I miss Ben Brantley

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 10/29/23 at 11:27pm

He was the greatest theatre critic there ever was.  He loved a wide range of theatre, not just sondheim like Rich and Green. Jesse Green will never be on his level. Not even close. 

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 11:27 PM

[NYCtheaterguy]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:22am

I don't miss him at all.  For the longest time he would be cool to earnest, heartfelt musicals like Ragtime while being far more generous to campier shows.  He would elevate pretentious shows - the more inscrutable the better - as a way to parade around his elitism. Remember how it went terribly wrong when he raved about Squonk at PS122 and based on that producers moved it to Broadway?  

And he would use his love of blonde divas almost as a cudgel to beat down the shows they were in.  His rave for Victoria Clark made the actual show seem worse in comparison ""The Light in the Piazza," Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas's encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new show" for example.

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 01:22 AM

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:32am

I don't miss him at all. Although I personally think Jesse Green is just an extension of him, so in a way, he's still there.

[binau]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 2:36am

I miss Ben Brantley mainly because his tastes appeared to align with mine so I often trusted his opinion. I don’t think I can forgive Jesse Green for that Company* review, and even though emotionally I am happy he gave ‘Here We Are’ a critics pic, ultimately I feel a bit gaslighted reading his reviews because intellectually I just don’t really get him sometimes. I love me some Here We Are, but it’s a challenging, fascinating show and I think it would have been ok not to rave about it.

Company on the other hand felt perfect to me, and a rave NYT review might have just given the little bit extra bump and momentum the show needed. It might have also been the opportunity to correct IMO injustices about Katrina Lenk’s performance, but unfortunately he went with the damning narrative that she didn’t have the voice. I think Ben Brantley would have seen more complexity there.

* if I recall he also included company in an expose to suggest Broadway sets were cheap and minimalist now, which doesn’t make any sense. Company was relatively lavish. 

[BJR]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 8:00am

Funny, irrational as it is, I hold a grudge for that Company review, too. And worse, unlike what a good critic could do, his review wasn't even convincing to me. I didn't just disagree or weigh the verdict differently; it was like he was talking about a different production.

Sara Holdren is the best critic right now, hands down. Even when I disagree, I feel like I've had a good debate after reading her.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 8:04am

To call Brantley the greatest critic of all time is laughable. That said, there was a style and wit in his writing that is severely lacking among contemporary critics, both at the Times and elsewhere. Even when I disagreed with him, I found reading his commentary enjoyable.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 9:01am

I sat next to him at Merrily....I can't tell you how many people came over to him and said the same thing.

 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 9:18am

 I remember being a kid, watching that Broadway documentary about the 2004 season, and he was raving about Avenue Q.  He was critical of Wicked.  Is there any chance he comes back?  Broadway needs him.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 9:46am

Jesse Green makes me miss Ben Brantley.

That says more about Green than it does about Ben.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 10:31am

Broadway Flash said: "He was the greatest theatre critic there ever was. He loved a wide range of theatre, not just sondheim like Rich and Greene. Jesse Greene will never be on his level. Not even close."

I highly urge you to seek out greater theater criticism like Kenneth Tynan or Michael Feingold.

Brantley was...eh.  A good fit for the milquetoast middle that is the NYT readership.  His hyperventilating passion for all things British was really annoying. 

 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:09am

verywellthensigh said: "I highly urge you to seek out greater theater criticism like Kenneth Tynan or Michael Feingold.

Brantley was...eh. A good fit for the milquetoast middle that is the NYT readership. His hyperventilating passion for all things British was really annoying."

Kenneth Tynan was a talented critic but a product of his time and place. He was a supporter of the New Left and its Soviet allies. It is almost unthinkable that someone like Tynan would be carried by contemporary media today. 

Feingold was erudite, a critic and translator and adapter, and particularly fond of specific modernists like Gertrude Stein and Brecht. But he had an old downtown partisan's contempt for Broadway which today makes very little sense as "downtown" has more billionaires than uptown and means nothing culturally anymore.

Brantley is a versatile, old school theater critic in the Times tradition of someone maybe like Brooks Atkinson (I haven't really read enough to make a confident comparison on that). But Brantley was largely open to commercial and non-commercial. As elegant as his writing could be he never struck me as an elitist or as a snob. On the contrary, he seems to love theater and to be open to different versions of it.

