David Roberts

Theatre News: World and Northern American Premieres, Original Commissions, and Works Spanning Theater, Opera, Music, and Dance Comprise Park Avenue Armory’s 2023 Season

World and North American Premieres, Original Commissions, and Works Spanning Theater, Opera, Music, And Dance Comprise Park Avenue Armory’s 2023 Season The North American debut of British dramatist Alexander Zeldin’s LOVE, an emotionally poignant play depicting the lives of families placed in temporary public housing. Uniquely lived-in performances and design immerse audiences within a story that calls attention to…

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Broadway Review: “The Piano Lesson” at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (Closed Sunday, January 29, 2023)

Years after August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” was first produced on Broadway in 1990, Black playwrights have continued to grapple with this enduring question which defines the struggle between Bernice (an indomitable and passionate Danielle Brooks) and her brother Boy Willie (a broken but resilient John David Washington) in Wilson’s epic drama: “Is it possible to build one’s future without…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Sandra” at the Vineyard Theatre (Closed Sunday, December 18, 2022)

December 10, 2022 | LGBTQ+, Off-Broadway, on that day > | "Sandra", Carol Rosegg, costume design by Linda Cho, David Cale, David Roberts, Eliza Anastasio, Katie Ailinger, Leigh Silverman, lighting design by Thom Weaver, Marjan Neshat, Matthew Dean Marsh, scenic design by Rachel Hauck, sound design by Kathy Ruvuna, Theatre Reviews Limited, Vineyard Theatre

There are two paths to “disappearance” in David Cale’s engaging “Sandra” currently running at the Vineyard Theatre. The audience discovers that Ethan Martin’s path has been well thought out. Sandra Jones’ (Marjan Neshat) path on the other hand is completely reactive, random, and riddled with danger. Two paths diverge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and the choices made by both on…

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Regional Theatre Review: “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas” at Bucks County Playhouse (Closed Sunday, January 1, 2023)

December 1, 2022 | do this one thing for me, on that day, Regional (Pennsylvania), the piano > | "Million Dollar Quartet", Bart Shatto as Sam Phillips, Brian Michael Henry, Bucks County Playhouse, Carol Perkins, Casting is by Paul Hardt CSA, Colin Escott, Costume designer is Lauren T. Roark, David Roberts, Elvis Presley, Gregory Fletcher is Assistant Stage Manager, Guiliana Augello, Hunter Foster, James David Larson as Brother Jay Perkins, Jason Cohen as Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joe Boover as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Josh Smith is Scenic Designer, Lighting Designer is Ryan O’Gara, Margaret Dudasik as Dyanne, Pamela Edington is Production Stage Manager, Sam C. Jones, Sam Sherwood as Carl Perkins, Sam Sherwood is Music Director, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tucker Cruz Marshall as Fluke, Tyler Michael Breeding as Johnny Cash

If you are not yet in a Holiday mood, perhaps a trip to Bucks County Playhouse where “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas” is now playing, may ignite your spirit. What can be more inspiring than hearing seasonal favorites sung by Jerry Lee Lewis (an exuberant Jason Cohen), Carl Perkins (a calming Sam Sherwood), Johnny Cash (an engaging Tyler Michael Breeding) and…

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Broadway Review: “Mike Birbiglia” The Old Man & The Pool” at Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont Theater (Closed Sunday, January 15, 2023)

There is an abundance of medical and anatomical references in “Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man & The Pool” currently running at Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. Mr. Birbiglia’s affinity for medicine is often part of or the central theme in his stand-up comedy gigs around the nation. His particular interest in his own health is also pivotal to his…

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Off-Broadway Review: The New Group’s “Evanston Salt Costs Climbing” at Pershing Square Signature Center’s Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (Closed Sunday, December 18, 2022)

If Will Arbery’s “Evanston Salt Costs Climbing were an absurdist play, its non-sense narrative might make some sense. However, this is not a “Waiting for Godot” for post-pandemic Evanston, Illinois, or a pre-recession America. Peter (a foul-mouthed and depressive Jeb Kreager) and Basil’s (an equally foul-mouthed but agreeable Ken Leung) world borders on meaningless and the play’s characters are experiencing…

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Broadway Review: “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol” at The Nederlander Theatre (Closed Sunday, January 1, 2023)

November 21, 2022 | Broadway, ghosts, on that day > | "Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol", Ben Stanton (lighting design), Cookie Jordan (hair and makeup design), Dane Laffrey (scenic and costume design), David Roberts, Jefferson Mays, John Kristiansen (puppet design), Joshua D. Reid (sound design), Justin Scribner (associate director and production stage manager), Lucy Mackinnon (projection design), Michael Arden, Stephen Kopel (casting director), Susan Lyons, The Nederlander Theatre, Theatre Reviews Limited

Under Michael Arden’s meticulous direction, Jefferson Mays navigates through his adaptation (with Susan Lyons and Michael Arden) of the five staves of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” with the full arsenal of his impressive craft. In addition to the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge, Mr. Mays portrays and reimagines fifty of Charles Dickens’ iconic characters with the full range of emotion from…

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Off-Broadway Review: “You Will Get Sick” at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre (Closed Sunday, December 11, 2022)

You will get sick. It happens. You do not know why. Often you do not want to tell anyone you are sick. Perhaps you might even pay someone to talk to you about your illness. Yet after all that, you still might die. And you are not alone. Rabbi Harold S. Kushner wrote about “When Bad Things Happen to Good…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Catch as Catch Can” at Playwrights Horizons (Closed Sunday, November 20, 2022)

Playwright Mia Chung intends to raise a rich and enduring question in her play “Catch as Catch Can” currently running at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater: “What is inherent in our inheritance? What is universal?” Unfortunately, this question is not addressed nor answered in her character-driven play featuring Cindy Cheung, Jon Norman Schneider, and Rob Yang as Irish American…

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Off-Broadway Review: “A Raisin in the Sun” at the Public Theater’s Newman Theater (Closed on Sunday, November 20, 2022)

November 14, 2022 | a man of, back the future, black no, Off-Broadway, on that day, public theater, purpose, the old man > | "A Raisin in the Sun", Almeria Campbell, Andie Burns, Bjorn Dupaty, Calvin Dutton, Camden McKinnon, Christopher Marquis Lindsay, Clarissa Marie Ligon, costume design by Karen Perry, David Roberts, fight and intimacy direction by Teniece Divya Johnson, Francois Battiste, hair and wig design by Nikiya Mathis, Jesse Pennington, Joan Marcus, John Clay III, lighting design by Alex Jainchill, Lorraine Hansberry, Mandi Masden, Mister Fitzgerald, movement direction by Rickey Tripp, N’yomi Stewart, Paige Gilbert, Perri Gaffney, Prop management by Claire M. Kavanah, Public Theater, Robert O'Hara, scenic design by Clint Ramos, Skyler Gallun, sound design by Elisheba Ittoop, sound system design by Will Pickens, The Newman Theater, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tonya Pinkins, Toussaint Battiste, Vann Dukes, video design by Brittany Bland

Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” debuted on Broadway in 1959 and appeared in London’s West End five months later. The musical adaptation “Raisin” won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1973 and the play had two Broadway revivals in 2004 and 2014. This powerful and ground-breaking story of a financially strapped Chicago South Side Black extended family’s…

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