Brantley responds to the Star-er, lover accusations

[Brick]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 2:45pm

In his article on celebrity-driven productions in the last ten years, Brantley ends with a passage that caught me by surprise, in what amounts to a response to the accusations I frequently hear on the board of his being a Star-...er, lover in his reviews.

" I suppose what most rankles is how most of us are transformed into awe-struck gogglers in the presence of a majesty so fleeting, so illusory, so factory-made.

People say stars imported from other constellations are easy targets when they appear on Broadway, but I have found that reviewers, myself included, go out of their way to be respectful. Its difficult, after all, to escape the reflexes bred by your culture. As hard as we may try to resist it, when visitors arrive from even an ersatz Olympus, our first instinct is to take off our hats."

It may be true, but also something of note when the most powerful critic in the country admits it!

Seems he feels comfortable attacking theater actors, but takes his hat off to celebrities...
Link

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 3:49pm

Isn't he the person that said that his "heart sank" when he learned that Brooke Shields was going to take over the role of Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town and then went on to say she was a "delight", when he actually saw her in the role?
How was that respectful? To judge a performer before the performer was even in the show.

Updated On: 1/4/10 at 03:49 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 3:51pm

I think what he's admitting to is being human, and subjective, which critics are.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 4:02pm

You're right. As much as I disagree with him, he is just one person that is employed by The NYT, and it's not him who I dislike, but the people that think that just an endorsement should change their minds. "The New York Times=One person", people seem to forget that.
The article is very well written though, very well put.

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 4:05pm

Shouldn't a professional critic leave his teeny-bopper star worship at the door?

He's a joke.

A bad one.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 4:20pm

Humans come with biases. Objectivity is a myth.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 5:01pm

I usually enjoy his writing, but that quote reads as if he sat at his computer and used a thesaurus to make it sound more sophisticated. It comes off as sssssoooooo snotty!

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 5:18pm

Double-post Updated On: 1/3/10 at 05:18 PM

[harper4]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 11:22am

AMEN After Eight!

[Brick]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:10pm

I don't enjoy he can be pretty snarky to theatre actors and then turn around and "take off his hat" to a celebrity with half the talent. Sure, he's human but there's a clear double standard at work sometimes.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 1:24pm

I thought it was a well written, very easy to understand peice that's about more than just the last two paragraphs.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 2:19pm

What the hell are you talking about with "Star-er, lover accusations"?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 2:25pm

It's supposed to be "Starfuc*er"

[Brick]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 3:40pm

Yes, and thank you. I didn't know how far I could push it in a Thread Subject...

[piperlacyboo]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 8:26pm

"Isn't he the person that said that his "heart sank" when he learned that Brooke Shields was going to take over the role of Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town and then went on to say she was a "delight", when he actually saw her in the role?
How was that respectful? To judge a performer before the performer was even in the show."

i bet he judged her on a much easier scale though. i mean, i didn't see her performance, but I bet that if not for the "celebrity factor," her singing and acting wasn't up to what most theater actresses bring and he would have been a lot more critical.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 8:28pm

The general consensus was that Brooke Shields was pretty damn fabulous in WONDERFUL TOWN, and possibly even better suited for the role than Donna Murphy.
She was fantastic.