Review Roundup: LABEL•LESS at The Duke on 42nd Street

The reviews are coming in for Label•less, a new musical experience! The production which is playing an Off-Broadway engagement this summer at The Duke on 42nd Street at New 42 Studios, is written and directed by Lea and Drew Lachey, with choreography by Lea Lachey. See what the critics had to say in our review roundup!

Label•less is a new musical experience that gets real about the challenges we all face in today’s world. Created by Drew Lachey (98 Degrees & “Dancing With the Stars”) and choreographer Lea Lachey, Label•less features a cast of young adults sharing real-life experiences and taking audiences on an emotional journey. With an original score spanning rock, pop, and R&B, plus hit songs like “Born This Way” and “Rise Up”.

The cast of Label•less includes Lauren Maria Abraham, Kaylee Bays, Justin Daxt Bobbs, Nasir Butler, Antonio Davis Jr., Micah Day, Abby Docherty, Aaron Gillis Jr., Cayla Nichole Harris, Diana Hutchinson, Iz Lachey, Kendall Maley, Paola Marcías, Bianca Mio, Nate Promkul, Ethan Eisaiah Rualo, Colton Smith, and Kiwi Villalobos. 

Label•less is written and directed by choreographer and performer Lea Lachey and award-winning stage and screen star Drew Lachey, of the multi-platinum and Grammy nominated vocal group 98 Degrees; and choreographed by Lea Lachey. Label•less features projections by Brave Berlin and casting by Holly Buczek, CSA - HDB Casting. Kelsey Harlow is the Stage Manager. 

Matthew Wexler, 1 Minute Critic: Rent closed in 2008, but you wouldn’t know it from walking into the Duke on 42nd Street for Label•less, Drew and Lea Lachey’s pop-music Gen Z tribute. Staged on mobile scaffold units, the devised work features hits from Sam Cooke to Lady Gaga, performed by an exuberant cast determined to say something. While the words often fall flat, the voices soar. And when Lea trusts her dancers with the level of choreography they’re capable of, Label•less strikes a propulsive chord that proves the next generation of musical theater performers is ready for its close-up.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Day also wraps things up by addressing each of his castmates by name (“I see you, Aaron”) in a ritual of inclusion that feels forced — especially since so many of his fellow performers never get a monologue of their own. That’s the problem with theater: It doesn’t lend itself to absolute togetherness, or to having 17 leads trying to carry a show. Leveling the playing field also means flattening it so that nothing stands out.

Zachary Stewart, Theatremania: Who is this show for? Who in the off-Broadway audience still needs to be told that racism is wrong and gay people deserve dignity? Label•less gestures toward brave truth-telling but delivers a message so inoffensive it could be produced at most American high schools without much pushback (for all the show’s rainbow flag-waving, trans issues are conspicuously absent). It feels like something you might have seen onstage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, an earnest song-and-dance routine celebrating pluralism and the fact that we’re Stronger Together. In 2026, that feels like an unsatisfying response to a world on fire.

Average Rating: 53.3%