"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
I find it interesting that he says it isn't a critic's responsibility to describe audience reaction. While I agree with him that critics shouldn't have to do that, I also think that critics shouldn't report misinformation. He actively did this in his original review, which can be proven from looking at this new entry.
In his initial review he said "But the heady ether of prime farce never materializes in this labor-intensive but laugh-deficient evening."
Now he says "But a fair portion of the audience was howling consistently at the antics onstage."
I agree that he shouldn't report audience reaction if he doesn't want to, but he shouldn't say ANYTHING if he's going to be misleading.
This article comes off as a conflicted and odd attempt at back-pedaling while still trying to stay firm in his original thoughts on the show. It's a really odd piece.
Good old Isherwood. Anyone who publishes an article in the NY Times entitled "COAST OF UTOPIA Is A Bore. There, I Said It" has my goodwill forever.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
I'm getting sick of all of this recent follow-up after reviews are written. I mean, just write your review, express how you feel, own it, and then shut up. Reviewers aren't meant to back-pedal, do follow-up editorials and debates, or try to make nice. Reviewers need some gumption, but frankly, Isherwood gets odder by the day.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
I have a very oddball sense of humor. Everyt time I've seen a comedy or farce on stage I sit there cracking a smile once or twice while the rest of the audiences howls in laughter. So I'll pass on LEND ME A TENOR.
"Hurry up and get into your conga clothes - we've got to do something to save this show!"
As a newspaper journalist, it seems to me like someone was taken to the whipping shed and was told to respond to some kind of backlash. I'm sure he didn't want to write this.
As a former newspaper journalist, I'd wager the more likely scenario is someone had column space to fill and this was the low-hanging fruit of the moment.