West Side Story Pull Quotes

[FranklinDickson2018]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 3:05pm

I just got around to reading my New York magazines.

There is a huge pull out  color ad for the upcoming "West Side Story" in the September issue. 

All kinds of pull quotes:  Ravishing, Brave, Frenetic, Tragic, Astonishing, Lavish, Shattering, Uncanny, Timeless, sacred,  and so on.  One quote references the "golden age of the 20th century" in describing the show.

They are attributed to the usual sources, NYT, New Yorker, Vogue, Time etc etc

But where do these actually come from?  They are not of the actual upcoming revival. Are they from past productions?  Or did they just ask the magazines to come up with descriptions of what WSS means to their writers.  Would be ironic if a forthcoming review called the show the "dated"  or 'cheap looking" when the quotes say just the opposite. Do they then pull these quotes and replace them when the show actually opens. 

I wonder if less-informed readers of the magazine even get that these aren't reviews of the actual upcoming show, but of the work itself. 

When did this practice start?  Is this a Rudin thing?  I believe that they did the same for "Hello, Dolly!"

But is this a totally honest practice? 

PS: And if I didn't know the show, based on this ad, I would for sure assume it was an all-male cast.

 

 

 

[Pose2]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 3:09pm

They probably just paid those sources to speak on WSS, and how they feel about the story, movie, past productions, etc. They are trying just a littttle bit too hard on this one. But, considering how awful ticket sales are after December, I don't blame them. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 3:14pm

Its done frequently. If people know it hasnt even started yet, theyd know the quotes cannot be for this production.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 3:39pm

As dramamama said, this is a relatively common practice with revivals that haven't been reviewed yet (or that have, but received bad reviews). I first noticed it with the revival of Glass Menagerie a couple years ago. It's technically fair game, since the quotes are describing the same material that they will be performing. Is it misleading? Maybe a bit. But no moreso than a lot of the other out-of-context pull-quotes, and other spins required in the world of advertising. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 3:49pm

The quotes they’re using for the commercial seem even more specific to this individual production and they confuse the hell out of me.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 4:07pm

Pose2 said: "They probably just paid those sources to speak on WSS, and how they feel about the story, movie, past productions, etc."

False.

Quotes are typically pulled from past productions, in a way that could be attributed to the writing itself. It's a little shady and misleading, but it's a common (and legal) practice on Broadway. The publications don't really care unless it's total fabrication.

[KKeller6]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 4:15pm

Seems more than a little shady. Seems a LOT shady and should be considered false advertising.
Maybe they can find another Frank Rich like Merrick did back in the day!

[msmp]

Posted: 9/21/19 at 5:03pm

They did this ahead of the Dolly revival too, using quotes from the original production, then added in the actual contemporary quotes once there were reviews.