The New York Times reviewer Isherwood is ridiculous
The reviewer pretty much trashed it but then says:
'I also feel honor-bound to report that the audience at the performance I attended seemed to respond with genuine warmth. In fact, they were a virtual live laugh track, erupting with gusts of guffaws at each worn joke or familiar torque in the give-and-take between Aaron and Casey'
Memo to NYT... isnt that the whole point? The audience, not you. makes me even gladder that i have my tix
FINDINGNAMO, SNAFU, THEATERDIVE, JORDANCATALONO, LIZASHEADBAND, PALJOEY: You all claim to "IGNORE ME" I wish you would and stop constantly commenting on my posts. Thanks ......................................................................................................................................
The MOST POPULAR and DANGEROUS Poster on BWW! Banned by the PTA, PTC and the MEANGIRLS of BWW.....................................................................................................................
...Ukraine Girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind..........................
Isherwood really had his claws out for this one. What's pathetic about it is that it's so poorly written and almost sounds like it's a high school girl trying to trash something. I kind of want a ticket for this now.
That said, they've gotten reviews mixed enough to get some good press, especially some big players like the AP and the New York Post, to use come pull quotes.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
It's interesting to me that the Times quote sue references turned into "THE AUDIENCE WERE ERUPTING WITH GUFFAWS." on the FIRST DATE site. Is it me or is that not what Isherwood was saying? Also shouldn't it be "the audience WAS?"
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
It us amazing that anyone still takes this guy seriously. Brantley is no better. He looks like someone who would hang around with Carlos Danger. He looks like a cut rate Joker with that Mr Sardonicus smile.
Actually, gauging the populist response to something is precisely not a critic's job. Isherwood more or less echoed what I have been hearing from friends about the show. They all mentioned how the tourist audience seemed to be eating it up.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Frank Rich is a great writer, totally immersed in theatrical history, who never wrote a lede as glaringly amateurish as the ones Brantley publishes constantly.
Rich also wrote when the Times had major power. His raves for the otherwise blandly received DREAMGIRLS and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE undeniably elevated them into a more successful status.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
The reviews came in pretty much as I expected, even though they cover a range of responses. I expected that range.
Having seen it, this is a show you can have multiple responses to. Intellectually, the show IS a lot of what the reviewers have criticized, but it still managed to charm me on an odd emotional level. You may call it "populist", but I do think the majority of people who will see it will exit with a smile on their faces even though some of them--like me--will intellectually acknowledge the weaknesses in the material.
"It sounds like this is the next IN THE LIFE and we should all go immediately so that we can say we were there."
^^Further evidence BWW needs a "LIKE" button.^^
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)