| re: TALK ABOUT MISSING THE POINT.....HERE'S BRANTLEY'S NOTICE" Put this in perspective, please. | |
| Last Edit: NewtonUK 05:02 pm EDT 07/12/18 | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 04:40 pm EDT 07/12/18 | |
| In reply to: TALK ABOUT MISSING THE POINT.....HERE'S BRANTLEY'S NOTICE - Jax 01:37 pm EDT 07/12/18 | |
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| The critics job isnt to say 'I hated it, but audiences will love it' - that would be really patronizing. A critic sees many shows, and develops standards by which they judge shows. Let's keep in perspective that when WICKED opened in San Francisco (with the lovely Robert Morse as the Wizard) the show was pretty roundly panned. When it came to Broadway it received even worse reviews - not just from Mr Brantley. There was only one problem - none of the critics were 12 year old girls. So lets not bash Mr Brantley for loathing WICKED - many many crix did - as did many adults who saw it (myself included - both times I saw it). Newsday: "... an Overproduced, overblown, confusingly dark and laboriously ambitious jumble" New Yorker: "The show's 22 songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, and not one of them is memorable.' NY POST: review was titled 'BROOM SHTICK. What is spectacular about the show is the spectacle. But this yellow brick road is also paved with Stephen Schwartz's oppressive music and banal lyrics ... and the complex, foolish book by Winnie Holzman' VARIETY: Its not easy being green. Or blonde for that matter. Those are just two of the lessons to be learned from this big, murky new Broadway musical. But maybe the most salient pointer is that it ain't east being a Broadway musical. A strenuous effort to be all things to all people tend to weigh down this lumbering, overstuffed production." NY DAILY NEWS: WICKED, the prequel to The Wizard of Oz, is an interminable show with no dramatic logic or emotional center... the overall effect is sad, because a lot of talented people are involved' TALKIN BROADWAY: This is a thoroughly mechanical and unmagical musical. Director Joe Mantello is demonstrating once again that he has little or no working knowledge of how or why a musical is different from a straight play. WICKED is the ultimate whitewashed example of how a musical written to pander can even fail at that when it has no centralized guiding force. I believe USA today was the main outlet that liked WICKED - almost the only national one. I confess I agree with all of these reviews - I enjoyed about 20 minutes of what I felt was a turgid mess on the stage. Just as I found the 6 hours of Harry Potter (and I am a fan of the books and films) to be an excruciating bore outside if about 10 minutes of special effects. This does not stop these shows in the least, as BRoadway has found a parent/kiddie audience who will go to see anything (except Little Mermaid, Tarzan, Seussical, and Spongebob). Good for them. It doesnt make the show any better. It just makes it successful. And thats OK too. But I think there is a difference. And Brantley was one of a zillion critics who loathed WICKED. |
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