SF Chron's new reviewer. Sad!

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 2/21/17 at 12:55pm

For a century, the SF Chronicle had a less-than-stellar reputation, but as the leading paper in the city, their reviews were always pretty good. However since Robert Hurwitt left last year, his replacement, Lilly Janiak has been an absolute embarrassment. Over the past months we've seen some wonderful shows and these are some key nuggets from her reviews.

 - The King & I first national tour with Laura Michelle Kelly - she called the book creaky and took issue with Anna's "obsession" with her house

 - An excellent production of She Loves Me. She declared its underlying theme is about workers being exploited by business owners

 - She took issue with the sound at the Fun Home tour, claiming that an early number had a wall of sound that was cacophony. Indeed. That's why it's titled "Cacophony." (By the way, the Sound Engineer for the tour spent months at that theatre during the pre-broadway run of Wicked - and of the dozen or so friends who have seen the show from seats throughout the house most specifically commented on how great the sound was (amongst everything else)

 - Today, she gave an excellent local production of Silence! a strange review. Compliments for the performances, but she feels that many of the devices used were invented a dozen years ago and are no longer effective.
"The songs premiered online in 2002, around when “Urinetown” and “Avenue Q” debuted, and back then it still might have felt fresh to, say, have characters comment on how small their roles are in part because of their races, or to ironically use the conceits of musical theater — the bring-it-on-home kick line, for instance — to expose the form’s silliness."

Evidently, she's unfamiliar with long traditions of satire, English Music Hall comedy, and even Shakespeare. It did NOT begin with Urinetown.

Reading her reviews, I keep imagining that she's a college sophomore who feels the need to bring serious social context to the reviews to be taken seriously. To borrow a quote from recent, unpresidential tweets "She's an embarrassment. Sad!"

Updated On: 2/21/17 at 12:55 PM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 2/21/17 at 1:08pm

Oh dear. Admittedly SF criticism isn't normally on my radar but those first three bullet points alone. Yikes. IMO the purpose of reviewing revivals is not to review the original material/criticize the book...

Updated On: 2/21/17 at 01:08 PM

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 2/21/17 at 10:57pm

hi markbear

i also noticed lily seems to know very little about musical theatre and certainly doesnt seem to have much appreciation for it

the only things left from the once mighty chronicle are:

the sunday pink section

willie brown and matier columns

sports section and nachman

 

i use the rest of the paper to line the bottom of my birdcage

 

[Anna_Elizabeth]

Posted: 2/24/17 at 2:38pm

I haven't read any SF Chronicle reviews since Robert Hurwitt left. Glad I skip over those now that you point out what type of reviewer the new person is. It was depressing reading the statements below. I'm all for a new angle on reviewing, but this is ridiculous. I wouldn't expect a reviewer to know all theater history, but to have some knowledge is helpful.

[BakerWilliams]

Posted: 3/31/17 at 1:49pm

Her recent review for John is abysmal. She is an embarrassment to the art of theatrical criticism.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/31/17 at 2:38pm

what is her background? 

A few of the quotes could be explained as a difference in tastes, but overall it seems pretty unimpressive. 

I disagree with neon re the purpose of reviewing revivals. Everything is fair game, and I certainly think that we can critique the original material from a contemporary perspective. Indeed, I think it is important to.