Pippin Reviews! — Page 6

By the way, I'm surrounded with friends who are "part time" theatre goers -- they like to see a couple shows a year and have a very limited knowledge of what's happening on Broadway other than what they see on the TV ads. Invariably if they ask or comment on a show, they say "how was THE review"? Clearly they mean the NYTimes review. To all of them there are no other reviews.

Last night at a dinner party, we mentioned we're seeing Pippin next Saturday, to which we got a response "oh I saw their review today wasn't very good. Are you still going?"

Anyone who thinks Ben Brantley doesn't have a huge influence on ticket sales is very much mistaken.

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And on the subject of Pippin itself not being a very good play to begin with, I wholeheartedly agree -- and so does Brantley, he even says so. But what I don't get is that while he insists it takes all kinds of "dazzling theatrical effects" to make it work, he then seems to discount the effort of the current production to provide all those dazzling theatrical effects, even putting them down as trying too hard to dazzle -- simply because they aren't imitations of the original.

Drama, that has been my experience also in CO. Sure, there are people all over that read reviews but I find that New Yorkers pretty much go by The Times and when you mention other reviews they have no clue and kind of deem them not important. I think word of mouth sells a lot of shows outside the east coast. I remember not even knowing about "RENT" until I heard Seasons of Love at a friends. It had already opened to raves and was the hottest thing in NYC. As people there saw it in NYC, word of mouth spread and everyone wanted to see it. It had been open for a while.

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Like it or not, the NYT has been the paper "of choice" since I've been around (67 years). And some of the reviewers have been appalling: an alcoholic who FINALLY got bounced for reviewing a performance that never happened (when he was doing double duty as theatre and dance); an agenda-driven pseudo-intellectual with tunnel vision who condemned anything that didn't fit in nicely with his political mantra; a gay writer whose ONLY credential was a biography of Joey Stefano; a moronic yawling idiot whose reviews are often unreadable (guess who?) and several others whose tenure was mercifully brief. When the position is filled by a Brooks Atkinson or a Walter Kerr or a Margo Jefferson, I could count on reasoned reviews that made their point effectively. Sadly, too many have not come within light years of those three for intelligent, well-thought analyses and opinions. But, it is what it is. I guess the current two will die eventually, but I'm not going to be jumping for joy the second they're replaced, for fear of the NYT getting someone even worse. IMO.

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Updated On: 4/27/13 at 02:22 PM

Ed, is one of those Frank Rich? I am awful at Blind Items. My kingdom for the return of Frank Rich.

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Rich would be the one with the political agenda, I'm guessing?

And I NEVER made a connection between that Joey Stefano bio that Charles Isherwood wrote (which I seem to recall wasn't even well written--though I read it as a teen and it seemed kinda scandalous to even read it) and the critic. He was hired for the NYT due to his ten or so years at Variety, though, wasn't he? I mean to say he never did anything to get the NYT job but the book....

It kills me when people say that the music in a revival "sounds so dated". It's a revival.

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There are plenty of revivals where the music doesn't sound dated. I just don't happen to like that cheesy early 70's sound. I don't particularly like Godspell either. And as I said, it's just my opinion.

PIPPIN is not a "cult" show. It had a very successful Broadway run and has been a mainstream staple for many years.

There's a big difference between Fosse "sexy" and rubbing up against a pole.

I like what they did with these orchestrations. It still has that original sound.

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In answer to the question if I'm IN New York -- no, I'm in West Central New Jersey.
And again yesterday I ran into friends on the street -- typical local theatre goers who mentioned that THE review for Pippin made them change their mind. They were looking at that being their "show for the month" but have decided not to because "the review just wasn't very good".
These are the type of people I was talking about -- not avid New York theatre goers who see almost everything, but the ones who hang on the NY Times to decide which show to see. Sure they know there are other papers and other reviews, but to most of them it's ALL ABOUT what the Times says!

I saw this today with teens and one very old man and we all loved it--can't wait to see it again. Pippin isn't a perfect show but what they did with it made me forget any faults in the book. Rachel Bay Jones as Catherine totally lifted up the slower second act and is the best Catherine I've ever seen, and as everyone has said, Andrea Martin stole the sho--w. Patina was fantastic, loved Pippin--what a fun afternoon.

I am curious as to where the "orchestra" (let's be honest - its a band) is located in this production. It seems like the conductor is the only member visible from the house.