 

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 11:09 AM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:24am

sinister teashop said: "Brantley was largely open to commercial and non-commercial. As elegant as his writing could be he never struck me as an elitist or as a snob. On the contrary, he seems to love theater and to be open to different versions of it."

This is the key to a Times theater critic (or any critic for a major publication). If a critic is going to dismiss a major part of the ecosystem, that doesn't help anything and will probably just annoy the readership.

I like Jesse Green as a critic and think he has done an admirable job. But he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve in the way that Ben does. It's also hard to compare 5 years of Green NYT criticism to 25 years of Brantley criticism; BB evolved over the years and softened with time.

I am glad that BB is still seeing theater and Tweeting about it. But it's telling that shows (like MERRILY) continue to amplify his tweets.

I wish we had more dialogue between critics, be it Theater Talk or joint reviews or something else. The Siskel & Ebert nature of criticism, and opinions bumping up against each other, is when things can get really interesting.

 

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 11:24 AM

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:24am

Can y'all show us on the doll where Jesse Green hurt you?

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:53am

verywellthensigh said: "Can y'all show us on the doll where Jesse Green hurt you?"

You know this isn't funny, right?

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 12:12pm

I just wish more critics could actually write, not in a style to cater to the tiktok generations, but to actually ellucidate and contextualize, to offer incisive analysis and intellectual/philosophical contemplations. That's what theater is for, isn't it? A public forum for us to get together and think about our existence as individuals, as a society, and as a species.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 12:37pm

I can't think of a single major critic who's trying to appeal to the Tiktok generation. Certainly not the ones at the most-read and influential publications: Jesse Green, Elisabeth Vincentelli, Laura Collins-Hughes (NYT); Helen Shaw (New Yorker), Sara Holdren (NYMag), Peter Marks (WaPo), Charles McNulty (LAT), Chris Jones (Chicago Trib), Greg Evans (Deadline), Charles Isherwood (WSJ).

There are some who are more quippy/snarky than others, but that's largely because of their readership, word limits, or personal style: Jackson McHenry (NYMag), Michael Musto (Village Voice), Adam Feldman (TimeOut), Johnny O (NYPost).

There's room for all types of voices in the theatre ecosystem. Which is why it's frustrating that all of the above are white, 10 out of 14 are men and over 40.

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:19pm

I, too, miss his reviews, but he was not the greatest critic ever. He could make or break a show, but he wrote his reviews with reason. That is something I wish Jesse Green would do. I still won't forgive Green for trashing Marianne Elliott's Company. I guess it's all about the tastes these critics have. For example, I was expecting something when I reviewed The Great Gatsby at Papermill, but that did not happen. I was surprised some of the other critics enjoyed that, but again, it all depends on their tastes. 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:34pm

OhHiii said: "verywellthensigh said: "Can y'all show us on the doll where Jesse Green hurt you?"

You know this isn't funny, right?"

Actually, taking the piss out of people who take themselves so very deadly serious is freakin' hilarious.

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 01:34 PM

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:43pm

I definitely miss waiting for his reviews in the days when he could make or break 'em. It was an exciting energy on opening nights. I like Jesse Green a great deal, though. Even when I disagree with his opinions, I enjoy reading them. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 1:57pm

What is the role of a critic?

Maybe a silly question, but I'm not sure I know. To relay their own personal opinion? To act as a ticket-buyer's guide? Commentariat? All of the above?

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 2:32pm

Sometimes it felt like his intention was to kill the show. That never sat right with me. 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 2:35pm

Well, for people who want to know some good information about a show and whether it is worth spending hundreds of dollars on tickets, that definitely plays a key factor. 

[George in DC]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 2:48pm

I miss Frank Rich

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 2:49pm

verywellthensigh said: "OhHiii said: "verywellthensigh said: "Can y'all show us on the doll where Jesse Green hurt you?"

You know this isn't funny, right?"

Actually, taking the piss out of people who take themselves so very deadly serious is freakin' hilarious."

And your use of something that's widely regarded as a method in the investigation of child abuse, particularly sexual assualt, to make a joke is actually freakin' disgusting. Get better jokes, bud.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 3:01pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "Sometimes it felt like his intention was to kill the show. That never sat right with me."

I just don't know what people expect out of a critic...? Not every critic is going to love every show the same way you do.