Michael Roberts was born in Dix Hills, Long Island, NY. His formal music studies started at age 7. He studied
Pre-law at Pennsylvania State University. He soon changed his studies to music, and returned to New York to study composition with Myron Fink and John Reeves White at Hunter College, also attending classes at Mannes School of Music. Roberts then studied at Indiana University, where he received a Masters Degree in Music in 1987.
Upon graduation from Indiana University, Roberts returned to New York, where he worked in the the city’s independent band scene. He soon garnered the attention of promoters, and he was soon touring as a pianist and music director for a wide variety of acts, including Leslie Gore, Lou Christie, Bobby Sherman, Fabian, Bowzer (Sha Na Na), Tommy Roe, Little Anthony, Billy J Kramer, Pete Seeger, Bobby Rydell, Peter Noone/Herman’s Hermits, The Tokens, The Drifters and The Coasters, as well as comedians Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers.
Roberts left touring to refocus his career on composing. He worked closely with legendary songwriter/author/playwright Rupert Holmes. Roberts became a staff composer for Holmes’ Emmy-Award-Winning sitcom “Remember WENN” on AMC. Roberts also made cameo appearances in two episodes. Roberts and Holmes collaborated on music for the Dennis Leary film “Love Walked In (Tri-Star/Sony). Other television music from that period included work for Bravo and The Golf Channel. He also composed music for many short films, including The AFS Story and the award-winning Lemonade Stand.
After “Remember WENN”, Roberts again refocused his creative work--this time to musical theater. In 2003, Broadway producer Eric Krebs commissioned Roberts to create a musical revue about golf. The result was the hit Off-Broadway comedy GOLF: THE MUSICAL. After its critically-acclaimed 2003-2004 run at the John Houseman Theater, GOLF was revived Off-Broadway twice, and has played in twenty-five US states. International tours and productions include those in Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Canada and Scotland.
Following the success of GOLF, Roberts wrote THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, a show about Bob Hope. The show premiered at Peoria's Prairie Theater in 2006, with a second production in Marin, CA in 2010.
In 2005, Roberts, with playwright Charlie Schulman, created a show about French 19th-Century flatulence artist Joseph Pujol. The result of their collaboration was THE FARTISTE, which won the award for Best Musical at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival. The show transferred Off-Broadway in 2011, and was followed by a concert performance at The Charing Cross Theatre on London's West End.
In 2013 Krebs again approached Roberts with the plans for a new musical revue. The result was GREED, A Musical For Our Times. GREED opened at The Playroom Theater in New York’s Time Square in November 2013, and transferred in early 2014 to the New World Stages, starring Tony-nominee Stephanie D’Bruzzo.
In 2018 Roberts and Schulman debuted their new musical GOLDSTEIN Off Broadway at New York’s legendary Actor’s Temple Theater in Times Square. The show starred Broadway veterans Julie Benko, Megan McGinnis, and Jim Stanek. In Autumn of 2017, Broadway legend Betty Buckley recorded a song from the show (“Beloved”). The show received an Off-Broadway Alliance nomination for Best Musical.
Roberts was, for fifteen years, music director for THE BROADWAY KIDS, which had numerous Off-Broadway incarnations, including productions at the Barrymore Theater and The Lambs Theater. He also composed special material for the group.
Roberts composed the incidental music for 2007's MY SECRET GARDEN at New York's 45th Street Theater, and The Storm Theatre's TIDINGS BROUGHT TO MARY (2009). He also arranged and produced incidental music for the touring version of the Off-Broadway hit JEWTOPIA.
He has music directed and performed with many of cabaret and Broadway’s biggest stars. In addition to Betty Buckley, Roberts has collaborated with such luminaries as Donna Murphy, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Christine Andreas, Kurt Peterson, Sally Mayes, Natalie Douglas, Craig Pomranz, Rupert Holmes, Teri Ralston, and Stephanie Mills. He has performed as some of the country’s most celebrated venues, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Academy of Music, The White House, and countless theaters, auditoriums, and clubs.
AWARDS and HONORS
In addition to his winning Best Musical at the 2006 NYC International Fringe Festival, Roberts has won three ASCAP Plus Awards. He was also a nominee for a 2013 BroadwayWorld Award, and a 2018 Off-Broadway Alliance Award. He has served as President of The American Songbook Association.