Author: David Roberts

Off-Broadway/Dance Review: “Ain’t Done Bad” at The Pershing Square Signature Center’s Irene Diamond Stage (Closed Sunday, September 1, 2024)

Jakob Karr’s “Ain’t Done Bad,” currently running at the Irene Diamond Stage, portrays the familiar story of a young LGBTQ man (Jakob Karr) attempting to grapple with his sexual identity in an abusive home atmosphere. His mother (Megumi Iwama) is supportive but his father (Adrian Lee), who is verbally and psychologically abusive to the son’s brother (Ian Spring), mostly keeps…

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Broadway Review: “Once Upon a Mattress” at The Hudson Theatre (Through Saturday, November 30, 2024)

August 21, 2024 | Broadway > | "Once Upon a Mattress", Amy Sherman-Palladino, Ana Gasteyer, Annbritt duChateau, Brooks Ashmanskas, choreography by Lorin Latarro, costume design by Andrea Hood, Daniel Breaker, David Patrick Kelly, Dean Fuller, hair and wig and makeup design by J. Jared Janas, Jay Thompson, Joan Marcus, Joseph, Joseph Verlezza, Lear deBessonet, lighting design by Justin Townsend, makeup design by J. Jared Janas, Marshall Barer, Mary Rodgers, Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Music Supervisor), Michael Urie, New York Theatre Reviews, Nikki Renée Daniels, orchestrations are by Bruce Coughlin, physical comedy and effects by Skylar Fox, Renard Richard is Production Stage Manager, scenic design by David Zinn, sound design by Kai Harada, Sutton Foster, Telsey + Co / Craig Burns, Telsey + Company/ Bernard Telsey, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Wagner Johnson Productions, Will Chase

The latest revival to open on Broadway is the classic “Once Upon a Mattress” with music by Mary Rogers, her first Broadway show, and an adapted book by Amy Sherman-Palladino, from the original by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller. As soon as the on-stage orchestra begins the overture, the audience is reminded of, or in many cases introduced…

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Music News: PS Classics Presents the Long-Awaited Original Cast Recording of “Sycamore Trees”

August 20, 2024 | Uncategorized, water for > | "Sycamore Trees", David Roberts, Diane Sutherland, Farah Alvin, Jessica Molaskey, Judy Kuhn, Matthew Risch, New York Theatre, New York Theatre Reviews, PS Classics, Ricky Ian Gordon, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tony Yazbeck

PS CLASSICS, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American Popular Song, will release the original cast recording of Ricky Ian Gordon’s acclaimed autobiographical musical Sycamore Trees at all digital and streaming sites on Friday, August 30. A special limited edition of 250 CDs will follow on Friday, September 20. Released on the heels of Gordon’s acclaimed memoirs,…

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Broadway Review: “Job” at the Helen Hayes Theater (Closed on Sunday, September 29, 2024)

At the beginning of “Job” which is currently running at the Helen Hayes Theater, Jane (a frenetic yet oddly focused Sydney Lemmon) enters Lloyd’s (a seemingly focused yet not fully at ease Peter Friedman) office holding a gun, confident she knows “who he is.” Although she then briefly experiences some temporary doubt about her well-researched hypothesis, she is willing to…

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Theatre News: SoHo Rep and Playwrights Horizons Enter Space-Sharing Partnership as SoHo Rep Departs Home of Nearly 30 Years

July 29, 2024 | Uncategorized, water for > | Adam Greenfield, Alina Troyano, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Caleb Hammons, Casey York, Cynthia Flowers, Eric Ting), Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Playwrights Horizons, SoHo Rep

Soho Rep (Directors Cynthia Flowers, Caleb Hammons, Eric Ting) and Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Adam Greenfield, Managing Director Casey York), two of New York’s most influential champions of new theatrical work, announce a historic partnership meant to leverage the strengths of both organizations. Soho Rep will depart its longtime space at 46 Walker Street this January after more than 30…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Welkin” Never Comes to a Verdict at Atlantic Theater Company (Closed on Sunday, July 7, 2024)

