David Roberts

Off-Broadway Review: The New Group’s “Babe” at The Pershing Square Signature Center’s Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater (Closed Sunday, December 22, 2024)

Abby (Marisa Tomei) has co-produced records with Gus (Arliss Howard) for thirty-two years. She had been his right hand, but her name never appears on the album as co-producer. She finds talent. Gus takes the credit. Recognition is not the only problem. Gus is a misogynist and a prime example of toxic masculinity in the workplace and elsewhere. Abby colludes…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Blood Quilt” at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitze E. Newhouse Theater (Closed on Sunday, December 29, 2024)

Families of any number, age, or culture often meet for special occasions, some more special than others. Depending on the mix of those above descriptors, these get-togethers result in quite different outcomes ranging from collegial to catastrophic. These gatherings can be around any number of holidays or around some specific tradition. Those celebrating a specific tradition are often annual events….

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Broadway Review: “Sunset Blvd.” at the St. James Theatre (Closed on Sunday, July 20, 2025)

December 11, 2024 | Broadway, Music, sunset > | "Sunset Blvd.", Adam Fisher (sound design), Alan Williams (music supervisor and music director), Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ann James (intimacy coordinator), Brandon Mel Borkowsky, Caroline Bowman, Cheryl Thomas (hair and makeup design), Christopher Hampton, Cydney Clark, David Roberts, David Thaxton, Diego Andres Rodriguez, Don Black, Drew Redington, E.J. Hamilton, Emma Lloyd, Fabian Aloise (choreography), Grace Hodgett Young, Hannah Yun Chamberlain, Jack Knowles (lighting design), Jamie Lloyd, Jim Carnahan CSA and Jason Thinger CSA (U.S. casting director), Jimin Moon, Johnny Milani (production stage manager), Justice Moore, Mandy Gonzalez, Marc Brenner, Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom (video design and cinematography), New York Theatre Reviews, Nicole Scherzinger, Olivia Lacie Andrews, Pierre Marais, Raúl Contreras, Shavey Brown, Shayna McPherson, Soutra Gilmour (set and costume design), St. James Theatre, Stuart Burt CDG (U.K. casting director), Sydney Jones, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tom Francis, Tyler Davis

Gone are the turban, the grand staircase, the jewels, the chandeliers, the drapes, and the viewing of Norma Desmond’s monkey in the reimagining of “Sunset Blvd.” currently running at the St. James Theatre. Norma Desmond (an incandescent Nicole Scherzinger), Max Von Mayerling (a devoted and doting David Thaxton), Joe Gillis (a failed and still failing Tom Francis), and Betty Schafer…

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Broadway Review: “Swept Away” at the Longacre Theatre (Closed Sunday, December 29, 2025)

December 3, 2024 | Broadway, ghosts, Music > | "Swept Away", Adrian Blake, Alexandre Bleau, Brandon Kalm, Cameron Johnson, Chase Peacock, costume designer Susan Hilferty, David Neumann, David Roberts, David Rowen, Hunter Brown, Jillian Cimini, Jim Carnahan, John Gallagher Jr., John Logan, John Michael Finley, John Sygar, Josh Breckenridge, lighting designer Kevin Adams, Matt DeAngelis, Michael J. Mainwaring, Michael Mayer, music arranger and orchestrator Chris Miller, music arranger and orchestrator/music supervisor Brian Usifer, music director Will Van Dyke, New York Theatre Reviews, Orville Mendoza, Rico LeBron, Robert Pendilla, set designer Rachel Hauck, sound designer John Shivers, Stark Sands, The Avett Brothers, The Longacre Theatre, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Tyrone L. Robinson, Wayne Duvall

“Swept Away,” currently on at the Longacre Theatre, was inspired by the 2004 album “Mignonette” by the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Although the album was suggested by the shipwreck and survival story of the British yacht Mignonette, which sank in 1884, the narrative of the musical transcends time and space with its timeless themes of confession, forgiveness, redemption, transfiguration,…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Beacon” at the Irish Repertory Theatre (Closed Sunday, November 24, 2024)

