High Reviews- Page 3

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/19/11 at 11:37pm

April - you're free to have your opinion of the show, and so is every critic who reviews it. Notice that I have nothing against the show, I did not have any comments/rebuttals for any reviews that said anything positive (even the AP, which was also nearly a rave) other than the Inquirer's. I simply enjoy reading through/posting all of the reviews here.

I also have nothing against Howard Shapiro, until tonight, I had never even heard of him. However, these comments made me think there was some bias (bias is ok - it should just be acknowledged, which the reviewer does)
"But it is a special joy to see the young Philadelphia actor Evan Jonigkeit - who grew steadily on so many professional Philadelphia-area stages - in a stunning performance on Broadway as an over-the-edge 19-year-old drug addict and gay hustler in the new play High."
"Turner gives a striking performance, for sure, but I am compelled to pre-empt her in favor of the hometown team. Jonigkeit, 28, has a long list of impressive Philadelphia performances on stages as varied as the Walnut's (both maintage and the third-floor studio), Montgomery Theatre in Souderton, the Arden, Mauckingbird Theatre at the Adrienne and People's Light & Theater in Malvern. If you go to professional theater regularly in the region, you've likely seen him - a solidly built actor with unusual boyish looks and a convincing style."

Sorry - but that sounds like an admission of bias to me, I don't see what's wrong with me pointing it out. Out of curiousity, I found that Shapiro has liked him in the past. Again, I see nothing wrong with that. I never attacked his credentials or himself as a critic. Sorry if you felt that way.

Updated On: 4/19/11 at 11:37 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/19/11 at 11:44pm

New York Post is negative, with praise for Turner.
"Now if we could only get Turner back onstage in a role worthy of her."
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/turner_show_got_hell_and_grand_dame_fCD3wTWYiJo0rbBgqoTenO

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 12:00am

Devil, I wasn't mad or offended...it was just obvious that people who didn't like High were looking for any possible rationale for the positive reviews they thought it didn't deserve! Like: Well, that guy Shapiro probably just raved because he liked Jonigkeit in other things. I mean, as much as Ben Brantley loves Sutton Foster, when he reviewed Little Women, he managed to compliment her at the same time he called that show kind of a clunker. (I just checked, since I have no life either!)

The premise of these posts is that High is so bad, you'd have to be crazy about one of the actors to give it a decent review! Hence my comments

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 12:05am

I understand what you're saying.

With that being said, I have no ill wishes for the show and wish everyone involved in the production the best (though the outlook seems pretty bleak)

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 12:08am

I hear you. I didn't agree with the critics who praised Motherf**ker either, but I was still appy for them to get some raves and stay open. It is just such a tough economy right now, and so much competition for a theatergoer's buck on top of it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 12:15am

I just don't understand the hate for this show. I honestly enjoyed every minute of it.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 12:47am

It seems like the Philly critic has been following Jonigkeit and enjoys his work. What's wrong with that? And actually you kind of did attack him devil by saying he is biased and that you had nothing against him until tonight. Kind of hard to do that when you know nothing of him, which you have stated, and have never heard of him or read any of his past reviews other than the one you dug up about the actor being discussed. he is simply proud that a Philadelphian is doing good work. I lived in Denver for 19 years and local critics would always mention actors in shows that were from Colorado.

[Huss417]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 8:12am

Thanks to all that posted the reviews. I still have no clue how this even made it to Broadway. Off Broadway possibly. I saw this in Hartford last year and when I heard it was going to Broadway I thought maybe it was just me and my friends who didn't like it.

I think possibly wait for Tony nominations and then close? I thought possibly it would close on Sunday but with nominations right around the corner they might hang around.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 8:17am

uncageg - If you reread my post, I meant that I had never even heard of him until tonight, not that I have anything against him, even still (notice how I use the present tense).

And correct, I'm saying he's biased, which he even acknowledges.

[nexttotheheights]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 8:56am

Yikes! Even word of mouth is negative...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY0gjYbdW-E&feature=feedu

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 9:18am

Okay one last post from me! Howie would be "biased" if Evan Jonigkeit was his son or nephew, in which case he wouldn't be allowed to review High for conflict-of-interest reasons, which we take pretty seriously down here in old Philly. He's allowed to like the kid's acting, and even like the play. Now I'm done

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 10:29am

Okay, now you're just being silly. Of course it's possible to be biased towards someone without being related to them, and of course he's "allowed" to like the kid and the play. You're bizarrely defensive about this, though. This:

"Guys...there are actually some of us who like this play, posters and critics alike; deal with it! "

is borderline hostile. Seriously? "Deal with it"? All bjh said was that Shapiro has a bias towards Jonigkeit - not that that was a bad thing, just that the bias existed, which it very clearly does. Jonigkeit is a hometown boy done good. He's proud of that, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it is a clear bias.

