Blueberries Opens on Broadway: Auschwitz Album Drama Arrives

Here There Are Blueberries, a documentary-theater work by Tectonic Theater Project's Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, has officially opened at Broadway's Barrymore Theatre. The play dramatizes the real-life findings of archivist Rebecca Erbelding as she unravels the mysteries behind an Auschwitz photo album depicting Holocaust perpetrators.

The album sits at the play's center. Erbelding, the historical archivist whose research the piece follows, appears as a character played by Delia Cunningham, who makes her Broadway debut in the production.

Who is in the cast?

The ensemble features eight actors, all of whom play multiple roles:

• Michael Cerveris, a two-time Tony winner
• Scott Barrow
• Michelle Beck
• Kathleen Chalfant
• Delia Cunningham
• Brandon Flynn
• Montego Glover
• Conrad Ricamora

That everyone doubles and triples roles is no accident. It's the kind of structural choice documentary theater (a form built from interviews, records and archival material rather than invented plot) tends to favor, and it suits a play about piecing together evidence from many hands.

What did the cast say on opening night?

Speaking to Broadway.com at the opening, Cunningham described a show that refuses to sit still. "Here There Are Blueberries is just an incredibly expansive play that can hold the moment in time that we perform it in each time we perform it," she said. "It changes tremendously based on our audiences, what happens in the world. It's because it's a mirror and our audiences come and they really look into that mirror."

A mirror is a pointed image for a play about perpetrators rather than victims, and Cunningham's framing suggests the production leans into that discomfort rather than smoothing it over. Short verdict: this is theater that watches its audience back.

Conrad Ricamora returns to Broadway in the production as Tilman Taube, among other roles. He arrives directly from originating the role of Abraham Lincoln in Oh, Mary!, a performance that earned him a Tony nomination. His move from a slapstick White House to an Auschwitz archives story is the season's sharpest career swerve — a comparison the actor's own résumé makes without any help from critics.

Why does the timing matter?

The creative team and cast spoke with Broadway.com on opening night about how audiences are reacting to what the outlet calls an "urgent new work." Cunningham's description of a play that "changes tremendously" with world events points to the obvious: a drama about ordinary people documenting atrocity reads differently depending on the week you see it. That built-in responsiveness is the show's wager — and, on current evidence, its strongest selling point. Expect the conversation around the Barrymore to keep shifting as long as the run does.