In Nancy Harris’s “The Beacon,” currently on at the Irish Repertory Theatre, four characters navigate through life’s rough waters. Three make it. One is still lost at sea. The back wall of Beiv’s (Kate Mulgrew) cottage on an island off the coast of West Cork is made almost entirely of glass and looks out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Angst and…

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Broadway Review: “Tammy Faye” at the Palace Theatre (Closed on Sunday, December 8, 2024)

November 19, 2024 | Broadway, LGBTQ+, Music > | "Tammy Faye", Alana Pollard, Allison Guinn, Allysa Shorte, and Andy Taylor, as well as Amanda Clement, Autumn Hurlbert, Aveena Sawyer, Brittany Nicholas, Casting is by C12 Casting/Carrie Gardner and Jillian Cimini, Charl Brown, Christian Borle, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, Dana Wilton, Daniel Torres, David Roberts, Denis Lambert, Elliott Mattox, Elton John, Ian Lassiter, Jake Shears, James Graham, Jonathan Duvelson, Katie Brayben, Keven Quillon, LGBTQ, lighting design by Neil Austin, Lily Kaufmann, Mark Evans, Matthew Murphy, Max Gordon Moore, Michael Cerveris, Michael Di Liberto, New York Theatre Reviews, Nick Bailey, Palace Theatre, Raymond J. Lee, Rupert Goold, scenic design by Bunny Christie, sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph, Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, TJ Tapp, video design by Finn Ross

The main problem with “Tammy Faye,” currently on at the Palace Theatre is not the vapid lyrics by Jake Shears or the bland book by James Graham. Unfortunately, the “New Broadway Musical” has nothing to do with the iconic PTL Club televangelist Tammy Faye. Not even the two-time Laurence Olivier Award winning Katie Brayben’s performance as Tammy Faye, or the…

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Broadway Review: “Romeo + Juliet” at Circle in the Square (Closed Sunday, February 16, 2025)

In a recent “New York Times” guest essay, Drew Lichtenberg writes that although “the American theater’s relationship to the Bard might be fraying” with “a long history of theaters running from Shakespeare during times of political division or uncertainty, we need Shakespeare, especially in moments of conflict and unrest.” Currently running at Circle in the Square, Sam Gold’s production of…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Vladimir” at New York City Center Stage I (Closed on Sunday, November 10, 2024)

At first glance, Manhattan Theatre Club’s “Vladimir,” currently at New York City Center Stage I, might receive a “what’s new” reaction from the audience. But the importance Erika Sheffer’s well-constructed play takes us far beyond the boundaries of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s Russia. “Vladimir” focuses on the enduring themes of love and relationships, the dichotomy of freedom and oppression, and the…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Hold on to Me Darling” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (Closed on Sunday, December 22, 2024)

Strings McCrane (a complex, unsettled, and conflicted Adam Driver) did not need to be overly mindful when he was a world-famous country and western singer and a movie star: he had teams deciding what was best for his present and future career, thus unburdening him from the pressure and uncertainty of being mindful about anything. After his mother’s untimely death…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Counter” at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (Closed on Sunday, November 17, 2024)

October 9, 2024 | last five, Off-Broadway > | "The Counter", ” Susannah Flood as “Katie”, Amy Warren as “Peg”, Anthony Edwards as “Paul, Christopher Darbassie (Sound), David Cromer, David Roberts, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, Meghan Kennedy, New York Theatre Reviews, Richard Hodge serves as Production Stage Manager, Roundabout Theatre Company, Sarah Laux (Costumes), Stacey Derosier (Lights), Theatre Reviews, Theatre Reviews Limited, Walt Spangler (Sets)

Life secrets and surprises are somewhere on the menu at the way-upstate New York diner where Paul (a quiet, thoughtful, and intense Anthony Edwards) has “good coffee made with a bad machine” nearly every morning except Sunday. Paul and server Katie (a perceptive and secretive Susannah Flood) have exchanged what might be described as casual conversations for the past two…

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