John Simon Pans Spamalot

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:25pm

What a shock (not)?

When is this Ben Brantly wannaby just give it up already ?

[Plum]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:26pm

Link?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:27pm

He writes for New York magazine. He even panned Sara

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:29pm

And he usually loves women with big tits. He must have really hated it!!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:29pm

Here's the link:
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/1531/index.html

[Plum]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:36pm

I really think the show's hype backfired on it a bit- more than one critic has been treating it like a jukebox musical because it has a book adapted from a popular source.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:37pm

John Simon can suck my foot.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:37pm

I completely agree with a lot of what Simons said about this show.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:44pm

This is one of only three negative reviews the show has received (Talkin Broadway and the Wall Street Journal were the others). The show got some two dozen reviews that ranged from positive to out-and-out raves (including a very strong one from Brantley -- the only review that matters at the box office -- who made it one of his critics' picks). It's advance is over $18 million and counting. I don't see how any of the hype or anything has backfired on them so far.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:46pm

I completely agree. But once the Monty Python fans have all seen it and this cast leaves, how long do you think it will last?

[Plum]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:46pm

Just a bit. :) I meant that a lot of the critics of the show (professional and Internet-based both) were disappointed for the same reasons.

[harris007]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:52pm

i'm not shocked he also HATED producers

[MatureDignity]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:57pm

Speaking of The Producers... I thought there were just as many opportunties for critics to compare Spamalot to TP as there were for DRS.

I can see where Simon's coming from (was anyone else really disappointed with Act II?), although I loved Sara Ramirez.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 7:59pm

I think this show will be around for a few years. Not that I think it's great or anything (I don't), but Monty Python is an incredibly popular international brand name. It also seems to have particular appeal to people who don't like or care about musical theatre -- which is most of the world beyond this board. I'm sure that other "Names" will come along to replace the current ones and these roles aren't NEARLY as difficult to recast as say Max and Leo in The Producers. Its advance will probably be over $25 million by Tony time so it won't be going anywhere for a LONG time.

Updated On: 3/21/05 at 07:59 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 8:23pm

Look @ The Producers

As soon as the dynamic duo left, all of a sudden it was not a hot ticket . What happened? I got better reviews than Spamalot & should have been SRO even after they left

[Plum]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 8:30pm

The Producers still sold quite well after Broderick and Lane left- just not up to the impossible standards set by the first few months of the run. They didn't start discounts until what- last summer? That's pretty good.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 8:38pm

The Producers may no longer be the HOT ticket it was, but it's still one of the top four or five grossing shows on Broadway week after week (usually just under $1 million) even with no stars in the lead roles, rarely offers discounts and isn't showing any signs of slowing down in the near future. Not bad for a show that's been running 4 years.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 9:56pm

Wow! He was so nasty to poor Sara! I didnt think her performance was as brilliant as many stated, but she was still very good! And the show isnt as bad as he made it out to be, in my original review I gave it a C+

[Corine2]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:14pm

John Simon is a nasty bitter curmudgeon. I met him last year and it was an experience i will never forget.
He is bitter with a capital B.
It was an event to raise money for theater talk and everyone there were sweet compared to Simon.
Reidel was a kitten who I wanted to curl into a ball with.
Updated On: 3/21/05 at 10:14 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:17pm

People stopped taking John Simon seriously years ago. By the time his reviews hit the press they're rather stale anyway.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:22pm

Oooh I like the picture that went with that article. I wonder if there are any more?

[Corine2]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:25pm

He is a great writer but does not like much these days!

Updated On: 3/21/05 at 10:25 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:30pm

I find it interesting that there's belief about the show dying after the cast leaves. Producers was a show that was carried by Lane and Broderick's performances (rarely a time where they're not on the stage). Spamalot, while I like the performers, doesn't rest on their performances quite so much; while the three top-billed leads are... well, top-billed, it seems like the replacement of them with three good Broadway Actors won't hurt the show as the parts were not tailored to them.

Compare this to Mel Brooks' comment to Nathan Lane: "I am writing a musical of the Producers, and you're the only one who could play Max Bialystock".

[magruder]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 10:30pm

John Simon may be irascible when he sits down to write and many times his reviews have been characterized by unforgivable misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic statements. However, in conversation, I've found him to be a complete delight. And while I don't often agree with him, and have been shocked by some of the things he has written over the years, he is a dazzling writer. I don't read him to choose what I'm going to see, I read him to bask and revel in his staggering facility with language.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 3/22/05 at 10:19am

Yeah, I love that accompanying image. Screw the review, I'm all about that!