CHICKEN & BISCUITS - Reviews

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 8:59pm

Doesn't look like anyone's started this yet...

The Jenkins family is coming together to celebrate the life of their father—hopefully without killing each other! Eldest daughter, Baneatta, wants everything to be perfect for her father’s funeral. “Favorite” daughter, Beverly, would rather honor her daddy dressed to show the entire congregation what she’s been “blessed with.” Teenage granddaughter, La’trice, can’t mind her own business if it was on a leash. Not far behind comes grandson Kenny and his very Jewish boyfriend Logan who is maybe, sort of, okay definitely afraid of Baneatta. But Baneatta’s hopes unravel when a family secret shows up at the funeral…

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:00pm

Time Out: "Chicken & Biscuits dishes out a long but unsatisfying meal."

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/chicken-and-biscuits-broadway-review-comedy

Updated On: 10/10/21 at 09:00 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:06pm

NYT: In ‘Chicken & Biscuits,’ a Sweet but Dated Comedic Recipe

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/theater/chicken-and-biscuits-review.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:10pm

Deadline: New Comedy Serves Up Reheated Leftovers

https://deadline.com/2021/10/chicken-biscuits-broadway-review-1234851516/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:11pm

Variety is very positive: A Feast of Black Joy on Broadway 

https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/chicken-biscuits-review-broadway-1235084217/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:13pm

Vulture is positive: Chicken & Biscuits Serves Up Sustenance at a Church Funeral

https://www.vulture.com/2021/10/theater-review-chicken-and-biscuits-on-broadway.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:14pm

NY Daily News: ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ is over-long, under-baked comedy despite a warm center

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-chicken-and-biscuits-broadway-20211011-2u64bhhczfgo7k5k6vavzq5bqu-story.html

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:21pm

These aren't very good

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:23pm

Wow. This seems like it’ll be one of those rare instances where audiences just completely disagree with the critics.

[TheSassySam]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 9:45pm

Something tells me the critics who penned the negative reviews aren't the target audience for this show. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 10:06pm

This isn't universally loved by critics or audiences, actually. I've enjoyed reading the mixed reviews. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 10:11pm

The Wrap (ouch, that headline):

‘Chicken & Biscuits’ Broadway Review: All the Fun of a Trip to Carl’s Jr.

A new comedy serves it up thick, sweet and not-so-well done

 

https://www.thewrap.com/chicken-biscuits-broadway-review-norm-lewis-michael-urie/

Updated On: 10/10/21 at 10:11 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 10:12pm

AMNY: ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ is a cliched meal

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/theater/theater-review-chicken-and-biscuits/

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 10:58pm

TheSassySam said: "Something tells me the critics who penned the negative reviews aren't the target audience for this show."

Exactly. It seems that the only fully positive so far - from Variety - was written by a black person. 

I’m honestly surprised any white critic had the guts to pan this thing given, as Dave Malloy once put it, “the optics.”

Updated On: 10/10/21 at 10:58 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 11:23pm

The gate keeping is real.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 11:24pm

I applaud the "white critics" for just doing their job. 

Not everything works for everyone. 

This will probably make a great movie one day, but is it an event or anything that NEEDs to be on Broadway no? It's fun and frivolous. And there's nothing wrong with that. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 11:40pm

I think there’s definitely a case for altering the culture of theatre criticism to (a) include more marginalized voices as critics, (b) write reviews with a contextual mindset of who the target audience is, and whether they’d enjoy / are enjoying a show, and (c) be constructive and resist the urge make catty jabs just to entertain readers.

But I also think that making space for marginalized artists shouldn’t mean making their art immune to criticism. A thriving artistic community will always output a mix of hits and misses. And part of making space for marginalized voices is to make space for them to write good things and bad things, just like white artists do.

I remember when I moved to NY and started seeing theatre more regularly I was afraid to be critical of plays by POC. But the more plays by POC I saw — good, bad, and in between — the less I was afraid to critique the ones I didn’t like. Because a respectful, constructive critique is part of taking someone seriously as an artist.

