CHICKEN & BISCUITS - Reviews

Doesn't look like anyone's started this yet...

The Jenkins family is coming together to celebrate the life of their father—hopefully without killing each other! Eldest daughter, Baneatta, wants everything to be perfect for her father’s funeral. “Favorite” daughter, Beverly, would rather honor her daddy dressed to show the entire congregation what she’s been “blessed with.” Teenage granddaughter, La’trice, can’t mind her own business if it was on a leash. Not far behind comes grandson Kenny and his very Jewish boyfriend Logan who is maybe, sort of, okay definitely afraid of Baneatta. But Baneatta’s hopes unravel when a family secret shows up at the funeral…

NYT: In ‘Chicken & Biscuits,’ a Sweet but Dated Comedic Recipe

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/theater/chicken-and-biscuits-review.html

Variety is very positive: A Feast of Black Joy on Broadway 

https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/chicken-biscuits-review-broadway-1235084217/

NY Daily News: ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ is over-long, under-baked comedy despite a warm center

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-chicken-and-biscuits-broadway-20211011-2u64bhhczfgo7k5k6vavzq5bqu-story.html

This isn't universally loved by critics or audiences, actually. I've enjoyed reading the mixed reviews.

AMNY: ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ is a cliched meal

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/theater/theater-review-chicken-and-biscuits/

I think there’s definitely a case for altering the culture of theatre criticism to (a) include more marginalized voices as critics, (b) write reviews with a contextual mindset of who the target audience is, and whether they’d enjoy / are enjoying a show, and (c) be constructive and resist the urge make catty jabs just to entertain readers.

But I also think that making space for marginalized artists shouldn’t mean making their art immune to criticism. A thriving artistic community will always output a mix of hits and misses. And part of making space for marginalized voices is to make space for them to write good things and bad things, just like white artists do.

I remember when I moved to NY and started seeing theatre more regularly I was afraid to be critical of plays by POC. But the more plays by POC I saw — good, bad, and in between — the less I was afraid to critique the ones I didn’t like. Because a respectful, constructive critique is part of taking someone seriously as an artist.

Updated On: 10/10/21 at 11:40 PM

TheSassySam said: "Something tells me the critics who penned the negative reviews aren't the target audience for this show."

Something tells me that the only review that the target audience will read was very good...

Ermendgarde, I think you’re on the money in pointing out the larger patterns at play. There are what, 8 plays by Black playwrights this season? At least one of them was bound to get panned. If we were seeing critics pan all of them, while praising all the mediocre plays by white playwrights, then this would be a different conversation for sure.

In the other thread I compared Chicken & Biscuits to Getting’ the Band Back Together, in that they were both broad comedies that I didn’t find funny, and yet with both shows, the audience around me was absolutely loving it. And in the case of Gettin’ The Band, the critics ripped it to shreds, to the point where Davenport wrote a blog post basically saying “I didn’t expect it to be a show for critics, but I also didn’t expect them to be so mean.” And as much as I don’t respect Davenport, I think it’s possible that he had a point about how critics go about panning shows.

Updated On: 10/11/21 at 12:20 AM

def think it is a huge conflict of interest to be reviewing plays for an outlet while you are also a producer on other plays that are currently running....