Rave Reviews for Good People

"Stunning...Rollicking Humor....

Theater doesn't get better than this."-Asbury Park Press

 

"Important, Timely, and Hilarious"

-StageMagazine.org

"An Outstanding Production"

-The Star-Ledger

"This is a powehouse of a play you shouldn't miss"

-The Princeton Packet

 

"Brilliant....Five Star Entertainment"

-Examiner.com

 

"It is doubtful that George Street Theater audiences will see a finer contemporary play or experience a more splendid production this season...masterfully directed" 

- Curtainup.com

"Riveting"
-Q-onstage

"Great theatre with a great cast"-Out in Jersey.net

 

The Thirteenth Angry Man

posted by Brendon Votipka, Literary Intern


George Street Playhouse’s cast of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men stars a slew of familiar famous faces, but who is that young man who plays the guard, standing in the back of the stage for the entire play? Andrew Nogasky is a soon-to-graduate actor pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. Nogasky, in his last semester of three years of intensive training, was given the chance to audition for the role, a part that has let him work alongside established industry professionals. In his own words, that first audition was “a golden opportunity and a great beginning.” As literary intern, I had the chance to sit down with Andrew Nogasky, affectionately known as Andy to close friends, and pick his brain about what it’s like to work at a professional regional theatre while still being in graduate school.

Question: What were you thinking on the first day of rehearsal?

ANDY: Don't screw up. Probably not the most productive thought to have, but being surrounded by such wonderful, blazingly talented, affable professionals, I didn't want to slow them down. And it was hard not fall into the sheer awe of working on this play, with this director, and with this cast. These were men I've seen on Broadway, on television, in movies, and the Artistic Director of one of the most important regional theatres in America... and I'll be doing a play with them? Thankfully during the table read I kicked out of being awestruck and back into actor mode. But the most over-riding thoughts I had that day were how much fun this was going to be, and how lucky I was to be a part of it.

Question: What are you learning about your own creative process from working with experienced Broadway professionals?

ANDY: There are a few things that jumped out at me immediately. The first was where they all were the first day of rehearsal. We talk a lot in school about the prep you want to do before you begin rehearsal, but these men were deep into the process already. So many of their choices were clear and vibrant. You could really see they were masters of their craft.


Question: Your training at Mason Gross has a strong bent toward the work of Sanford Meisner; How is your Meisner training useful for this type of realistic play?

ANDY: Being that my interactions with my fellow actors are few, the Meisner training does not help as much as the Uta Hagen work I've studied at Rutgers. Most notably for this production, how to actively wait on stage, which I do a lot of.


Question: Seeing as you spend the entire play on stage, how do you keep yourself focused/connected/awake/not bored?


ANDY: The truth is I'm in the exact situation as the guard, and getting bored is hazard of the job. So if I get bored, well that's gravy. But that has yet to happen. The production is so alive and the acting is so captivating, the difficultly is in the not paying attention.

And I've worked out events for myself backstage, such as certain people leaving the building for the evening, seeing one of the janitors coming in for the night shift, a quick chat with the officer in charge of the evidence locker, borrowing his newspaper, realizing I didn't bring my umbrella today when it starts to pour outside.
And then there are the occasional sirens going off in the distance that grab my attention, wondering about the impending baseball game, reading over my borrowed paper that David graciously let me have, and looking at the backstage wall (which has jokes, drawings, and messages strewn all over it from the carpenters and the crew)


Question: Can you tell us about some of your character crafting? What makes your take on the guard unique?

ANDY: Well he's pretty inept, isn't he? Jurors are constantly being threatened with physical violence, also nearly attacking one another, and one has, in fact snuck, a weapon into the jury room, and all of this happens right under his nose. So I decided he's new to the job, bumped up from being a traffic cop. He's got a wife and a new baby, which also influenced his move from being street officer, to a safer job. And much like the jurors, he doesn't want to be there either, he wants to be back home. It's hot and muggy, and the deliberation could last well into the night, and he's gonna have to stay. All he wants is a quick verdict and a cold beer, and he gets neither.

Question: What does an opportunity like this mean to you, at the beginning of your professional career?

ANDY: It's means an immense amount, so much so I probably won't be able to fully understand how great of an opportunity this has been until I'm looking back on it. It's all too easy to get an ego with some of the roles I've been able to work on in grad school, but even that's a very small pond compared to what's out there. And we all have to pay our dues and start over after we graduate, but George Street Playhouse, director David Saint, and Pat McCorkle have given me a head start.


Question: Ultimately, do you think the defendant is guilty of the crime?

ANDY: I, the actor, think he is innocent. The guard thinks is undoubtedly guilty. In fact in other versions of the script the guard even says, "He doesn't stand a chance." The only thing the guard can't figure out what is taking the jury so long to decide on a verdict.

