The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
#25The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:05amHogan, I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree here. I don’t like the term. There’s really nothing more I can say.
#26The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:16am
@Baritone that's fine, but to be clear, I was not urging you to like the term, but as I am sure you realize there is a major distinction between that and it being considered a slur by folks to whom it would be directed.
SouthernCakes
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/19
#27The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:20amI would argue that all the major directors working today and designers are all straight dudes (Sher, Timbers,)
#28The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:29am
@southern, well, that would be very wrong too.
SouthernCakes
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/19
#30The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 1:00pm
SouthernCakes said: "I would argue that all the major directors working today and designers are all straight dudes (Sher, Timbers,)"
ALL? No. Most? Maybe.
Becky
Broadway Star Joined: 5/14/03
#31The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 1:09pm
I tried to go read the threads, and I can’t get past the lack of capitalization, punctuation, and horrible sentence structure (that makes it hard to follow some of their thoughts). I’m surprised a professional production’s social media team writes like they are in my 4th grade class.
Actually, my 4th graders write complete sentences. Apologies to my class....
imissthemusic2
Swing Joined: 9/21/19
#32The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 2:11pm
Becky said: "I tried to go read the threads, and I can’t get past the lack of capitalization, punctuation, and horrible sentence structure (that makes it hard to follow some of their thoughts). I’m surprised a professional production’s social media team writes like they are in my 4th grade class.
Actually, my 4th graders write complete sentences. Apologies to my class...."
It's very emulative of the syntax that teenagers/young adults commonly use on social media. Actually a smart move on their part, as it makes the account seem more personable to their target audience. Also, not for nothing, but it's probably much more difficult than writing "formally," as it would be very easy for the account to slip into coming across cringe-worthy/fallacious, like many brands' social media accounts do. I can almost certainly promise you whoever is running the account is more than capable of writing properly -- usually the people running these accounts are college-level interns, after all.
#33The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 2:26pmSo are they posting a closing notice tomorrow?
Becky
Broadway Star Joined: 5/14/03
#34The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 2:48pm
“Actually a smart move on their part, as it makes the account seem more personable to their target audience.”
Intentional or not, the teacher in me had to cringe and back right out - considering how much short hand/text/social media has created such an illiterate sounding generation.
(*Edited to say it’s possible to write in a way that’s “kid/young adult friendly” and still model decent writing - without sounding “cringe-worthy.” But that might also be more difficult. If bad writing is being purposely used to attract an audience who relates to bad writing? Their choice I guess.)
IAMREADING
Stand-by Joined: 12/15/15
#35The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 3:12pm
VintageSnarker said: "Am I missing something? Doesn't Percy Jackson center the story on the experience of a cis het white boy? Does it really get points because it's not about a middle-aged man having a crisis over his adult life choices? Because there are plenty of shows, movies, etc. about teenage boys having a crisis over their coming of age life choices."
LOL they missed the mark with the "cis het" thing. I get what they were going for...but maybe ablebodied instead of cis het would be a better insult since if percy has an oppression, it would be dyslexia and ADHD.
#36The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 5:54pm
IAMREADING said: "ablebodied”
(FYI: Percy is able-bodied. The word you’re looking for was “neurotypical” )
Carry on!
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#37The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 6:46pm
Is it ever a good thing for a show to even acknowledge, let alone call out negative reviews? I've never seen this tactic not be super uncomfortable, in any medium.
#38The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 7:00pmWelcome to BWW, where cis het white men’s understanding of power dynamics is so f-ed up that they feel entitled enough to say that they are disenfranchised in the theater. I miss the days this board wasn’t a complete disaster.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#39The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 7:03pm
This kind of “debate” between a critic and the artist can actually be very informative and should be encouraged, actually.
When a potential audience member reads a review, the key and really only question they want answered is if they will enjoy it. A critic provides one option but the artist, who has been working on the piece for months, or even years, might have information that the critic missed and putting it out there benefits everyone.
I would love to see a creative read aloud a whole review and then comment on it, like celebrities read mean tweets. It would be a hoot.
#40The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 7:41pm
@Sunny that kind of conversation is great, when it happens, but it is not happening here. This just reads like lashing out, which is definitely the bailiwick of a tyro.
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#41The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 10:01pm
Sunny11 said: "This kind of “debate” between a critic and the artist can actually be very informative and should be encouraged, actually.
When a potentialaudience member reads a review, the key and really only question they want answered is if they will enjoy it. A critic provides one option but the artist, who has been working on the piece for months, or even years,might have information that the critic missed and putting it out there benefitseveryone.
I would love to see a creative read aloud a whole review and then comment on it, like celebrities readmean tweets. It would be a hoot.
