Poor expectation management? That plus a great many people tend to see things in superlatives (we are not only passionate about theater, we are passionate about DRAMA!): For some, just about everything they see has to be either the most phenomenal show they've ever discovered or - perhaps more frequently - a complete and utter bomb; of course sometimes people reach these conclusions with good reason, there are genuine and well thought out raves and pans. But for many these don't seem to be the exceptional responses, they seem to be the norm.
The fact is that 99% of what there is - and what there always has been - is somewhere in between and often much closer to the modestly appealing, or the near miss, then to either sheer triumph or bathetic fiasco.
Add to that the fact that a great many of us spend a great deal of money even when paying discount prices, which can't help add to the hysteria, pro or con.
As for myself, I have to say that theater in New York is far better now than it was at many other times in the last few decades, on many fronts. The variety and scope of new plays, the quality of singing in Broadway musicals, the care being brought to many productions of classics, and even - for my money - the fact that some are willing to take huge risks, which I often appreciate even when they don't quite work.
Finally, it is sometimes a great deal of fun to trash something that genuinely pisses us off. And some of us - I won't name names - really do appear to sincerely detest just about everything.
Updated On: 3/8/13 at 12:51 PM
