Ben Brantley's Cruelest Theatre Reviews- Page 2

[homeimp]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:19pm

Of course it is cruel. If I treated my students on their report cards as Brantley treats Broadway shows, I would be shown the door. You can criticize fairly without being cruel. Well, at least I learned to do that very quickly. Too many critics, Brantley one, presume they are the target audience for a show. If Brantley doesn't like it, then it shouldn't be to anybody's taste. I disagree.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:27pm

Your students are not professional Broadway artists.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:58pm

Possibly he is so cruel so that the producers cannot quote his review to advertise the show. Just try to find ONE pull quote to splatter across the marquee in his Mermaid review. Everyone wants to put "ASTONISHING!-NYT" on their posters.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 12:58am

It's his job to critique and give his opinion! It's not cruel. It's what he saw. If he thinks it sucked, then, to him, it sucked. He's a harsh dude and he's highly critical so that's going to show in his reviews. Obviously not everyone agrees with harsh criticism or WICKED wouldn't be the box office juggernaut that it is. He's only one voice. If a show sucks, it's not going to be his fault. It's going to be the fault of the producers and the writers and the actors and the design team. Simple as that.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 1:25am

I have a random question. If Brantley were to say some random aspect of the show was "incredible" but he panned the rest of the show, could the producers just slap the pull quote "incredible!" all over town?

Does the NYT have to okay the pull-quotes they use to make sure they're not taken out of context or something along those lines? It may seem like a stupid question, and it probably is, but I've always wondered what a situation like this would entail.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 8:45am

^ I have a similar question. If a critic said something along the lines of, 'I was expecting this show to be a brilliant work of art, but what I saw on that stage was a mess', would the producers be allowed to make 'A Brilliant Work of Art' their marquee quote?

Updated On: 7/10/09 at 08:45 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 8:56am

Generally, it doesn't happen because most ad agencies and press offices know better than to distort a quote to that degree. I do remember that the flop Broadway musical, Marlowe, from the early '80s, took a quote from Frank Rich's scathing review and used it in their ads. Rich's quote about how giddily awful the show was went something like "A slap-happy feeling sets in, a feeling akin to when Laurel and Hardy push a piano down a flight of stairs". Marlowe ran just "A slap-happy feeling sets in" and I seem to recall that Rich and/or the Times cried foul and the quote was dropped.

Updated On: 7/10/09 at 08:56 AM

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 8:59am

If I remember correctly (and I usually don't!), there was a big hoopla in London over that kind of thing - pulling quotes out of context - I want to say there's a law? Something was put in place to assure it wouldn't...couldn't happen.

I don't know if they have the same thing in New York, though. You could probably Google the answer, I'm just too lazy. :)

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:14am

I know it's a critic's job to be honest in what they see and write how they really feel about a show. And that's fine. But some of these guys are over the top. As some other posters have said, I think they try to be too cleaver and witty and it comes across as elitist and cruel (for lack of a better word.) And Brantley is not the only one by an stretch.

Any of you watch "Theater Talk" with that idiot Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins? Riedel is bad enough but throw in Michael Musto and Jesse Green and I want to throw something at my TV. Talk about theater elitists who basically hate everything on stage, except a straight play here or there and maybe Next to Normal. And what they bring to the table is not constructive or informational about shows. They just rip shows, actors, writers, and producers so they can all hear each other cackle and move on. The only one with any sort of class is Patrick Pacheo, which makes sense due to his background. He may not like something but he is always respectful.

Maybe I would give these critics more respect if they were more respectful. You can pan a show and not like it and still critique it, get your point across and do it with class. And when something is REALLY awful, then I can see going over the top. When you go over the top on almost every show you don't like, it loses it's effect and I think the writer loses credibility.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:35am

Musto's not a theater critic, he's a gossip columnist.

I like Riedel. He's not a theater critic, either. He's a gossip columnist.

I bet there are enough people who more often than not agree with Brantley, even in the cruelest reviews.

