13 Facts About Elliot Norton

Elliot Norton was a Boston-based theater critic who was one of the most influential regional theater critics in his 48-year-long career, during which he who wrote 6,000 reviews and became known as "The Dean of American Theatre Critics".

Boston was a major pre-Broadway tryout town, and Elliot Norton's criticism was taken seriously by producers, directors and playwrights, including Joshua Logan, Mike Nichols, and Neil Simon.

Elliot Norton was called "the most valuable critic in America" by producer Alexander Cohen.

Elliot Norton was very helpful to me on every show I brought to Boston.

Elliot Norton had a gentlemanly manner, and even if what he had to say was rough, he could tell you without breaking your heart.

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Elliot Norton began his career as a newspaperman with The Boston Post after graduating from Harvard in 1926.

The Post went out of business in 1956, and Elliot Norton was hired by the Boston Record American, which evolved into the Boston Herald American, which eventually became the Boston Herald after he retired in 1982.

Elliot Norton practiced drama criticism when the relationship between the regional critic and playwrights whose shows were undergoing tryouts in their towns were not as adversarial as they were to become.

Elliot Norton helped shape the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II during the tryout of as Away We Go at Boston's Colonial Theatre.

Elliot Norton loved the play and gave it a wonderful review but he said the third act was lacking something.

In 1964, Elliot Norton received the George Jean Nathan Award for drama criticism in 1964 and a Special Tony Award for distinguished commentary in 1971.

Elliot Norton was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966.

Elliot Norton's show, Elliot Norton Reviews, received the Peabody Award, one of television's greatest honors.