Biography

ROBIN FIELD is an award-winning entertainer whose career has spanned six decades. As a singer-pianist, his appearances have taken him from cabarets to Carnegie Hall. As an actor, he won leading roles Off-Broadway in Your Own Thing, Look Me Up, Speed Gets the Poppys, and the revival of Rodgers & Hart’s Babes in Arms. As a member of The Klowns, Field toured with the Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus, recorded for RCA Victor, and starred in an ABC-TV special with Sammy Davis and Jerry Lewis. In 1972 Dom De Luise presented him as his “discovery” on “The Merv Griffin Show.” As a composer-lyricist, Field toured the U.S. and Canada in his own one-man show Reason in Rhyme, based on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, and he wrote, directed, and starred in seven editions of Broadway: A Hundred Years Ago. For five years he served as creator and host of the New York radio series “Broadway Time Capsule” and for two years as editor and publisher of Revival, a magazine on theatrical history. He and his singing partner Bill Daugherty won rave reviews throughout the U.S. as well as in London and Amsterdam, won four MAC awards for “Best Musical-Comedy Team,” and their show Daugherty & Field Off-Broadway was nominated for a New York Outer Critics’ Circle Award as “Best Musical Revue.” In 1992 they headlined at Carnegie Hall.

In other productions, Field has had leading roles in Don’t Drink the Water, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Miracle Worker, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, Mark Twain in Concert, Ten Little Indians, Cabaret, Monna Vanna, A Christmas Carol, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, The King & I, Oliver, and Mark Twain & the Shakespeare Mystery. He wrote, composed, and directed the musicals Blossoms of Big Bear, The Bronze Ring, The Singing Mountains, The Crystal Palace, and Tom Sawyer. He is also the author of Philosophical Workshop, The Rational Inquirer, and 1000 Simple Questions about The Bible, and his voice may be heard on dozens of audio books.

Acclaim for Robin Field

“[New York’s] Pub Theatrical is a surprisingly friendly, informal place, as personified by the engaging lounge pianist … Mr. Field asked for requests, … then slid into a parade of ballads and showbiz favorites with sensitivity, skill, and freshness. He played well, without the sequined patness of some lounge entertainers, and sang with feeling.” (New York Times)

“Field … is an extraordinarily gifted young man [in Look Me Up].” (Backstage)

“The best work is done by Robin Field as the cheerfully valiant hero [in Speed Gets the Poppys].” (New York Times)

“Field is perfect as the Andy Hardy-Jimmy Cagney character Val [in Babes in Arms].” (Flushing Tribune)

“[In Reason and Rhyme] Robin actually did the unthinkable. He successfully married classical philosophy to musical comedy. He succeeded in writing beguiling, catchy music (of definite commercial quality), and he married it beautifully with lyrics of intellectual weight…. Robin did it with wit and intelligence. He managed to synthesize complex philosophical thoughts into easily understood fundamentals, wedding them happily with his bouncy, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, music. What’s more, I was delighted to find that Robin is a superb entertainer, accompanying himself on the piano.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Robin is good: good writer, good composer, good thinker … All of his stuff is so unusual, so sui generis [in a class by itself] … [His Reason in Rhyme] is, I think, a masterpiece…. It’s the first time, after much reading and study that even I have begun to have some understanding of philosophy, which I have always found distinctly boring…. PS: Blessedly, he can also sing.” (Director Bill Lentsch)

“[Daugherty & Field Off-Broadway is] a full-length evening of show business nostalgia…. a spirited vocal duel, expertly performed.” (New York Times)

“[Daugherty & Field Off-Broadway is] an entertainment high unsurpassed by any stage offering currently on view in New York.” (Backstage)

“Field is quietly superb as Marco [in Monna Vanna], the sad voice of reason, bringing such a strength of character that he retains the audience’s interest even when delivering reams of repetitive philosophical musings.” (Variety)

“The stupendously brilliant Robin Field [in Monna Vanna] … stops the show with his meandering philosophizing and reluctance to get to the point … and he does it magnificently.” (Santa Monica Daily Press)

“Robin Field’s pleasing voice and astute interpretations [in the audiobook of Leaves of Grass] … bring new life to Whitman’s poems with his intelligent emphasis and emotion. And when Field recites a particularly resonant phrase at just the right time, the moment can turn into song.” (AudioFile)

“Robin Field comes about as close to channeling Mark Twain as it’s possible to do [in his reading of The Innocents Abroad].” (Customer Review)

“I’ve read [Huckleberry Finn] in the past and loved it. However, Robin Field’s portrayal of the characters adds such a deeper dimension to all of them. I appreciate the character of Jim much more after hearing him come to life through [Field’s] interpretation.“ (Customer Review)

“ … a multi-talented performer.” — Merv Griffin

“ … a very talented human being.” — Dom DeLuise

“ … a Renaissance Man.” — Jose Ferrer