Thursday, October 1, 2026
What does “home” mean? For Bobby Conte, Alexander Sovronsky, and Miyuki Miyagi, this question is close to their hearts. Each performer brings a unique connection with Long Island to “Copperfield!,” the new Off-Broadway musical now playing at The Duke on 42nd Street at New 42 Studios. Based on Charles Dickens’ coming-of-age classic, the show allows these performers to draw on their families, communities, and artistic experiences that helped shape their journeys to the stage.
“Copperfield!” tells the story of a young man looking back on his life and trying to understand family, identity, perseverance, and where he belongs. Before Conte (Broadway’s “A Bronx Tale”), Sovronsky (Broadway’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”) and Miyagi (Off-Broadway’s “Beau the Musical”), found themselves bringing his story to life, their paths were touched by various lessons inspired by their local roots.
Conte, who leads the musical as David Copperfield, sees the idea of home through the lens of the people who helped shape him. His grandparents live in Manhasset, and Long Island became an important part of his life, particularly after college, when he lived with them while auditioning and saving money for his first job. “They were the best roommates ever,” he says.
His grandfather, who operated a pharmacy in Manhasset and New York City, was also a passionate supporter of the arts. His customers included Broadway performers like Ethel Merman due to his unique concoction of a remedy for sore throats. Conte considers his grandfather a lasting influence on his own decision to pursue acting.
“He’s the forever inspiration of anything that I do,” he says. “Whatever life he’s built over 90-plus years affords me the opportunity to take a risk and try to be an actor.”
For Sovronsky and Miyagi, the Long Island connection began with music. Sovronsky grew up in Syosset, and began playing violin at the age of 3, studying Suzuki violin with the Children’s Orchestra Society and in programs in Oyster Bay and Glen Cove. He later attended Syosset High School and became involved in theater, eventually finding a way to combine the two disciplines he had been told could not coexist professionally.
“I didn’t want to choose,” he says. “People said you can’t do both, you have to choose. And I was like, ‘Watch me!’”
Miyagi, who grew up in Glen Cove and attended Portledge School in Locust Valley, also discovered her artistic identity early. She began playing violin at 3 (potentially crossing paths with future co-star Sovronsky with the Children’s Orchestra Society) and danced throughout her childhood.
“I fell in love with theater in elementary school and thought, ‘Well, I’m going to be an actor,’” she says. “No one took me seriously, but I meant it very seriously.”
Her parents’ Japanese restaurants —Asahi Tokyo in Glen Cove and later Maguro in Roslyn — provided another lesson in determination. Watching her parents navigate the demands and uncertainty of the restaurant business, she says, prepared her for the similarly unpredictable life of a theater performer.
“They trained me to persevere,” Miyagi says.
Those Long Island experiences have become an unexpected throughline in a production centered on finding one’s place in the world. But “Copperfield!” is also an unusually collaborative theatrical experience.
The production uses an actor-musician approach in which the company members do far more than act. They sing, play instruments, portray multiple characters, and help create the sound and physical world of the story in full view of the audience.
“It’s really rare that you get everyone touching instruments,” Sovronsky says. “That’s a really exciting, unifying element.”
For Conte, the musicality of the company has been one of the most remarkable parts of the rehearsal process. He recalled watching performers switch instruments during a rehearsal and somehow make the arrangement sound even better.
“I’m constantly surprised at the abilities of the people in the room,” he says. “You are watching the creative people create something before your eyes,” Conte says.
That philosophy also informs the performers’ work with multiple characters. Sovronsky plays four different roles, using accents, vocal qualities, and physicality to distinguish them. Miyagi, a swing, covers multiple tracks, requiring her to move among characters with their own voices and physical identities.
Musically, the production avoids the conventional amplified sound of many contemporary musicals. Instead, the acoustic score incorporates strings, winds, piano, and live Foley effects, creating a soundscape that complements the period setting.
Sovronsky sees “Copperfield!” as ultimately a story about “finding your home and finding joy and the positivity in things.”
Conte adds that the story’s themes serve as an important reminder: “When you’re dealt the cards you have, can you still find hope, purpose, and a reason to want to connect with other people?”
As Conte puts it, the power of theater may ultimately lie in its ability to remind audiences that everyone is deserving of “grace and patience and forgiveness,” and that, even after a difficult journey, there is always the possibility of finding a way forward.
The performers’ Long Island experiences are helping them tell a story about a young man doing exactly what they have done in their own ways: looking at where David Copperfield came from, discovering who he is, and finding the people and places that make him feel at home.
“Copperfield! The New Musical” runs through Dec. 6. Visit copperfieldthemusical.com to purchase tickets.
