Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Lazy and Uneducated Critics
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#0Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 9:47am
Considering that in the playbill to SWIWS, an interview with the creative team of the piece lets us know that "Gloryday" does NOT take place after the tragedy of 9/11, it is INCREDIBLY frustrating to read reviews by critics who are too damned lazy to actually flip through their playbill and learn something about the piece.
Why is it that our critics these days are so lazy and uneducated?
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#1re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 5:53pm
An example from CURTAINUP:
"...Ideally, that original production's leading lady, Audra McDonald, would be aboard for the New York premiere, but due to another commitment, Idina Menzel now plays Kesa, the lady in red (the wife in "R shomon") and an actress (in " Gloryday"). Menzel who won (deservedly so) a Tony for playing the green-faced witch in Wicked, is no stranger to LaChiusa's style, having appeared in The Wild Party. She has a powerful voice and presence but McDonald is a more forceful actress and I must admit that in my mind's eye I kept seeing snippets of her, especially during the wife's scenes in"R shomon." However, cast changes necessitated by conflicting schedules are more common than miracles and it's probably unfair to compare Menzel to McDonald, since she has a vibrant persona of her own."
Blah!
#2re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 5:58pm
Critics ...for the most part are males...who main object is to slander rather then to promote and to bring attention to themselves.
And of course they don't do research ...because that means they may be proven wrong with their pre-sumptions on a piece etc.
etoile
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/2/03
#3re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 6:00pm
"Why is it that our critics this days are so lazy and uneducated?"
I suspect it's the same reason some like to make broad generalizations.
aslarson05
Understudy Joined: 10/8/05
#4re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 6:00pmCorrect me if I'm wrong.. but wasn't she in Lippa's The Wild Party? Not LaChiusa's.
broadwaystar2b
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/04
#5re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 6:00pm
"Menzel who won (deservedly so) a Tony for playing the green-faced witch in Wicked, is no stranger to LaChiusa's style, having appeared in The Wild Party"
UGH!!!
TONYA PINKINS was Kate in LaChiusa's WP
That does piss me off 
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#6re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 7:28pmJust because they are male is not the reason most are bloody ***holes
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#7re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 7:33pm
But it DOES take place after the 9/11 tragedy...
Maybe you're lazy and uneducated?
Updated On: 11/1/05 at 07:33 PM
MoonOnAstring
Stand-by Joined: 10/30/05
#8re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 7:40pmJust like in any profession, there are good and bad critics, responsible and irresponsible ones. However, I have noticed these kinds of errors happening more and more. Sometimes I think that most critics care more about getting that witty phrase into their article than the integrity of their article.
#9re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 7:50pm
I just learned that Syracuse University now has a masters program called "Arts Journalism", where journalism students enroll in specific art classes, depending on their concentration. That way, they can understand the art itself, and then can properly and knowledgably critique it.
BroadwayGirl, they never mention 9/11 specifically. In the playbill, they have that conversation with the creative team and they say it never was intended to be 9/11, it just ends up being interpreted as such.
Wanting life but never knowing how
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#10re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 7:56pm
It says that it was conceived pre-9/11, but the piece absorbed it after 9/11 happened. Not to mention the references in the show...never specific, but pretty clear to 9/11. It also says the show takes place in the present. Which is certainly after 9/11. It's not "lazy and uneducated" to conclude that the tragedy being referred to is 9/11.
And even if it were lazy...uneducated?
Updated On: 11/1/05 at 07:56 PM
#11re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 8:08pm
The interview also says that if it becomes specifically about 9/11, it reduces the piece. That's why it's hinted at, but never explictly stated as being about 9/11. They wanted it to have more universal appeal, which is why the interview also mentions that the "nation's tragedy" could have many different meanings, even more recent than 9/11.
The reviewer got this exact same interview in his playbill, so if he didn't bother to read it before writing up his opinion of the show, then that does make him lazy, as well as bad at his job.
Wanting life but never knowing how
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#12re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 8:15pm
It's in interpretation. I felt that the statement "but once 9/11 happened, this piece absorbed it" meant that the piece, since it is set in the present will lend itself to that mentioned tragedy being 9/11. If this were performed in the "present" years down the road, perhaps it would be something else.
The tragedy also clearly happens in NY. It's not specifically mentioned, as I think it makes it timeless, but also so it isn't ABOUT 9/11 as the interview mentions. Just because the piece DOES infact happen after 9/11 due to the setting mentioned, it does not mean the piece has to be ABOUT the tragedy so much as this theme about truth.