The whole point of a critic is that they are a neutral party, able to be completely objective in theory at least and able to judge a work's merits without fear or favor. Not really sure every artist can be unbiased and objective about their own work's strengths and weaknesses especially given how close they are to it and how much emotion is involved. And I don't think critics see it as a debate. They see the show, share their opinion and that's the end of it from their perspective.
In the absence of critics, I would not expect to see Trip Cullman tweeting out about The Rose Tattoo "I tried my best and even bought up every plastic swan in the Tri-state area but gotta admit, this one's a stinker. Go see The Sound Inside instead. Much better."
"
#42The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 10:06pm
The greatest critics of contemporary theatre engaged in a conversation with those they critiqued. To apply some cramped limitation such as our Uncle suggests here is to condemn us to a world without great critics.
#43The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:03pm
ray-andallthatjazz86 said: "Welcome to BWW, where cis het white men’s understanding of power dynamics is so f-ed up that they feel entitled enough to say that they are disenfranchised in the theater. I miss the days this board wasn’t a complete disaster. "
I miss the days when we weren’t blamed for everyone else’s problems.
#44The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 12:12am
what is the "problem" you think you are being blamed for?
#45The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 2:26am
I always read the local restaurant reviews. The good ones I am sure has the restaurant contacting the newspaper to thank them.
The bad ones? I always want to read a response of defense or at least words to justify why such and such was meant to look/taste the way it was presented.
I would also like to read if the service, ambience, table settings etc etc had improved since the review.
There is never a follow up from the reviewer or the reviewed.
I would like to read justification/reasons for what is presented be it on a stage or on a plate.
On this thread between a director and a professional critic.
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#46The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 2:35am
HogansHero said: "The greatest critics of contemporary theatre engaged in a conversation with those they critiqued. To apply some cramped limitation such as our Uncle suggests here is to condemn us to a world without great critics."
Oh heavens Hogan, I certainly wouldn't want to condemn anyone to that. I am aware critics have gotten together with artists on panel discussions, shows and other avenues of discussion to discuss the art and science of theatrical criticism even with those about whose shows they may have harshly critiqued. Perhaps they even meet individually out of the public eye when requested to offer more detailed feedback to the people involved with a show they just reviewed or to hear an artist's concerns. I was not advocating that needs to end. But I specifically chose to use the word debate rather than discussion in my response as I wasn't aware that there was an already exisiting regular forum for critics to publically debate for all to see and hear the very legitimacy of each of their reviews shortly after publication with an artist/director/producer who in some cases will have received negative reviews and feels he or she has been screwed over. That is what it appeared Sunny11 was suggesting and that is what I was responding to with my suggestion of some 'cramped limitation". If these debates are currently taking place, then please, where may the theater going public witness them to better inform our decisions.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#47The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 3:11am
UncleCharlie said:The whole point of a critic is that they are a neutral party, able to be completely objective in theory at least and able to judge a work's merits without fear or favor. Not really sure every artist can be unbiased and objective about their own work's strengths and weaknesses especially given how close they are to it and how much emotion is involved. And I don't think critics see it as a debate. They see the show, share their opinion and that's the end of it from their perspective.
In the absence of critics, I would not expect to see Trip Cullman tweeting out about The Rose Tattoo "I tried my best and even bought up every plastic swan in the Tri-state area but gotta admit, this one's a stinker. Go see The Sound Inside instead. Much better."
""
Critics are not a neutral party, even if they claim to be. When reading reviews, it’s obvious to me if the critic has a personal like or dislike of a particular cast member or the style of music. They may hold a low option of a piece simply for being a jukebox musical or screen to stage adaptation.
Yes, there are certain objective standards to evaluate like how well someone can sing or if it has creative script but I don’t need to read about an irrelevant arbitrary standard that a critic has.
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#48The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 3:47am
Sunny11 said: "Critics are not a neutral party, even if they claim to be. When reading reviews, it’s obvious to me if the critic has a personal like or dislike of a particular cast member or the style of music. They may hold a low option of a piece simply for being a jukebox musical or screen to stage adaptation.
Yes, there are certain objective standards to evaluate like howwell someonecan sing or if it hascreative script but I don’t needto read about an irrelevant arbitrary standard thata critic has."
Absolutely no one is required to read a critic's reviews or care in the slightest about what that or any critic thought about a show. If you think critics are all biased and use an irrelevant arbitrary standard, then don't read their reviews. How easy is that?
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#49The Lightning Thief goes after critics on twitter
Posted: 10/21/19 at 5:38am
And no one is required to read this tweet by the lightning thief or care what they think but some people will appreciate it. The more voices that are out there the better.
Updated On: 10/21/19 at 05:38 AMVideos





