#daniel aukin

[droughtofapathy]

Best Direction of a Play: Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic

[publictheater]

THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (Original Cast Recording – Premiered at The Public in 2014)

Book by Itamar Moses

Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman

Conceived and directed by Daniel Aukin

Based upon the novel by Jonathan Lethem

Featuring: Kyle Beltran, Adam Chanler-Berat, Andre De Shields, Brian Tyree Henry, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kevin Mambo

[frontmezzjunkies]

The Masterful "Stereophonic" Resonates at a Higher Frequency on Broadway

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: #StereophonicPlay on #Broadway by #DavidAdjmi m: #WillButler d: #DanielAukin w/ #WillBrill #AndrewRButler #JulianaCanfield #EliGelb #TomPecinka #SarahPidgeon #ChrisStack @stereobway

The cast of Stereophonic on Broadway. Photo by Julieta Cervantes. The Broadway Theatre Review: Stereophonic By Ross With a door slam and an exhausted entrance, Stereophonic, the new magnificent masterpiece of a play, written most deliberately by David Adjmi (The Blind King Parts I and II), throws itself down with a vengeance, filling the space with flavors unknown, even for someone who has…

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[caroleditosti]

'Stereophonic,' Adjmi's Hit Transfers to Broadway

In its transfer to Broadway, 'Stereophonic' remains a hit and must-see.

The cast of Stereophonic (Julieta Cervantes) When Stereophonic opened at Playwright’s Horizons in the fall of 2023, the hybrid comedy/drama/musical was extended a number of times for a multitude of reasons. The acting was superb. The subject matter intrigued. Who is not enthralled by a smooth rock band on the cusp of greatness with a chonky financial contract, “getting their s%$t together,” as a…

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[frontmezzjunkies]

"Stereophonic" at Playwrights Horizons Sings Solidly

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: #StereophonicPlay by #DavidAdjmi d: #DanielAukin m: #WillButler of #ArcadeFire w/ #WillBrill #AndrewRButler #JulianaCanfield #EliGelb #TomPecinka #SarahPidgeon #ChrisStack @phnyc #PlaywrightsHorizons #PHStereophonic #OffBroadway

Andrew R. Butler, Sarah Pidgeon, Chris Stack, and Juliana Canfield in Playwrights Horizons’s Stereophonic. Photo by Chelice Parry. The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Playwrights Horizons’s Stereophonic By Ross It’s July 1976, in a recording studio in Sausalito, CA and we are being invited into a space that only a select few get to visit, let alone witness. This is art in the making, pure and…

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[frontmezzjunkies]

Apologia: The Definition of Brilliance, With No Need of Any Apology

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: #Apologia @RoundaboutNYC #AlexiKayeCampbell #DanielAukin #StockardChanning #HughDancy #TaleneMonahon #MegalynEchikunwoke #JohnTillinger

The Review: Roundabout’s Apologia

By Ross

The noun, Apologia, as defined by the compellingplaywright Alexi Kaye Campbell (Royal Court’s The Pride) in her dynamic meditation on a mother’s sacrifice for the bigger cause, is defined as “a formal defense of one’s opinions or conduct” and definitively, “Not to be confused with an apology” for past actions or behavior. Or this new play could possibly…

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[existingcharactersdiehorribly]

playnk practice (w hugh and daniel) #apologia 

Talene Monahon on Instagram (with Daniel Aukin and Hugh Dancy)

[frontmezzjunkies]

Rancho Viejo: Jokes I Didn’t Quite Get

@Playwrights Horizons

By Ross

Have you ever found yourself in a room full of people laughing heartily to a film or a play, and you aren’t quite sure you are witnessing the same thing? It happened to me once before, when I was watching Inglourious Basterds (2009), that disturbing film by Quentin Tarantino. And it happened again the other night at Playwrights Horizons as I watched Dan LeFranc’s new play, Rancho Viejo. Everyone else, not including my ‘plus one’, seemed to find this play about a certain type of Americans living in the very homogeneous subdivision in California of the same name, hilarious. It is not an exaggeration to use the term ‘LOL’ when describing everyone else’s response, and although I wasn’t missing the ‘joke’, I found the play much to distressing to ‘LOL’.

