Posted: 4/20/17 at 5:54pm
Seeing Anastasia Sunday at 3, the last performance before opening. Just curious will this be the show the critics attend for reviews or will it be opening day? Thanks
Posted: 4/20/17 at 6:02pm
Critics attend performances throughout the final week of previews. There isn't a particular performance that they all attend. No critics review an Opening Night performance.
Posted: 4/20/17 at 6:21pm
If only it were like the movies - critics attend the opening, rush to their typewriters and dash off the review, which is published and read at the opening night party.
Posted: 4/20/17 at 6:27pm
Just curious, was it ever truly that way, or was it just a Hollywood trope? Anybody know the answer?
Posted: 4/20/17 at 6:29pm
Yes, it was common at one point to have critics rushing back to offices to bang out copy before the final edition went to press--or phoning in a review from the lobby of a venue.
Posted: 4/20/17 at 6:40pm
If a show ran till 11 PM when was the final press? It would have been for the next days morning paper.I believe critics pretty much, have always seen the show before opening night and have their reviews written. They were released after the curtain came down with the first morning publication (which in olden days) were typeset and printed the night of the Opening. There might have been a few who did the opening night thing but the papers would not have been available till the wee hours.
Posted: 4/20/17 at 8:12pm
Allowing critics to file reviews in time was the original reason of the early start time (like 6:30) of opening night performances that was common.
Posted: 4/20/17 at 8:20pm
4 days prior to the opening
Posted: 4/21/17 at 2:02am
SNAFU said: "If a show ran till 11 PM when was the final press? It would have been for the next days morning paper.I believe critics pretty much, have always seen the show before opening night and have their reviews written. They were released after the curtain came down with the first morning publication (which in olden days) were typeset and printed the night of the Opening. There might have been a few who did the opening night thing but the papers would not have been available till the wee hours.
"
SNAFU, I could be wrong; reports of my dotage have been greatly exaggerated. But I think in the days before most breaking news was released on radio or TV, newspapers published multiple editions up through the early hours in the middle of the night. Hence, the movie cliche of newsboys running down the street shouting "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"
As has been written, openings started at 6:30 pm. But shows started at 8:30 and didn't let out until after 11. And there were "roof top" shows where patrons could see a book show or night club and eat even later. I'm not sure when people slept, but many were up and about when the late, late paper editions hit the street.
Posted: 4/21/17 at 9:30am
Opera and music critics would also frequently leave performances before they were over, a fact that would be noted in their reviews (e.g., "Left prior to Brunnhilde's immolation," etc). At some point, they determined that opera reviews appearing overnight were not a matter of dire consequence...
Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:17am
I don't remember the exact specifics, but didn't The Front Page recently do something regarding this, shutting out critics until opening night?
Posted: 4/21/17 at 10:26am
10086sunset said: "I don't remember the exact specifics, but didn't The Front Page recently do something regarding this, shutting out critics until opening night?
"
Yes, they did. The opening night performance was at 5:30PM in order to allow the critics to write and file before the final edition went to print.