Updated On: 10/10/21 at 11:40 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/10/21 at 11:55pm

Indeed, the optics of the VARIETY review are bad — that critic is involved with 3 other new plays this season in a producing capacity; it would have been terrible optics to pan this. Surprised Variety assigned her to this or any show.

The same critics who loved PASS OVER and A SOLDIER’S PLAY and SLAVE PLAY, but hated comedies like FISH IN THE DARK and the MTC pool comedy and THE PERFORMERS and SYLVIA disliked this…that’s not a bad thing from an optics standpoint. New comedic plays often aren’t hits with critics in contemporary times. Thinking a play is humorous or even groundbreaking is different than thinking a play is worthy of being on Broadway (in the critic’s individual opinion).

As for the “target audience” — a Broadway play like this (without star salaries) will be be trying to appeal to approx 6,000 people a week paying an average of $75 per ticket to sustain a run. That’s not surprising or controversial.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 12:02am

TheSassySam said: "Something tells me the critics who penned the negative reviews aren't the target audience for this show."

Something tells me that the only review that the target audience will read was very good...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 12:02am

JBroadway said: "I think there’s definitely a case for altering the culture of theatre criticism to (a) include more marginalized voices as critics, (b) write reviews with a contextual mindset of who the target audience is, and whether they’d enjoy / are enjoying a show, and (c) be constructive and resist the urge make catty jabs just to entertain readers.

But I also think that making space for marginalized artists shouldn’t mean making their art immune to criticism. A thriving artistic community will always output a mix of hits and misses. And part of making space for marginalized voices is to make space for them to write good things and bad things, just like white artists do.

I remember when I moved to NY and started seeing theatre more regularly I was afraid to be critical of plays by POC. But themore plays by POC I saw — good, bad, and in between — the less I was afraid to critique the ones I didn’t like. Because a respectful, constructive critique is part of taking someone seriously as an artist."

Love what you wrote. And I agree. It's a tough line to straddle. 

To me it's always that thing where it's like "you didn't get it." And I'm like no, I got it. Just wasn't for me. 

Updated On: 10/11/21 at 12:02 AM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 12:20am

Ermendgarde, I think you’re on the money in pointing out the larger patterns at play. There are what, 8 plays by Black playwrights this season? At least one of them was bound to get panned. If we were seeing critics pan all of them, while praising all the mediocre plays by white playwrights, then this would be a different conversation for sure.

In the other thread I compared Chicken & Biscuits to Getting’ the Band Back Together, in that they were both broad comedies that I didn’t find funny, and yet with both shows, the audience around me was absolutely loving it. And in the case of Gettin’ The Band, the critics ripped it to shreds, to the point where Davenport wrote a blog post basically saying “I didn’t expect it to be a show for critics, but I also didn’t expect them to be so mean.” And as much as I don’t respect Davenport, I think it’s possible that he had a point about how critics go about panning shows.

Updated On: 10/11/21 at 12:20 AM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 12:45am

What are the stats for rave reviews for plays that are the Bway debut of the writer, director, AND first-billed lead producer, AND basically opening cold in NYC? (Exclude West End and Off-Bway darlings from those stats.) Probably not great odds. These are completely untested entities; this was their first test. Some of the reviews aren't even awful –– Jesse Green is kind in his dislike of it. And they can quote "I laughed" -NYT.

It’s nice that the play even made it to Broadway. Maybe they will learn from this and create work that resonates more strongly with both critics and ticketbuyers in the future.

The critics owe nothing to the artists and producers behind this or any other play. 

Updated On: 10/11/21 at 12:45 AM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 12:50am

def think it is a huge conflict of interest to be reviewing plays for an outlet while you are also a producer on other plays that are currently running.... 

[A Director]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 1:15am

The critic who wrote this is black.

https://didtheylikeit.com/chicken-biscuits-how-do-you-critique-a-laugh/

The review by Chris Jones is paternalism with a tinge of racism. Helen Shaw's review is over the top. It screams, I. AM. NOT. RACIST.

[troynow]

Posted: 10/11/21 at 1:23am

Seems odd to
me that a producer or co-producer of a broadway show can write a review. Feels like this is a conflict of interest