(EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- 3 Egg Creams - A Rhapsody in the Rain, a show inspired by and featuring the timeless music of Lou Christie, is coming to Playhouse 22 in East Brunswick for performances on Saturday, February 12th at 8:00pm and Sunday, February 13th at 3:00pm. The show stars Vince Bandille and is directed by George Cameron Grant (who also wrote the show). It's a story about first love, second chances, and the courage to take them.
3 Egg Creams opens in Abe's, the soda fountain of Vin Morrone's youth, and the place where he still returns every morning for his daily egg cream. Today is different, however, as circumstances force Vin back in time to the moment he first encountered Angela Rose Bernstein, his one true love, and the love he turned away from. But what if lightning were to strike again? What if life offered him a second chance to fulfill that one true love? Would he have the courage to embrace it, or would he cut and run a second time?
Whether you grew up on University Avenue in The Bronx, West Philly, or Cedar Falls, you'll fall in love with this funny, heart-breaking, sometimes tough, othewise tender, ultimately transcendent human journey Vin takes, as he navigates an age re-defining the mythos of the American male, and even the meaning of love itself. Blend in the timeless music of the Legendary Lou Christie (Rhapsody in the Rain, Lightning Strikes, The Gypsy Cried, She Sold Me Magic, Two Faces Have I, etc.), and you have3 Egg Creams - A Rhapsody in the Rain.
Playhouse 22 is located at the East Brunswick Community Arts Center (721 Cranbury Road) in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Tickets are $25 and available for purchase online.
"The origin story of a 4-year journey that began over 33 years ago..." explained George Cameron Grant. "In the Fall of 1987, I walked into a playwright/actor workshop with the first monologue I'd ever written. When my turn came, I scanned the room to find an actor who might vaguely fit the character in my monologue, discovering the face of someone who appeared to be the character from my piece, sitting directly behind me. The monologue was called Angela, the character's name was Vin Morrone, and the actor I handed it to was Vince Bandille. That monologue spawned a 150 minute full-length play Roof Over River Avenue, in which Vince played Vin Morrone, but it was too long, too cinematic, with way too many characters, and after several amazing workshop performances, the pause button was hit. But that love story between Vin and Angela stuck in my craw, so when Vince reached out to me 4 years ago, requesting that I write a solo piece for him, my first instinct was to remove the love story from Roof, and create its own universe. Several hours later, the first several pages of that love story between Vin Morrone and Angela Marie Bernstein came his way. The twist? He would play both characters. Within days, it became a 30 minute play with more characters, and within a week or two, the play was known as 3 Egg Creams, a 45 minute play with 5 characters, all of which he would portray. By the time we first presented it in early 2018, before a dozen people in a Hoboken living room, it was an hour long and growing.
"It has evolved into a 90 minute, 7 character play, with the timeless music of Lou Christie stitched throughout, so now the 3 Egg Creams - A Rhapsody in the Rain we proudly present at our Valentine’s Weekend Engagement at Playhouse 22, Saturday, February 12 at 8:00pm & Sunday, February 13th at 3:00pm, is genuinely the progeny of this 33-year friendship between Vince and myself. We hope you love it as much as we loved creating it!"
