NYC Critics Complain of 'Stacked' April Broadway Openings

According to the New York Post, some New York critics have had it with the amount of Broadway shows opening just in time for the Tony Awards cutoff date (April 23 this year).

One writer told the Post, "Although I have run this race for years, it always remains a killer challenge. In the middle of it, I worry if I am not responding to a show because it's just not there onstage or simply because I am so tired."

A nominator -- who recently overheard two critics complaining they were overworked -- commented: "Who wants that? You spend years working on a show, and it goes up before a bunch of unhappy critics?"

Variety's chief theatre critic Marilyn Stasio wants the Dramatists Guild and the Drama Critics' Circle to petition the Broadway League to do something about April's inevitable "stacking of shows." Under the guidance of DCC President and Time Out critic Adam Feldman, Stasio is now chairing a subcommittee on the issue.

"I think it's having a terrible effect on the theater. No show is getting its due. They're cannibalizing one another. I want the producers to know they're getting gypped," she said.

Some of her fellow Critics' Circle members disagree, including the Post's Elisabeth Vincentelli, who said, "I think it is uncouth of us to complain about seeing too much theater."