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re: The Walter Kerr review
Posted by: AlanScott 04:39 pm EDT 05/26/23
In reply to: re: The Walter Kerr review - Chromolume 04:24 pm EDT 05/26/23

Atkinson's opening night reviews did tend to be on the generalized side. He did have only an hour or two to write them. The thing that set Kerr apart from everyone else and made him so special was that even with the same deadline, he came up with reviews that felt more detailed and analytical and had an interesting, even eloquent quirkiness to them. Maybe the Herald Tribune was an afternoon paper, which would have given Kerr more time than Atkinson had. I don't know the answer to that.
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re: The Walter Kerr review
Posted by: AlanScott 05:02 pm EDT 05/26/23
In reply to: re: The Walter Kerr review - AlanScott 04:39 pm EDT 05/26/23

I am linking Atkinson's opening-night review of Death of a Salesman. His Sunday followup piece can easily be found online.

This review is more specific than I think of Atkinson as generally being. And it is probably as much of a rave as anything he ever wrote. I can't put into words the stylistic differences between this and that Dear Evan Hansen Atkinson review. Perhaps someone else can. But there are certainly things in the fake review that I just can't imagine Atkinson ever writing. Also, I can't imagine him writing that kind of all-out rave for Dear Evan Hansen. Not because I think he might not have liked it, but because such all-out raves — the Death of a Salesman review is one — were rare from Atkinson.

Perhaps I would say that there is a quietness even to Atkinson's raves, and that is missing from the Dear Evan Hansen review.
Link Atkinson on Death of a Salesman
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re: The Walter Kerr review
Posted by: garyd 08:28 pm EDT 05/26/23
In reply to: re: The Walter Kerr review - AlanScott 05:02 pm EDT 05/26/23

"he evokes a wraith-like tragedy". This phrase has always stayed with me from the first time I read this review. Such a poetic and accurate description of the play.
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re: The Walter Kerr review
Posted by: AlanScott 09:23 pm EDT 05/26/23
In reply to: re: The Walter Kerr review - garyd 08:28 pm EDT 05/26/23

And I don't think of Atkinson as having been poetic very often, but it shows that he could be when inspired.
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