Magical Thinking Pulls an In My Life....well, kinda

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 1:02pm

From today's Daily News:

"A bit of 'Magical' rethinking

"The Year of Magical Thinking" has been poorly received on Broadway, despite the brilliant Vanessa Redgrave onstage and Joan Didion's powerful words.

So backers have had to get a little, shall we say, "magical" in promoting the show.

A full-page advertisement that appeared in the New York Post (and another version twice in The Times) clearly implies that The Times loved it.

"An evening of magical theater," gushes the endorsement, credited to The New York Times Online. "Get yourself a ticket to the Booth Theater."

However, that quote comes from an anonymous member of the public, daniel7353, who posted his opinion on a NYTimes.com message board.

(Daniel7353 was also conspicuously enthusiastic about the equally tepid "Threepenny Opera," beginning his take: "Thank God I went to see 'The Threepenny Opera' in spite of what the NY Times reviewer and readers said about it!")

Times critic Ben Brantley actually called "Magical Thinking" "arresting yet ultimately frustrating."

A rep for the Gray Lady told me: "We consider it to be a misappropriation of our name.""

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/bwiddicombe/index.html

For those who don't know, the PR people for In My Life used a very generic quote (amidst a stream of negative ones) from Ben's review for their ads...Almost, kinda the same thing.
Updated On: 4/16/07 at 01:02 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 1:15pm

Subways are for Magical Thinking?

LOL

[folkyboy]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 7:33pm

i told my friend this show was like watching a book on tape.

it SO is. i love Vanessa but geez!

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:09pm

I personally loved it. It's not a book on tape...they're two different art forms.

But to each his/her own! :)