How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

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How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:37pm

Just curious how those decisions are made in general. I suppose I could ask that about any paper with more than one critic on staff, but I was just wondering it about the NYT.

I tend to enjoy Brantley's reviews more than Isherwood's and I often find myself reading an Isherwood review and wondering what Brantley would have thought. Never the other way around, though. For example, I'm really curious what Brantley would have said about Allegiance, On Your Feet, Invisible Thread, and Incident at Vichy. Maybe it's partly because Brantley is widely viewed as the "head honcho," but I also just find his reviews more well-written and insightful.

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:38pm

Brantley wouldn't have been so nice to On Your Feet I can tell you that. They got lucky as hell.

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:41pm

Aida Revival said: "Brantley wouldn't have been so nice to On Your Feet I can tell you that. They got lucky as hell.

Ok???

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:44pm

Aida Revival said: "Brantley wouldn't have been so nice to On Your Feet I can tell you that. They got lucky as hell."

Honestly, you never know with Brantley. I stand by what I said about enjoying his reviews more than Isherwood, but sometimes I am rather baffled by his stance on certain fluff shows. I was very surprised that Brantley was so into Honeymoon in Vegas, for example.

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:49pm

Brantley chooses what he wants and doesn't want. Generally, you CAN read something into his decision.

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/2/15 at 10:56pm

I think Bantley is more critical about the writing than Isherwood. That is probably why he gave Honeymoon in Vegas a rave; because it is a well written musical. Isherwood seems to be more about his emotional connection to the show, or whether he had a good time or not. That is why Isherwood gave On Your Feet a nice review, whereas had Brantley reviewed it, it wouldn't have been nearly as nice; because On Your Feet, like every jukebox musical, shoehorns the songs in, even though it can be a fun night in the theatre, which is what Isherwood got out of it.

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 1:38am

I disagree completely. I think "On Your Feet!" is an example, or a model rather, of the way jukebox musicals should be crafted.

They/them. "Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 5:07am

Rock. Paper. Scissors. Knives.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 9:19am

HogansHero said: "Brantley chooses what he wants and doesn't want. Generally, you CAN read something into his decision.

Yup.

#10

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 10:19am

HogansHero said: "Generally, you CAN read something into his decision. "

What do you mean?

#11

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 10:19am

HogansHero said: "Generally, you CAN read something into his decision. "

What do you mean?

#12

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:02am

I'm won't divulge all the details, but the decision does involve Brantley, Isherwood, a kiddie pool, and 3,000 boxes of jello.

#13

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:11am

HogansHero said: "Generally, you CAN read something into his decision. "

What do you mean?

Meaning if Brantley passes on reviewing a show, it can be inferred he has no desire to see it or talk about.

#14

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:14am

Don't they still have to somewhat equally split them up? In a season where Brantley wants to see and review everything, he would still need to give Isherwood some shows to review, no?

#15

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:24am

The Times only reviews a fraction of the shows opening in New York every year, even including the 3rd and 4th etc stringers, so keeping Isherwood busy is not a problem. Ben is entitled by position to review what he wants (in both directions-meaning on and off-Broadway) and if he wanted to review every Broadway show, like many chief critics do, he could, leaving Charles whatever off-B shows he doesn't want. But since from the get-go Brantley has made it clear that he is more interested in reviewing meaningful off-B shows than on-B crap, which he routinely dumps on Ish.

#16

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:57am

Brantley tends to defer to Isherwood in the cases of playwrights Isherwood has championed, like Sarah Ruhl and Will Eno. Brantley has also allowed Isherwood to review the Broadway transfers of August: Osage County and The Realistic Joneses -- shows which came to Broadway largely due to Isherwood's initial out-of-town reviews.Very few publications nowadays have more than one full-time theater critic. As Hogan correctly points out, Brantley is the chief critic and, as such, gets first choice on what to review or not. Isherwood picks up much of the rest (and still gets to see the shows he doesn't review), and stringers are engaged on a freelance basis to pick up the rest. Additionally, Isherwood may end up covering for Brantley if Brantley is on vacation or on assignment -- in London to review a number of West End shows, for example. That happened last fall and Isherwood ended up reviewing a number of Broadway openings that Brantley probably would have covered if he was in town.

#17

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:06am

Brentley explained in his podcast with Ken Davenport that he has the first pick, like some already said. beyond that, whoever already did an out of town preview review also does the Broadway review of that show, unless they really hated it out of town. In that case they would ask the other one to do it to have another view on it. He gave the example of Fun Home (not out of town, but same difference), where they switched it up.

That interview was really interesting, btw!

#18

How do they decide whether a show goes to Brantley or Isherwood?

Posted: 12/4/15 at 6:37pm

Interesting topic. I always thought it would be fun to see them both review the same show. The first one could be the "official" NYT review and then maybe a month later have the other one give their opinion.

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