Riedel: Press Take Revenge On Tony Awards

I usually find him a bit of a pig, and his ideas here might be a little extreme, but I actually kind of agree with him. This decision is idiocy, and I think there should be an uproar about it. I hope the criticism world doesn't take this lying down.

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Updated On: 7/17/09 at 12:00 PM

Amen. I hope the press takes his ideas and runs with them.

Husk, I think that's Riedel's point, that the reviewers should just show up two weeks into previews and review whatever the shows have gotten accomplished at that point (I think he just threw in that line that went something like "if you haven't gotten it right by that point, you never will" for bitchiness sake, he is also known to give hell to shows with a rough preview period). Also, I don't think shows today change during previews the way shows changed when the likes of Hal Prince, Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, et al were helming the shows. I don't see Joe Mantello or Kathleen Marshall making any huge changes three weeks into previews.
I do agree with you re his comments on LEGALLY BLONDE and SHREK, though again, I think he was doing it for bitchiness' sake.

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Updated On: 7/17/09 at 12:29 PM

And, as he notes, they call it a preview, but they charge postview prices.

If I were a critic, I'd pan the whole season out of spite.

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Well, I think we can bet that Riedel will be more vicious than ever in trying to take things down this year. Which is sort of unfortunate because he so often targets the artists in trying to get at the producers, but that's another issue.

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Aw man. I almost want the disaster to happen. It would make for a VERY entertaining year.

Send in Riedel to SPIDERMAN, please?!?

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"The theater press should stop whining about being "marginalized" by the Tonys.

It still has platforms, it still has power.

It can put its boot on Broadway's neck and break it".

That's pretty disturbing, even from him. So all of Broadway should suffer because the press has been slighted by the League and the American Wing?

Then what would he do for a living?

"Sound and Fury signifying nothing..."

"It still has platforms, it still has power."

The problem with his argument is that the press is losing its platforms and has lost most of its power. Do you really think the Tony committee didn't consider a press backlash when they decided to do this? The New York Times is dying. The Washington Post is dying. The smaller papers in NY who still do theatre reviews are read by an incredibly small audience. The only reviewers who still may reach any kind of a sizable audience are on television and there are mighty few of those left outside of New York City. (DC had a weekly show that reviewed all the arts and it was cancelled last year. The only regular theatre/film critic lost his job shortly after that.)

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"The problem with his argument is that the press is losing its platforms and has lost most of its power."

Very true, TomCat, and beyond that, for Riedel of all people to suggest using what's left of that platform to "break" the neck of Broadway is ungrateful, biting the very hand that has fed him all these years. He's a weird, self-destructive guy. I've never had much respect for him and I really don't have any at all after today. To get revenge on the League and the Wing he advocates putting artists and crew alike out of business?

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, not to mention, to mix metaphors, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Updated On: 7/17/09 at 03:31 PM