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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 03:32 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
| In reply to: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - EvFoDr 02:53 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
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| At the time, it was a fabulous and moving show - John Cullum was quite brilliant in it. As I recall, it opened the same week as THE WIZ. It's interesting to look at the reviews. In his daily review of THE WIZ, Clive Barnes was very mixed, ultimately disappointed in the show. In his Sunday review, Walter Kerr actively disliked THE WIZ. Meanwhile, for SHENANDOAH, Barnes wrote a very positive review (with a few caveats), but it make it clear you would love the show; in the Sunday paper, Walter Kerr wrote a love letter to SHENANDOAH. SHENANDOAH ran 1,050 performances - a hit. THE WIZ ran 1,672 performances. A smash hit. So much for critics! | |
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| The Variety tallies for Shenandoah and The Wiz | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 10:03 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - NewtonUK 03:32 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
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| I just read Barnes's review of Shenandoah, and I would characterize it as mixed leaning toward mildly enthusiastic. Here is Variety's tally of the reviews for Shenandoah: "six moderately approving notices (Collins, WCBS-TV; Godfrey, UPI; Howe, WNBC-TV; Lyons, WCBS; S. Klein, WNEW-TV; Probst, WNBC), two unfavorable (Gottfried, Post; Watt, News), and four mixed (Barnes, Times; Glover, AP; A. Klein, WNYC; Sanders, WABC-TV)." Here is the tally for The Wiz: "nine favorable reviews (Citron, WNYC-TV; Collins, WCBS-TV; Currie, UPI; Glover, AP; Howe, WNBC-TV; A. Klein, WNYC; Probst, WNBC; Sanders, WABC-TV; Watt, News), and three mixed (Barnes, Times; Gottfried, Post; Lyons, WCBS)." I should add that Variety's choices of how to characterize reviews have not always struck me as accurate. For instance, I would say, as I said before, that Barnes's Shenandoah was mixed but leaning toward favorable. On the other hand, I would say that his Wiz review was mixed leaning a bit on the negative side. To simply list them both as mixed, as Variety did, is misleading. But I think the Variety tallies do generally indicate that The Wiz overall received reviews that were probably at least as favorable as those received by Shenandoah. I've also just read Kerr's reviews of both, not included in the Variety tally because his reviews did not appear till the first or sometimes the second Sunday after a show's opening. He certainly did love Shenandoah. The headline given his Wiz review — "'The Wiz' Misses" — makes it sound worse than it was. I would say that it was actually more mixed than negative. I think most people who were already inclined to see the show would not have changed their minds reading his review. He said quite enough nice things that it ended up sounding like it was an entertaining show. Oddly, I think his review, if read through, would have encouraged more people to see The Wiz than Barnes's review did. But then Rex Reed once rightly wrote something like, "Walter Kerr can pan a show and make me want to rush out and see it." |
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| re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? | |
| Posted by: StageLover 04:06 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: SHENANDOAH: Thoughts and Memories? - NewtonUK 03:32 pm EDT 08/20/20 | |
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| It's not a coincidence that both shows a;sp had very effective TV commercials. I especially remember John Cullum is a field singing, "This here land is Anderson land". THE WIZ had "Ease on Down the Road" which really popped. |
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