Updated On: 11/1/05 at 08:15 PM
#13re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 10:21pm
ellenoshalom--
Are you saying that the main object of critics "is to slander rather then to promote and to bring attention to themselves" BECAUSE they're male? That would be a bit sexist, don't you think?
roquat
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/25/05
#14re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/1/05 at 10:45pm
Most of today's critics are amateurs compared to John Simon, who based his career on slandering actors for their physical attributes rather than their dramatic choices. If critics' work isn't truly witty or insightful, they'll soon be forgotten (or replaced).
Ordinarily I'd feel no urgent need to defend critics, but ellenoshalom's post got my back up for some reason. So, in the words of the truly great (female) critic Pauline Kael :
"If you think it is so easy to be a critic, so difficult to be a poet or a painter or a playwright, may I suggest you try both? You may find out why there are so few critics, so many poets."
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#15re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/2/05 at 1:50am
One of my dearest friends was a critic for 20 years. She (who will remain nameless but who was quite influential) was so bored by EVERYTHING by the time she ended her career as a critic that she RARELY wrote a positive word about anything.
I realized at some point that going to see anything with her took the joy out of it FOR ME! She was so pissed off that she "had to" be there in the first place...she was ready to dislike it no matter what it was.
I don't like everything I see. But I have an open mind and I go into the theatre WANTING to enjoy the production or be moved or awed or whatever. I have RESPECT for the arts. I think my friend didn't...at least in the end.
With all due respect to Pauline Kael, I don't think it's as hard to be a critic as it is to be an artist. Francois Truffaut was a searing critic for years before he ever made a film. But once he did, he said that he'd had no right to say the things he did about other directors' work and that no one should criticize anything until they'd actually gone through the very process they were critiquing.
I have friends who are performers and they work harder than just about anyone-- eight shows a week on Broadway where "every night is opening night." I have a great deal of respect for performers who sacrifice so much of their own lives for the opportunity to be in a show. Meanwhile, a few harsh words from a writer and their hard work is for naught.
I don't think the problem is that critics are "uneducated" or "lazy." I think they get burnt out and lose interest in their work. They are not people simply going to theatre because they love it; it's a job, and it's a burn-out job.
Hate the show, love the show, be indifferent to the show, but RESPECT the genre at the very least. And please, don't make the objective of your piece to show the world how cleverly you turn a phrase or how sarcastically and condescendingly amusing you can be. Rememeber: the review is meant to bring attention to the work itself, not the person taking notes while the people on stage are knocking themselves out.
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
**********
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Jazzysuite82
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/6/05
#16re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/2/05 at 2:03amI think the issue is SOME critics are good, SOME critics are uneducated and lazy, Some are burnt out. The problem is a lot of them aren't interested in advancing the artform of theatre. 50 years ago or so, a critic could pan a piece of work and still have the artist's best interest a heart. They WANTED the piece to be good. They were constructive in their comments and were generally more invested in the artform. I think nowdays people in general (not just critics) are soo near-sighted. They only see now. I can guarentee a handful of critics walked into See What I wanna See think about what preteniousness this new LaChiusa musical had in store for them. It's a shame that so many critics didn't get SWIWS, because it's really brilliant.
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#17re: Lazy and Uneducated Critics
Posted: 11/2/05 at 2:16am
(Sorry for taking so long to respond, I was away from the computer for a while.)
------
"The reviewer got this exact same interview in his playbill, so if he didn't bother to read it before writing up his opinion of the show, then that does make him lazy, as well as bad at his job."
Thank you, that's what I was getting at.
Anyway, I will admit it was a terrible generalization to say ALL critics. There are some great ones out there. But others make these comments that are always so wrong. Idina Menzel was Kate in LIPPA's 'Wild Party', Tonya Pinkins took on the role in LaChiusa's. Menzel has never worked with LaChiusa before and both she and Michael discuss that in interviews!
Lastly, back to the 9/11 reference, it is clearly stated in the playbill (which the critic SHOULD read all of if he/she is doing their job) that it is not intended and if it were, it would weaken the piece.
...which I completely agree with.
And by the way - just in case you weren't paying attention when you saw it BroadwayGirl, the "tragedy" discussed happened a year ago. 9/11 was over 4 years ago. Get your facts straight, honey. If you don't, you could always be a theater critic!
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