June 28, 2024 | the welkin, Uncategorized > | "The Welkin", Ahron R. Foster, Amanda Spooner, Ann Harada, Atlantic Theater Company, casting by The Telsey Office, costumes by Kaye Voyce, Dale Soules, Danny Wolohan, David Roberts, Destiny Lilly, Emily Cass McDonnell, Glenn Fitzgerald, Hair & Wigs by Cookie Jordan, Haley Wong, Hannah Cabell, intimacy direction by Crista Marie Jackson, Jennifer Nikki Kidwell, lights by Stacey Derosier, Linda Gross Theater, Lucy Kirkwood, MacKenzie Mercer, makeup by Gabrielle Vincent, Mary McCann, movement by David Neumann, Nadine Malouf, New York Theatre Reviews, Paige Gilbert, Sandra Oh, Sarah Benson, sets by dots, Simone Recasner, sound by Palmer Hefferan, special effects by Jeremy Chernick, Susannah Perkins, Telsey + Co/Karyn Casl, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tilly Botsford

Twenty-one-year-old Sally Poppy (a powerful yet broken Haley Wong) is convicted of murdering young Alice Wax and sentenced to hang in March of 1759 on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, in England. Sally claims she is pregnant and if that is true, she cannot be hanged. To determine the truth of Sally’s claim, the Justice “calls for a jury…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Breaking the Story” at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater (Closed on Sunday, June 23, 2024)

The newest offering at Second Stage’s Kiser Theatre is a production of a new play penned by Alexis Scheer titled “Breaking the Story” which centers around a war correspondent who is actively reporting from the front line. The production directed by Jo Bonney was a bit confusing for this audience member, finding the elements of magical realism not clearly defined….

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Lonely Few” at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater (Closed on Sunday, June 2, 2024).

The most recent offering at MCC Theater is a new musical entitled “The Lonely Few” with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak and a book penned by Rachel Bonds. Basically, it can be considered a rom com musical with a simple plot that takes a bit too long to develop especially since the predictability level is very high. The length…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Three Houses” at Signature Theatre’s Linney Theatre (Closed on Sunday, June 9, 2024)

Dave Malloy’s “Three Houses currently running at Signature Theatre’s Linney Theater is a retelling/interpretation of the classic fairy tales “The Three Little Pigs” and “Red Riding Hood” (among other cautionary folklore narratives) in which The Big Bad Wolf appears. Stand-ins for Little Red Riding Hood and those Three Little Pigs are Susan (a manic and hedonistic Margo Seibert), Sadie (a…

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Broadway Review: The Who’s “Tommy” at the Nederlander Theatre (Closed on Sunday, July 21, 2024)

April 7, 2024 | Broadway, Music, the ally > | Adam Jacobs as Captain Walker, Afra Hines, Alexandra Matteo, Ali Louis Bourzgui as Tommy, Aliah James, Alison Luff as Mrs. Walker, Bespoke Theatricals, Bobby Conte as Cousin Kevin, Brett Michael Lockley, Cecilia Ann Popp, choreographer Lorin Latarro, Christina Sajous as The Acid Queen, costume design by Sarafina Bush, Daniel Quadrino, David Paul Kidder, Dee Tomasetta, Des McAnuff, Evan Zimmerman, Haley Gustafson, Jenna Nicole Schoen, Jeremiah Alsop, John Ambrosino as Uncle Ernie, Joseph Verlezza, lighting design by Amanda Zieve, Lily Kren, Mark Mitrano, Matthew Murphy, Mike Cannon, music direction and additional orchestrations by Rick Fox, music supervision and additional arrangements by Ron Melrose, Nathan Lucrezio, New York Theatre Reviews, Olive Ross-Kline, orchestrations by Steve Margoshes, Pete Townshend, projection design by Peter Nigrini, Quinten Kusheba, Reagan Pender, Reese Levine, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., set design by David Korins, Sheldon Henry, sound design by Gareth Owen, Tara Rubin Casting/Merri Sugarman CSA, Tassy Kirbas, The Nederlander Theatre, The Who's "Tommy", Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tripp Phillips, Tyler James Eisenreich, wig and hair design by Charles LaPointe

There are very few words not sung but spoken in the rock musical “Tommy,” but three that might be relevant are “Brilliant, wasn’t it?” spoken by a local lad that happens to be part of a larger audience, amazed, while watching Tommy play his first game of pinball in a pool hall. Unfortunately, they are not the three words that…

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