{"id":10263,"date":"2023-02-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10263"},"modified":"2023-02-23T08:00:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T13:00:31","slug":"george-street-playhouse-clydes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10263","title":{"rendered":"George Street Playhouse: Clyde’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\u00a9 T Charles Erickson Photography tcharleserickson@photoshelter.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Opening night of the dramedy Clyde\u2019s<\/em> at George Street Playhouse<\/a> in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a lively evening, despite the chill outside (minus 4 on our way back to the train!). The original Broadway production of Clyde\u2019s<\/em> received multiple awards and is one of two-time Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage<\/a>\u2019s trilogy of stories set in Reading, Pennsylvania. She calls Clyde\u2019s<\/em> the series\u2019 \u201cgrace note.\u201d Directed by Melissa Maxwell<\/a>, the New Brunswick production opened February 3 and runs through February 19 and is great fun!.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the action even starts, the audience is treated to the \u201cbackstage\u201d view of a diner (named Clyde\u2019s), which specializes in sandwiches. The clever use of neon, the battered kitchen equipment, mop pail, staff lockers, and other accoutrements\u2014the set\u2019s terrific. But if it jibes with what you imagine a diner kitchen might look like, the staff may surprise you. The diner owner, Clyde (played by Darlene Hope<\/a>) served prison time for something her employees are not quite sure what. What they do know is that somewhere along the way, her compassion for others was knocked out of her. She\u2019s a terrible and terrifying boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clyde\u2019s four staff members are all ex-cons too, but a decade or so younger than she is. Don\u2019t mistake her hiring them for a generous heart. She\u2019s hired a staff that doesn\u2019t have many other employment choices, and she knows it. There\u2019s Montrellous (Gabriel Lawrence<\/a>) who sees sandwich-making as an art and tries to elevate the sandwich-making (and life) aspirations of the rest of the staff\u2014Letitia (Sydney Lolita Cusic<\/a>), Jason (Ryan Czerwonko<\/a>) and the fry-cook, Rafael (Xavier Reyes<\/a>). The lettuce flies while a lot of sandwiches are made, troubles explained, and secrets shared. They\u2019ve had troubles, but at Clyde\u2019s they can be an uneasy team, with an abundance of witty banter. One recurrent bit: they try to outdo each other in describing ingredients of the most \u201cperfect\u201d sandwich. (Don\u2019t go to this show hungry!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the many genuine laughs, Nottage reveals how hard they have to work to make a life outside prison. She lets you see a very specific world you won\u2019t soon forget. Entertaining and indelible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production credits to Riw Rakkulchon<\/a> (set designer), Azalea Fairley<\/a> (costumes; something must be said about the awe-inspiring skin-tight costumes and high-heel boots Clyde wears that fit her perfectly, in every sense), Cheyenne Sykes<\/a> (lighting), Scott O\u2019Brien (composer\/sound designer), Fre Howard (wig and makeup design) and Cristina (Cha) Ramos<\/a> (fights and intimacy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clyde\u2019s <\/em>is on stage at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Tickets available here<\/a> or by calling 732-246-7717. Check the website for current information on NBPAC\u2019s covid requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening night of the dramedy Clyde\u2019s at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a lively evening, despite the chill outside (minus 4 on our way back to the train!). The original Broadway production of Clyde\u2019s received multiple … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Definitely a fun theater evening! Clyde's at George Street Playhouse by double Pulitzer-winner Lynn Nottage!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104,147],"tags":[2058,1270,1030],"class_list":["post-10263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-clydes","tag-george-street-playhouse","tag-lynn-nottage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2Fx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10266,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10263\/revisions\/10266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}