#1
Posted: 12/18/15 at 9:14am
I was surprised to see this-- Brantley reviewed Sheryl Crow's Diner in Delaware.
Also, ouch.
#2
Posted: 12/18/15 at 9:34am
It wasn't reviewed by the Times when it debuted at Signature, was it?
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#4
Posted: 12/18/15 at 10:21am
This NY Times review should put to rest any idea of a Broadway transfer. It seems that Brantley is beginning to tire of the barrage of screen-to-stage adaptations that are clogging the theatre.
#5
Posted: 12/18/15 at 10:27am
I keep confusing diner with waitress. Is the waitress in the diner?
My father (AIDS)
My sister (AIDS)
My uncle and my cousin and her best friend (AIDS, AIDS, AIDS)
The gays and the straights
And the white and the spades
#6
Posted: 12/18/15 at 11:00am
"It seems that Brantley is beginning to tire of the barrage of screen-to-stage adaptations that are clogging the theatre."
Oh you mean like the adaptation of School of Rock he just raved about last week? Ok.
I would venture to say that Brantley doesn't care from what medium the source material for a Broadway musical comes as long as it's written well.
#7
Posted: 12/18/15 at 11:07am
I really don't think he should have reviewed this. If it were at a higher-scale out of town theater, then maybe yes, but they're obviously choosing an out of the way theater to try and work on it.
#9
Posted: 12/18/15 at 11:25am
90 min accela ride from midtown. Theater is immediately outside the train station. Nbd. Would be way worse to go to the Signature
Updated On: 12/18/15 at 11:25 AM
#10
Posted: 12/18/15 at 11:28am
"Moral" questions like "should Brantley have reviewed a show in Delaware?" are moot in the 21st century - ALL press is now global press. Even local reviews can be found instantly by anyone with access to the internet, so who cares if you're reading a review by Brantley or by Gertrude van Schmeer in the Wilmington Gazette?
As long as the production isn't being specifically billed as heading to NY, it's fair game for anyone to write about.
Updated On: 12/18/15 at 11:28 AM
#11
Posted: 12/18/15 at 11:48am
Oh you mean like the adaptation of School of Rock he just raved about last week?
He also raved about Honeymoon in Vegas.
#13
Posted: 12/18/15 at 3:26pm
"He also raved about Honeymoon in Vegas."
Yes... but the point was to address the "beginning to tire" aspect of that post. Hence the use of the most immediately relevant example. There are several other movie adaptions he's raved about as well, but citing those wouldn't counter the argument of him growing weary recently.
#14
Posted: 12/19/15 at 1:41am
I think narration - generally - doesn't work in theater, and even more so in musical theater.
#15
Posted: 12/20/15 at 10:01am
I agree with Brantley's reviews about 50% of the time, but this one is pretty on the money. Giving the female characters a voice dilutes the very unique perspective of this property as a male coming of age story. I always cringe when playwrights/screenwrighters project their contemporary worldviews onto the actions within a period piece. Personally, I think it was a mistake for Levinson to have this adaptation take on socio-political gender oppression as a theme to explore. In my view, Diner is less a story about where/how a society/time period went wrong and more about how a group of young men (a timeless theme) need to progress from adolescent behavior (toward women, each other, and their futures) to adulthood.
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