| I'm going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that critics and their editors who wait to be invited to review a show forget, to put it charitably, who they work for. Not producers. Not stars. Not "the theater" (except in so far as the long view is concerned). As a rule, we wait for the producers' notification that the director has declared a show ready for review, and generally, that civilized arrangement holds. But there are times when other considerations determine why a producer may decline to "invite" critics in for review. Hollywood studios, for example, don't invite critics when they have a turkey. That doesn't stop film critics from reviewing; they only have to wait for the film to open, as was the case this past weekend. A Broadway producer might decline to invite critics for similar reasons, or to protect a star from comparisons, even when the star is beyond criticism. Whatever the case, that should not be of concern to actual journalists serving actual readers who have a) an actual cultural interest in knowing about something newsworthy regarding a hit show and b) an actual financial consideration as well, in choosing what performance to see. Just as producers have a fiduciary responsibility to do everything they feel they must to ensure the success of their shows, so should critics do everything they must to ensure the independence of their work. Occasionally, that means buying a ticket (in which case, btw, the social fabric will hold). |
