE & GILDA (George Street Playhouse, Penguin Rep); THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS (Penguin Rep), 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.

His play HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE was a New York Times Critic’s Pick as part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s (EST’s) 36th Marathon of One-Act Plays. It was later recorded for the acclaimed podcast Playing on Air, as was his one-act THE ARMY DANCE. He has received commissions from the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project, Penguin Rep, and West of 10th. He is an alumnus of EST’s Obie Award-winning Youngblood playwrights’ group.

His full-length plays have been developed by the Berkshire Playwrights Lab, the Chameleon Theatre Circle, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, EST, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, the Jewish Plays Project, the Levine Jewish Community Center, NJ Rep, NYU, Seven Angels Theatre, West of 10th, and Wordsmyth Theater Company. He is a three-time O’Neill semifinalist and a two-time Jewish Playwriting Contest finalist, and he has received NYU’s John Golden Playwriting Prize and honorable mentions for the New England Theatre Conference’s Aurand Harris Memorial Playwriting Award and the Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Playwriting Award.