Do Critics Like Any Shows?

It seems to me that reviews are mixed to negative for a lot of shows lately. I am from Canada and make 5 trips a year to the city and watch in awe of the amazing talent on Broadway. I do not claim to have any knowledge of what makes a great show. I just know what I enjoy and I judge for myself; but reviews constantly seem to be negative. Its a shame..do they like anything? And should people put much stock into reviews?

Well that does make sense. I booked in War Horse, Private Lives, Wicked (4th time) and Anything Goes (3rd time). Any suggestions. I can squeeze in one more.
i also just hate hearing about shows closing...sad for all involved.

Updated On: 12/11/11 at 09:24 PM

Critics like plenty of shows- some here get bent out of shape when a big musical gets panned, but really I think there is a fair balance of raves, pans and mixed reviews from most critics (Matthew Murray excluded).

Go see Other Desert Cities. It's really wonderful, and was loved by most critics for the record.

It's also not always sad when a show closes. Yes, perhaps sad on a personal level for the cast and creative team, but not sad for the theatergoer. It just means we get a new show to see, with a new cast and creative team who are employed.

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Out of the three you booked, I'm fairly certain that there were good to excellent reviews of both War Horse and Anything Goes. They loved Book of Mormon as well.

To ask whether too much stock is put into their opinions is pretty ambiguous. Does WHO put too much stock into it? Not the folks on this board - we just love to talk about it. In the case of B&C, sales were pretty weak to begin with. IF they got rave reviews that might have changed. MIGHT. It's not like it was selling well or even moderately and then sales just dried up. Much of the house was papered.

It's sad PERSONALLY to those involved, but it's part of the biz. If everything were a long running hit (Phantom, Mamma Mia, Lion King) we'd never get anything new!

I've loved many a show, but the only one I felt truly sad about was The Scottsboro Boys. I'm not even sure I could explain why.

No matter how good a show might be, if they can't get an audience interested, it doesn't 'deserve' to stay open.

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It's blaxx for you, love. Learn to spell.

And that was an observation, not an attack. The question in the OP's title is extremist - I do find it immature to assume that all Broadway reviews are negative because of the few that have come out lately.

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Critics see a lot of shows. Too many shows. What once was a joy for them has now turned into a job. Their judging meter is very skewed and doesn't always reflect the general publics as they have seen so many shows. So what they see better be damned good or exciting or watch out.

In some ways you can't blame them. There is a lot of bad theatre out theatre as well as some good. YOu have to wade through a lot of bad to get to the good.

They generally know what is excellent and often get it right (Book Of Mormon)
but sometimes they get it wrong (Venus in Fur... WTF was that other than a dull evening in the theatre.....but they all raved)

Sometimes they dislike a musical the public will love like Wicked.
I can't imagine what they would not like about Wicked but go to "Didhelikeit.com" and see the vitriol they threw at Wicked - a musical masterpiece. "overproduced" " a mess"

Than they contradict themselves. "Wicked is Over produced" "Bonnie and Clyde is under produced." "Too much Dancing" or "not enough choreography" and all this from the same critic. Talk about bipolar and fickle.

And sometimes out of the blue they will love a juke box musical (Jersey Boys) while all others have bitten the critics dust.

They also have people who can't win in a review
and people who can't lose in a review.

People who can't win. Frank Wildhorne. Bonnie and Clyde has a great score.
Nicely conceived. Great Performances. Songs you hum almost immeditatly Very un Wildhorne in nature without many of his pop ballads but the guy cannot catch a break with New York Critics. Ever. Never. Ever.

Do they say you can hum the tunes? No. They claim his music is derivative.


They could not wait to stew this one unfairly. Especially Brantley whose review wasn't so bad if he got rid of his first paragraph which seemed tagged on and just mean. "But Clyde, honey, t’ain’t nothing you can do to raise the pulse of something that’s as near to dead as the show you’re in." The rest of his review was at least fair(ish) to the show in which he called it " a modest tuneful musical."


People who can't lose. Bernadette Peters. Despite a miscast Gypsy a few years back in which she gave it her all and was all wrong, the critics were very kind.

Douglas Carter Beane can apparently do no wrong but Sister Act was bad book writing in so many ways but Mr. Beane was not roasted and remain unscathed.
(Bad book writing in the fact that the sisters learn to sing in about 20 seconds without any character development which was so germane to the movie


Then they love to build with one hand and slap down with the other. Mel Brook's
shows Producers (pat pat) and Young Frankenstein (slap slap slap) Same for Strohman in the same shows.

Then there are some actors (and I'd have to agree with the critics on this) who rarely get it wrong. Angela Lansbury. Sutton Foster. Hugh Jackman. It is exciting to seem them in anything.

So critics. You have to take the good with the bad. Realize that they may have a fight with their significant other that night. Have preconceived notions of artists both good and bad that can't be surmounted. They are human.

But they do are much more demanding and critical then the general pubilc because they see so many shows. What can seem fresh and new to the general public may go over the critics heads.

And that show biz. And that's the critics.

I suggest www.stagegrade.com it is a website with both professional and audience reviews that are organized by grades: A to F. Additionally, if you post your reviews regularly and people rate your review as useful or not useful then you have the possibility of winning show tickets. Very easy to see that there are positive review written by professional critics.

Exactly. Michael Mayer still got great reviews even though they panned the rest of the show. At least I am not the only one comparing Jessie Mueller to a young Liza. She really is the real deal.

How about if we here at BWW agree to the terms Sondheim uses in "Look, I Made a Hat"? Theater critics: a vital component of the world of theater. Theater reviewers: a necessary evil.

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SLEEP NO MORE...the critics loved it, it's a once in a lifetime theatrical experience and tickets are under $100.

CAN'T get it out of my head!

^ Agreed. Go see Bonnie and Clyde!! It really is something special! Hoping for an OBCR too!

(Bad book writing in the fact that the sisters learn to sing in about 20 seconds without any character development which was so germane to the movie)

I'm really beginning to question whether or not you've actually seen the show when you make comments like that. I could care less if you dislike it, but what you said above is just factually incorrect. The sisters do not learn to sing in about 20 seconds. There are a whole slew of very obvious clues given that the number takes place over a period of time:

-Mary Lazarus tells Deloris "Rehearsal's over" and all of the nuns leave.
-We see nuns sitting on their beds with their hymnals practicing (and still not doing so well)
-Mary Robert has what appears to be a private rehearsal with Deloris.
-Deloris works with several other nuns alone and tells them they're ready to put down their books and really try to sing.
-Those nuns leave again, and Deloris works with Mary Lazarus alone (and she is still singing well under the pitch that she's giving herself on the piano).
-More rehearsal with the nuns, where they finally begin to master the harmony
-At another rehearsal, Mary Robert finally "lets loose" and the other nuns follow her lead.
-The sisters are able to sing.

I'm sorry if all of that wasn't apparent to you. However, if you're judging the show based on a number performed on The View, it wouldn't be, given that when the song is performed out of context, you don't get the sense it's happening over a period of time. But again, if you've seen the show, it's pretty apparent. I'm sorry if the subtext in what is not exactly a subtle show was lost on you.

Updated On: 12/12/11 at 03:14 PM

I can't imagine what they would not like about Wicked but go to "Didhelikeit.com" and see the vitriol they threw at Wicked - a musical masterpiece.

I can't imagine either! Who could trash a musical masterpiece after all?

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