Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theatre critic . He worked for The New York Times from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the Times called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his time." Atkinson became a Times theater critic in the 1920s and his reviews became very influential. He insisted on leaving the drama desk during World War II to report on the war, and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for his work as the Moscow correspondent for the Times . He returned to the theater beat in the late 1940s, until his retirement in 1960.
22-696: Atkinson was born in Melrose, Massachusetts , to Jonathan H. Atkinson, a salesman statistician, and Garafelia Taylor. As a boy, he printed his own newspaper (using movable type ), and planned a career in journalism . He attended Harvard University , where he began writing for the Boston Herald . He graduated from Harvard in 1917, and worked at the Springfield Daily News and the Boston Evening Transcript , where he
44-699: A Chinese Wonderland City . After the end of the war, Atkinson stayed only briefly in New York before he was sent to the Soviet Union to serve as a press correspondent in Moscow . His work there for the Times earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence in 1947. Upon his return to the United States, Atkinson was reassigned to the newspaper's drama desk, where he remained until his retirement in 1960. He
66-509: A new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera , which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row , on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan,
88-628: A tribute dinner for Atkinson's 80th birthday, which was attended by Arthur Miller , Elia Kazan , and other prominent actors and playwrights. He died on January 14, 1984, at Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama . Atkinson had moved to Huntsville from his farm in Durham, New York , in 1981 to be closer to his family. The Mansfield Theatre in New York was named Brooks Atkinson Theatre in his honor between 1960 and 2022. Melrose, Massachusetts Too Many Requests If you report this error to
110-482: Is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair , Godspell , Little Shop of Horrors , Sunday in the Park with George , Rent , Grey Gardens , Urinetown , Avenue Q , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , Rock of Ages , In
132-555: Is a production of a play , musical , or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan 's Theater District , the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by
154-465: Is given much credit for the growth of Off-Broadway into a major theatrical force in the 1950s, and has been cited by many influential people in the theatre as crucial to their careers. David Merrick 's famous spoof ad for Subways Are For Sleeping —in which he hired seven ordinary New Yorkers who had the same names as prominent drama critics to praise his musical—had to wait for Atkinson's retirement, because Merrick could not find anyone with
176-600: The Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award . Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards , an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera . Capacity
198-667: The Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center . The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre 's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams . According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered
220-638: The Harlem "Voodoo Macbeth," directed by the 21-year-old Orson Welles ; the collaborative historical play "Lost Colony," staged on Roanoke Island in North Carolina; and openings of interesting plays all up and down the East Coast. His reviews were reputed to have the power to make or break a new stage production: for example, his panning in 1940 of Lawrence Riley 's Return Engagement led to that comedy's closure after only eight performances, despite
242-932: The Heights , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Fun Home , Hamilton , Dear Evan Hansen , Hadestown , and Kimberly Akimbo . In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line , encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt , I Am My Own Wife , Bridge & Tunnel , The Normal Heart , and Coastal Disturbances . Other productions, such as Stomp , Blue Man Group , Altar Boyz , Perfect Crime , Forbidden Broadway , Nunsense , Naked Boys Singing , Bat Boy: The Musical , and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks ,
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#1732780375068264-574: The League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue , including Times Square and West 42nd Street . This change to
286-707: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 222731132 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:52:55 GMT Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres , but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production"
308-462: The contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within
330-681: The longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017. Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award , the Outer Critics Circle Award , the Drama Desk Award , the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice ),
352-409: The realism of the new play The Front Page , "No one who has ground his heels in the grime of a police headquarters press room will complain that this argot misrepresents the gentlemen of the press." In 1932 Atkinson dropped the J. from his byline and embraced the witty, direct writing style that became his hallmark. Atkinson, stepping into the role of major progressive thinker and writer of his time,
374-537: The right name. There was only one Brooks Atkinson in New York City . Atkinson was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1960. He came briefly out of retirement in 1965 to write a favorable review of Man of La Mancha ; his review was printed on the first page of the show's original souvenir program. After his retirement, he became a member of The Players who organized
396-439: The success of Riley's previous comedy, Personal Appearance , which had lasted for over 500 performances on Broadway . Atkinson had already been dubbed "the conscience of the theater" because of his openness to earnest experimental theater, his sense of duty toward supporting theater that addressed important moral and social issues of the day, and his firm conviction that theater could educate and foment serious public debate, but he
418-553: Was a strong supporter of the Works Progress Administration , particularly the new Federal Theatre Project , Roosevelt's attempt in the midst of the unemployment and poverty of the Great Depression to extend welfare support to out of work theater professionals and to create a theater responsive to the American public in range and diversity. Atkinson travelled extensively to see productions such as
440-594: Was assistant to the drama critic. In 1922, he became the editor of the New York Times Book Review , and in 1925 the drama critic. Atkinson married Oriana MacIlveen, a writer, in August 1926. On the drama desk, Atkinson quickly became known for his commitment to new kinds of theater (he was one of the first critical admirers of Eugene O'Neill ) for his interest in all kinds of drama, including off-Broadway productions. In 1928, he said admiringly about
462-703: Was captivated by him. Atkinson wrote favorably about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and against the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek , which he saw as reactionary and corrupt. After visiting Yenan, he wrote that the Communist movement's political system was best described as an "agrarian or peasant democracy, or as a farm labor party." Atkinson viewed the Chinese Communist Party as communist in name only and more democratic than totalitarian. The Times effusively titled his article Yenan,
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#1732780375068484-858: Was often not comfortable with the influence that he wielded over the Broadway box office. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Atkinson attempted to enlist in the US Navy but was refused. He requested a reassignment to war coverage, and The New York Times sent him to the front lines as a war correspondent in China , where he covered the Second Sino-Japanese War until 1945. While in China, he visited Mao Tse-tung in Yenan and
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