Interviewing the cast of "Red"

originally posted by John Bathke, for News 12 NJ

I’m seeing a lot of red this week. Red as in the color of so many of Mark Rothko’s paintings that I have been looking at and “Red” as in the play about Rothko that is now running at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Tonight I interviewed both cast members, Bob Ari who plays Rothko and Randy Harrison who plays Ken, an assistant hired by Rothko to help him as he paints the Seagrams murals, one of the abstract expressionist’s famous commissions.

I’m expecting the segment we put together will be ready to roll next weekend for the next ON THE SCENE, but since we just shot tonight I’ll have to let you know for sure next week.

“Red” debuted on Broadway in 2010 starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, who won a Tony Award for his performance. It’s an intense, complex drama about the creation of an artist, about an established albeit tortured artist mentoring an emerging talent.
A lot of viewers remember Randy Harrison for his role as “Justin” on “Queer As Folk.” We also talked about the series and that part of our conversation will be a web bonus feature for ON THE SCENE viewers.

Austin the Unstoppable to Premiere this Week

reposted from The Home News Tribune / NJ Press Media
by Chris Jordan
The George Street Playhouse is looking to make healthy living and eating an “Unstoppable” way of life.
The theater’s new health and wellness musical, “Austin the Unstoppable,” will debut at 10:15 a.m. Jan. 11 at the theater as part of a daylong conference highlighting children's health. The play, produced by the George Street Playhouse Educational Touring Theatre, will play in schools and community organizations in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania beginning in February.


“We created ‘Austin the Unstoppable,’ our first touring musical, to bring greater awareness to students about the choices they make regarding diet and exercise — and the long-term consequences of those choices,” Jim Jack, director of education for the George Street Playhouse, said in a statement. “This musical focuses on how a family confronts an unhealthy lifestyle when their mother is diagnosed with type II diabetes.”


The play’s book and lyrics are by Barry Wyner (“Calvin Berger”), music is by Daniel Israel and it’s directed by Kevin Del Aguila, who wrote the book for the long-running off-Broadway show “Altar Boyz.” The musical is a collaboration between the theater and the state’s Shaping NJ initiative.


“While the musical presents the seriousness of chronic illnesses related to an unhealthy diet and a lack of exercise, the spirit of the story is transformative — a fun, upbeat musical comedy that shows how positive change can occur through the power of love, hard work and support,” Jack said.


Parents, teachers and administrators are invited to join health and education professionals for the Jan. 11 conference.

“A Nutcracker Musical?! But what would The Nutcracker be without the dancing?”

          – Professor Hoffmann, Act One, Scene 3, The Nutcracker and I.

Gerard Alessandrini always believed The Nutcracker could be adapted as a traditional musical comedy. He wanted to transform Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, using all that glorious music, into a book show with his own zany, satirical lyrics. For him, writing this show was a childhood dream.

When we were growing up together, Gerard introduced me to all the classic Broadway musicals. One of his favorites was Kismet, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the classical music of Alexander Borodin (a Russian composer and a contemporary of Tchaikovsky). But Wright and Forrest adapted Borodin’s musical themes into songs. Gerard’s idea may have been more ambitious: he wanted to put his words to Tchaikovsky’s music while being faithful to the original compositions. He discovered that Tchaikovsky’s music was a precursor to 20^th century song form – so many of his melodies have a classic AABA structure. In other words, he establishes a musical phrase, repeats it, then there’s a “bridge” (or a “release”), then he returns to the original “A” musical phrase. Gerard spent his whole life listening to The Nutcracker score and he could hear songs in the music!

For years, Gerard kept telling me that he wanted to write The Nutcracker as a musical. But the story, as it was adapted for the ballet, was a challenge. In fact, the ballet’s story is rather slight, it’s just an excuse for classical dance and divertissements. The ballet’s source material, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s children’s novella The Nutcracker and the Mouseking (1816), is a richer story, but some of its plot complications might not be recognized by fans of The Nutcracker ballet. What to do?

It took us a while to come up with an original story that is faithful to the spirit of the ballet, but also tells the classic tale in musical comedy terms. For inspiration, we looked at other fairy tales and fantasy stories. But in the end, we came up with an original idea. It’s about a young ballerina who grew up dancing in a local production of The Nutcracker ballet. When she’s finally old enough to play the leading role of Clara, she breaks her leg! We knew we could tell a “backstage at the ballet” story in a totally modern setting. I remembered how Gerard had broken his leg in our high school production of Oklahoma! We were two suburban kids who dreamed of coming to New York and pursuing careers in theater. Suddenly we had it: a young girl, full of dreams, breaks her leg and can’t dance in her favorite ballet… but with the help of a toy nutcracker who comes to life, the girl’s dreams are magically realized. Finally, adapting The Nutcracker as a musical comedy was possible for us. We discovered all it takes is believing childhood dreams sometimes really do come true.

Peter Brash, November 2011