[James885]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:36am

Regarding pulling quotes out of context, does anyone remember when the last Grease revival opened and they had an ad quoting a bunch of critics as saying the show was "The One That I Want"? Even though the show was almost universally panned, almost every review had mentioned the reality show 'You're The One That I Want' and so the producers used that little snippet for their ad. As I recall, it was quickly retracted as several critics called them on it.

As for Brantley, I don't think he's overly cruel in his reviews. His job is not only to inform but to also be witty and entertaining. I think some of Frank Rich's reviews are much worse than Brantley's.

Updated On: 7/10/09 at 09:36 AM

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:38am

Denver Post theatre critic John Moore recently ran an article where he asked himself, "What's my Job" and his answer was to determine if everyone was getting their money's worth in the show. Denver has many theaters, and the production quality runs all over the board. But he'll give a good review to a decent, low budget, production if it only costs $15 for tickets since you got your money's worth. Similarly, if he sees the national tour of Wicked, he's far more critical.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:48am

In My Life got the most hilarious reviews ever. If the alleged-rapist producer/writer/director/composer/lyricist had any sense, he would have changed direction and marketed it as a comedy. Or an acid trip.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 10:21am

I have to say in the last season, I agreed with a large majority of Brantley's reviews.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:48pm

Ben Brantley, John Simon and Michael Riedel are just horrible human beings!

[Kaybee]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:53pm

Personally, I use Brantley's "Little Mermaid" quotes in my every day vocabulary.

Do you guys ever go to DidHeLikeIt.com as quick reference to his reviews? I DIE over the little Brantley-Bobble-Head-Esque graphic they use.

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:57pm

Yankeefan, you are right, they are columnists.

But in the context of Theater Talk, they do critique shows and discuss their thoughts on what shows are good and bad. And in that context, I can't stand their "analysis." Because there isn't an analysis...it's who can make a snide, oops sorry, "witty" comment about a show and laugh about how snide, oops, "witty" they are.

They bring nothing to the table, IMO.

I just thinks these critics, analysts, whatever you want to call them, take it too far sometimes. And instead of it being witty and entertaining, its obnoxious.

[The Last Midnight]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 2:59pm

[Calvin]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:01pm

or this instant classic

[broadwaybound882]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:06pm

In defense of the critics, they're human, lie all of us, and all of us have opinions. However, what I don't get is seldom do they BACK UP their opinions with reason. That raises some doubt in my mind. It's a common problem I see in the rare Brantley review I read. Another thing I can't stand are critics using their power of the pen to influence people to not see a show. IMO, critics should be chamipons of the theater, encouraging more people to visit. Sure, they can write aspects of the performance they may find, in a holistic approach, to be "weak links", yet critics should NEVER discourage people to go for a night of theater. I rmember reading of how theater critics have become casulaties of a faltering newspaper inductry and this may be the reason: their eviews are far more becoming less supportive of the arts. Critics shoudl support the arts. Thye main point is that we are all humans. We also are critics. The best critic to follow is yourself. You may find you have differewing opinions.

[The Last Midnight]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:11pm

Are there any pictures of the Merrick ad where he pulled one word from each review to create a good pull quote?

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:25pm

broadwaybound: I hear what you are saying. i don't think critics should discourage people to go to the theater, but I don't think it's their job to promote theater either. I think their job is to watch a show, give an honest, respectful review and make the review enjoyable for us to read.

I'm ok with a critic saying they didn't like a show. Fine. But don't be an a$$hole about it.

But I agree with you in that no one should let a critic dictate what entertainment medium they choose to support...meaning theater, books, movies, music, video games, etc. Go see, read, whatever you want...it's your money.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:48pm

I totally forgot about that GREASE ad! Were any of the publications quoted pissed about it?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 3:59pm

I can certainly understand the temptation to pull quotes out of context. For example you could easily pull "...animation, suspense and sex appeal!" out of Brantley's review for Dracula.

And here it is, looming like a giant stuffed bat on a stick, the easiest target on Broadway. 'Dracula, the Musical,' which sets the familiar tale of old snaggletooth to the familiar music of Frank Wildhorn, creaked open last night at the Belasco Theater with all the animation, suspense and sex appeal of a Victorian waxworks in a seaside amusement park.