All stories by Don Aucoin on BroadwayStars

Friday, January 25, 2019

Early Kerouac novel is on the road to the stage, after a lengthy detour - The Boston Globe by Don Aucoin

As Sean Daniels peruses a shelf of books by and about Jack Kerouac on a recent weekday inside Pollard Memorial Library, the visage of the Mill City's best-known author can be seen above, on …

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 02:16PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 25, 2015

Three companies, one playwright at festival by Don Aucoin

Boston-born Annie Baker will have three of her plays performed in the Shirley, VT Plays Festival, a collaboration between the Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, and Company…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

Kit Kat Klub comes alive by Don Aucoin

Constant motion and fine directing mark the American Repertory Theater's "Cabaret," which stars Amanda Palmer as the Emcee.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

STAGE REVIEW: Trinity Rep digs deeper for ‘Camelot' by Don Aucoin

After “Monty Python's Spamalot,'' is there any way to present a straightforward production of “Camelot'' — knights in shining armor, demurely veiled maidens, all the other …

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

Sense of menace reigns over this 'Castle' by Don Aucoin

"We Have Always Lived in the Castle" is a smart and arresting musical adaptation of Shirley Jackson's creepy novel.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

Yale Rep serves regret and recrimination on the rocks by Don Aucoin

Someone always seems to be mixing a drink in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.’’

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

Rising to new feats on the stage by Don Aucoin

Collaborations, risk-taking fueled an innovative mix

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

A visionary’s world by Don Aucoin

One-man show at the ART explores the life and genius of R. Buckminster Fuller

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]

There’s a lot to like in these ‘Good People’ by Don Aucoin

Lindsay-Abaire creates another compelling drama

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:58PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 2, 2014

A clash of the titans in 'Freud's Last Session' by Don Aucoin

After originating at Barrington Stage Company, "Freud's Last Session'' became a long-running off-Broadway hit. It's hard, though, to imagine performances more note-perfect than those deliver…

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 03:47PM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 22, 2014

Ethnic stereotypes abound in popular shows of a certain vintage - Theater & art - The Boston Globe by Don Aucoin

Ethnic stereotyping is popular culture's original sin, and it's proving a hard one to shed. Look no further than the uproar over last weekend's production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie'' a…

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 08:52AM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 21, 2013

Another turn at bat for 'Johnny Baseball' - Theater & art - The Boston Globe by Don Aucoin

During a break from rehearsal at an elementary school here, the songwriting brothers Willie and Robert Reale took a moment to ponder the underlying message of their musical "Johnny Baseball.…

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 12:41PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 10, 2013

Stage Reviews: If winter's what ails you, Broadway may be just the tonic by Don Aucoin

SILENCE! THE MUSICAL. Seldom does good taste get in the way of this singing, dancing, deliciously deranged off-Broadway parody of "The Silence of the Lambs.'' As for murder, well . . .

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 11:58AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 25, 2012

In gratitude for Michelle Obama's applause - Theater & art - The Boston Globe by Don Aucoin

If you worry about the vitality and visibility of live performance in an increasingly screen-centric culture, Michelle Obama deserves a prominent spot on your list of people to be thankful f…

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 04:17AM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 16, 2012

Phantom of the theater: Audience is getting older by Don Aucoin

The millennials, so financially strapped that they’ve been dubbed “Generation Debt,’’ might well feel that they’re in no position to be regular patrons.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 10:41PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 23, 2012

At 85, Robert Brustein looks back and ahead by Don Aucoin

Founding artistic director of two of the leading regional theaters in the country, the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theater. Provocative and influential drama critic for…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 08:40AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 12, 2012

'Magic/Bird' isn't able to elevate its game by Don Aucoin

The plodding pace, greatest-hits superficiality, and hagiographic tone of “Magic/Bird’’ feels jarringly dated, especially at a time when ESPN’s “30 for 30’…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 25, 2012

‘American Idiot’ packs an emotional wallop by Don Aucoin

“American Idiot,’’ the stage adaptation of Green Day’s 2004 album, is a sustained cry of anger, disgust, and longing, dramatizing the frustrations and fears of a gene…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 12:08PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 12, 2011

Creative cast makes ‘Wives’ more the merrier by Don Aucoin

Lore has it that Queen Elizabeth became so enamored of Falstaff that she expressed a wish to see a comedy built entirely around him, and that Shakespeare complied by writing “The Merry…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 04:36PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 3, 2011

A ‘DollHouse’ that alters our vision by Don Aucoin

There are few things more exhilarating than the work of a theatrical imagination operating at full throttle. That’s what is on display in “Mabou Mines DollHouse,’’ an…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 01:14PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 3, 2011

Second acts - Theater & art - The Boston Globe by Don Aucoin

On the stage, new versions of classics reveal fresh layers of meaning

SOURCE: Boston Globe Subscription at 07:12AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 10, 2011

Journeying with the Bard by Don Aucoin

Robert Brustein has written a trilogy of plays with the Bard as his protagonist, the second of which, “Mortal Terror,’’ premieres at the Modern Theatre starting Sept. 15. &…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 01:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 9, 2011

Recession-era ‘Rent’ is even more relevant by Don Aucoin

Under the sure-handed direction of Benjamin Evett, New Repertory Theatre’s “Rent’’ navigates that fine line between the heart-on-its-sleeve earnestness essential to t…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 01:09PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 5, 2011

Huck Finn adventure rolls in ‘River’ by Don Aucoin

"Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’’ is wide but not deep, a pleasant enough but not especially memorable musical adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 06:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 1, 2011

A ‘Porgy’ with spirit and heart by Don Aucoin

CAMBRIDGE - In 1985, as James Levine was preparing to conduct the Metropolitan Opera’s first performance of “Porgy and Bess,’’ he told The New York Times: “It&#…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 12:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 22, 2011

To a duplicitous duo, seduction is deadly Game by Don Aucoin

For all I know, Rachel York spends her time away from the theater adopting stray kittens or quietly needlepointing in a rocking chair. But onstage? There, York is not to be trifled with. No …

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 08:26AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 21, 2011

To duplicitous duo, seduction is deadly ‘Game’ by Don Aucoin

PITTSFIELD - For all I know, Rachel York spends her time away from the theater adopting stray kittens or quietly needlepointing in a rocking chair.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 10:49PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 19, 2011

Compelling conversations about ‘Divorce’ by Don Aucoin

WILLIAMSTOWN - For both artistic and commercial reasons, it makes sense for theater companies to tackle works that connect with the universal human experience.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 12:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 18, 2011

Battle between generations is big mess in ‘Bad Daddy’ by Don Aucoin

CAMBRIDGE - Somewhere amid the disjointed mess that is “Bad Daddy: The Musical’’’ lurks the germ of a half-decent idea.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 12:38PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 15, 2011

Love and loss, right from the Hart, in ‘Ten Cents’ by Don Aucoin

WILLIAMSTOWN - Perhaps it’s odd, even heretical, to think of another songwriter’s words when you’re listening to the songs of Rodgers and Hart.

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:35PM[SHARE]

A question of authenticity in ‘Bakersfield Mist’ by Don Aucoin

WELLFLEET - There comes a moment in Stephen Sachs’s “Bakersfield Mist’’ when a hitherto stuffy art expert works himself into a frenzy as he reenacts the convulsive pr…

SOURCE: Boston Globe at 05:34PM[SHARE]

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