‘Every Actor’s Nightmare’

Auditions and Tony Roberts don’t mix.

For all his experience on Broadway, Roberts says, he still hasn’t mastered the art of the audition.

“They’re every actor’s nightmare, and with me they’re worse.” He auditioned so badly for Woody Allen’s first play, “Don’t Drink the Water,” he recalls, that he nearly didn’t get the role.

“[Producer] David Merrick wanted me, but Woody was not convinced. In the meantime I had replaced Robert Redford in ‘Barefoot in the Park.’ So Woody came to see me in that. He came backstage and said, ‘This is great. You’re very good. I’ll give you the part in my play. Why are you so bad at auditions?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

But he knows now.

“I have to have rehearsals,” Roberts says. “They’re a collaboration that helps you come up with a performance. Going into a strange room with strange people who don’t give you confidence, who are saying, ‘Show me,’ is entirely different. It’s a tremendous burden.”