"Or if you still think Howie does [have a bias], then does Mark Kennedy of the AP, who said "It is a remarkably brave performance from an actor it would be wise to keep tabs on" of Jonigkeit have one, too? "

No, and that's a faulty analogy, because Kennedy merely praised the actor on his merits in this show, without mention of where he'd seen him before, or how proud he was of a local performer. Kennedy didn't say:

"Turner gives a striking performance, for sure, but I am compelled to pre-empt her in favor of the hometown team [bolding mine]. Jonigkeit, 28, has a long list of impressive Philadelphia performances..."

If you don't see how that's a bias, you have a blind spot, or you're simply being over-defensive of your colleague and/or this play, which is laudable.

I take no joy in being in the majority here in thinking this was a poorly-written and directed play. I enjoy all three actors and would say that I myself am biased towards Evan Jonigkeit. I think he's an excellent actor and I was thrilled to see him make it to Broadway. I just wish it had been in something else.

I don't like to see any show fail. I even hope (as I have all along) that HIGH can rise above its poor script and bad reviews. I just don't think it's likely.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 10:36am

Thank you, ghostlight. I couldn't have put it better myself. April, you'll also notice that I didn't make any comments regarding the Hollywood Reporter's praise of Evan. He didn't like the show, but he loved the performers. I didn't call that a bias because it's not. The statement that ghostlight pointed out in the Inquirer, however, clearly shows a bias. Whether or not you want to believe that is your business. But don't accuse me of being out for blood with this show. It's not the case.

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 8:34pm

As a journalist, I don't take the term "bias" lightly...and this isn't it. But how can you say any of my posts are "borderline hostile" when they're virtually littered with smiley faces? Whether you agree with me or not, I'm probably one of the consistently non-confrontational posters on this board...and I've often expressed my enjoyment of the diversity of opinions here as well!

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 9:44pm

Everyone is biased-journalists and us nobodies who post on message boards. We all have our leanings.

Oh and for the record, April is always very nice and respectful and smiles alot on the board. She's a good egg. We don't agree on a lot but I always know her to be cool. :)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 10:07pm

This may be my favorite line from any review I have read this year:

This is a play that delivers the shopworn scorpion-and-the-frog parable as if it were brand-spankin’-new, a play that guilelessly deploys lines like “I need to believe that people can and do change” and “Getting sober has always been the easy part for me; it’s staying sober ... ” without any acknowledgment that these are the PSA stations of the cross, not spotlight dialogue moments.

Matthew Lombardo is such a hack, how does he keep getting productions mounted? People are onto his "somewhat beloved actress" scheme, aren't they?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 9:05am

Which review was that from, Namo? Earlier versions also used another old parable, the one where a devout man trapped in his house during a flood refuses all offers of assistance to help because "God will save me". When he drowns, he reproaches God. God says "I sent you a radio warning, a boat, and a helicopter. What are you doing here?".

April, I picked out your one phrase "Deal with it!" as borderline hostile. Only that one, and I suppose it struck me as such because your are so uniformly pleasant. As to the "smiley" issue, someone once said that you can judge the level of your hostility by counting how many times you use the phrase "Just kidding!". "Smileys" are often used as the internet equivalent of "just kidding". They are used to remove the sting from the previous statement. I know you don't use it that way, but its frequent usage always sends up warning flares for me. I won't speak further on the bias issue except to see we are still in total disagreement on it. In any case, I'd never meant you insult. Olive branch?

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 10:35pm

ghostlight, life is too short as it is, I'm not angry at you or anyone else here.

I would maintain, however, that my smiley faces are by no means passive-aggressive as in my actual, non-cyber life I am often accused of being relentlessly upbeat! I use emoticons to give context to written statements so that when I do say something like "Deal with it!" folks realize I'm teasing, not being nasty. But I guess there's just no replacement for face-to-face conversation in society; maybe that's a good thing?

I also unintentionally used my real name as a handle when I started posting here and couldn't figure out how to change it...which may make me try even harder to be nice!