Julia Duffy, Mark Blum, Mark Zeisler, & Mare Winningham; All photos by Joan Marcus

  The cast is perfect in their comic delivery, each delivering with an exacting characterization. Julia Duffy is spot on with every line, Mare Winningham wonderfully depressed and sincere, Lusia Strus spectacularly oblivious and dry, and I could go on about each and every one: Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Mark Blum, Ruth Aguilar, Mark Zeisler, Bill Buell, and Ethan Dubin. All wonderful, seasoned professionals, playing the words written perfectly.  They give us an odd assortment of characters showcasing all kinds of detachment, passive aggressiveness, and cruelty to one another, along side honesty, care, and a certain amount of devotion,

Blum, Winningham. Photo by Joan Marcus

even on the most superficial level. The lines and actions are delivered with an extreme version of realism, exaggerated but plausible. I just wish there was a point to all the words they were saying to each other, or that the play was a good as this ensemble.

The play, directed by Daniel Aukin seems to be a meditation on happiness, asking the question, “Are you Happy?” One husband, Pete (Blum) asks his wife, Mary (Winningham) this very question. And maybe the rest of the play is about everyone in this community trying to answer that same question, even those totally unaware of the search for the right response, or unconscious of even being on that quest. I’m not really sure. In between these moments of questioning, they fade into chatting to each other at social gatherings in the homes of one another. About art, and not much else of great meaning, without much purpose beyond trying to be neighborly.

The impeccable set (scenic design: Dane Laffrey, costume design: Jessica Pabst, lighting design: Matt Frey) for the first two acts is a uniform living room that sits in for all the characters’ different homes. This sterile space where all the characters reside, seems to be seen differently by the characters, in a similar way they seem to think of themselves as different from all the rest. But in fact, they all are uniquely the same, eventhough they seem to see, think, and talk about their differences. We just see that same bland space and the same bland people.

Winningham, Blum, Ruth Aguilar, Lusia Strus. Photo by Joan Marcus

And then there is the young man in black, Tate (a strange and interesting Ethan Dubin) who floats in and out of the scenes, haunting the background and stalking Pete, the husband that first put forth the question about ‘happiness’. My ‘plus one’ thought he represents ‘death’ and maybe that’s true, but I guess I gave up trying to figure it all out by the third act.

Aguilar. Photo by Joan Marcus

At least Act III gives us some alteration to what was happening in the first two. A strange experience in a surreal landscape between Pete and Tate. The ‘quest for happiness’ meets ‘death’? I don’t know. Is this a similar meditation or exploration on being lost in the quest for happiness? I’m not sure about that either, and at one point, I stopped caring one way or another. For the most part, I felt like the one of the characters in the play at one of their many gatherings. The Spanish speaking Anita, played with a dead seriousness by Aguilar, is telling them a long winded story in a fast paced Spanish about a parrot that isn’t a parrot. You don’t really understand the story, but you can tell where the funny bits are cause she’s laughing. The point needs to be explained to you after by an interpreter, her husband, Mike (Buell), who speaks the most American sounding Spanish you have ever heard. And in the discussion after, the story has lost most of its charm and humor. It just leaves you with more questions, rather then answers. And very little investment.

Rancho Viejo Playwrights Horizons Bill Buell Mark Blum Lusia Strus Ruth Aguilar Mare Winningham Tyrone Mitchell Henderson EthanDubin Julia Duffy

Rancho Viejo Playwrights Horizons Bill Buell Mark Blum Lusia Strus Ruth Aguilar Mare Winningham Tyrone Mitchell Henderson EthanDubin Julia Duffy

Rancho Viejo Playwrights Horizons Bill Buell Mark Blum Lusia Strus Ruth Aguilar Mare Winningham Tyrone Mitchell Henderson EthanDubin Julia Duffy

#frontmezzjunkies has posted a new review: #RanchoViejoPH @Playwrights Horizons @phnyc Rancho Viejo: Jokes I Didn’t Quite Get @Playwrights Horizons By Ross Have you ever found yourself in a room full of people laughing heartily to a film or a play, and you aren’t quite sure you are witnessing the same thing?