Mantello Slams Chicago Sun-Times Critic over Controversial Review

[Rob]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 3:34pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=72289

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 3:41pm

Apparently New York doesn't have a monopoly on crazy/laughably ignorant critics.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 3:46pm

While this just goes to show that one piece of art can be interpretated differently by different people, I'm shocked at her assertions, especially the one about the scarecrow being a parallel of a lynched black man. If she did any research, she would have known that Nobert Leo Butz was and is white.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 3:53pm

That is one stupid critic...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 4:01pm

Her exact quote regarding Kushner and "Caroline, or Change" was "Unfortunately, Kushner, in the classic style of a self-loathing Jew, has little but revulsion for his own roots. You can hear it and feel it throughout, most notably when the Gellmans, modestly successful first generation Jews, sing their Hanukkah songs."

In a later email, she said she called Kushner a self-loathing Jew not because of what he wrote, because of the "tone" of the production, the "body language" of the actors, and the fact that Caroline's black characters have, in her opinion, better music. Since when is a book writer responsible for an actor's "body language" or certain characters having "better music?" Interesting that she didn't accuse the non-Jewish George Wolfe or Jeanine Tesori of anti-semitism as well (not that there are any such stereotypes in the piece, in the first place).

Aside from clearly not having much of a grasp on how to properly analyze subtext and metaphors within a dramatic work (and if you're parceling out blame, what the province of the book writer vs the composer vs the director is), the woman clearly has some major issues and hang-ups involving her own Jewishness -- she comes off as being the real self-loathing one here. Her continued employment is a blackmark on the part of the Sun-Times.

Updated On: 5/15/05 at 04:01 PM

[loudasthehelliwant]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 4:03pm

I think the title of that article should be Chicago Sun-Times Critic Slams Wicked With Review Designed to Cause Controversy and Mantello Responds Accordingly. At any rate, "Chicago Sun-Times Critic" is the one really doing the slamming and Mantello's just trying to set the record straight. I don't care if you DESPISE Wicked, what she wrote was just... insane.

[Forester]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 4:05pm

Wow, that is the most idiotic review I've ever had the displeasure to read. Ms Weiss is not very wise.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 4:24pm

While I do think this women (who wrote the review)is an IDIOT and must be smoking something...I will say

broadwaystar2be--the character of Fiyero is supposed to be black. he is described in the book as having brown skin.

But that doesn't mean the musical went with that..so yes the women is still an idiot. :)

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 5:00pm

Stephanie, I am actually a huge fan of the book (more so than the show actually) and I am aware that Fiyero has dark skin in the novel
I was just using NLB to prove that the play doesn't use the symbolism she suggested at all

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:23pm

Isn't Fiyero's skin blue in the novel?

[TheBoyfromChi]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:27pm

No, his skin is covered with blue diamonds.

[amourdujour]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:36pm

Wow, I never would have thought to make that connection. Why? Because I wasn't LOOKING for it. I could say My Little Pony has holocaust undertones if I really really wanted to. But I don't, because that's a pathetic attempt for attention. I don't think the critic is evil or stupid, I just think she's unjustified.

And also, is it just me or is it odd that Saturday Night Live;s Ana Gasteyer is playing Elphaba?

And also also, I thought both Elphaba AND Glinda were the starring roles, not just Elphaba. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[kitkatgirl54]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 6:48pm

wow. what nerve she has to try to take down kushner, who is known to use jewish themes because of the simple fact that he is jewish, as a 'self-loathing jew'.

ana gasteyer was in rocky horror show on broadway in 2000 as magenta and was pretty good. it's a little weird but they need a name for the tour, i guess. it is common to state that a show is "starring" someone if they are the prominent name for the show, regardless of whether or not the parts are of equal size.

[amourdujour]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:03pm

But I don't, because that's a pathetic attempt for attention.

I take that back. I'm unjustified in making that claim. I actually don't know much about the critic, so excuse me, I was out fo place.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:07pm

Sounds like someone is a bit insecure about seeing minorities represented onstage...

[Jon]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:23pm

hedy Weiss KNOWS Norbert leo Butz is white. She raved about him when he originated LAST FIVE YEARS in Chicago. She apparantly doesn't know he originated Fiyero.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:24pm

Heddy's "review" is simply ridiculous.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:26pm

Jon, she's responding to Derrick Williams' performance as Fiyero.

[Shawk]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:32pm

^ Yeah, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to say that "Wicked" meant the Scarecrow/Fiyero scene to be like a lynching of a black man if the original Fiyero wasn't black. Not that much of the "review" makes sense anyway.

There are legitimate reasons to dislike "Wicked." The objections in that "review" weren't those reasons.

[romanov]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 7:37pm

I am shocked by Weiss' review of Wicked. She sounds like a self-serving attention seeker. Bravo to Mantello for not taking it lying down.
P.S. Who dropped a house on her sister?
Updated On: 5/15/05 at 07:37 PM

[justme2]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 9:13pm

What the hell is "stylistically chockoblock" supposed to mean?

[stonewall2]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 9:21pm

We all know by now that "Wicked" is not the darling of the critics anywhere- but the theatre-going public adores it! I'd say that Ms.Weiss just generated a whole lot more free publicity for a show that is already SRO whereever it goes!

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 10:18pm

Have mercy, where does one begin? I'll just give a loud second to Margo's summary: "Her continued employment is a blackmark on the part of the Sun-Times." Get thee to a therapist, Ms. Weiss!

[eslgr8]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:09am

Thank you Margo. I truly don't understand why a newspaper would continue to employ someone as ill-equipped for her job as Ms. Weiss apparently is. Just in the name of controversy???

[Plum]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:25am

I remember the "self-loathing Jew" comment. That clown is still working? Cripes. Also, she's a very poor judge of klezmer. :)