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That was 14 years ago. Which means that right now, the first high schooler on the Rent Rush line is giving birth to her second child*, and naming her Maureen. Think about it. *Her first was a son named Collins. 0 people like to hear themselves talk. Click to add/read comments. |
1. Receiving an e-mail from DidHeLikeIt.com. Which, if you haven't seen it, is a very clever little website that simply shows you whether "he" (Ben Brantley of the New York Times, with an occasional sub-in by Isherwood) liked a show that opened. 2. Clicking on the link to visit the site to find out whether he liked Mr. and Mrs. Fitch. 3. Seeing this graphic:  4. Not bothering to read the article to find out the details of why Brantley didn't like it. Have I over-marginalized the entire critics system? Yes. For the record, though, I usually make these snap judgments based on the contents of StageGrade (formerly Critic-O-Meter) which is a fantastic roundup of the sum of all the reviews averaged out to a letter grade. 0 people like to hear themselves talk. Click to add/read comments. |
 Hi everyone, I just wanted to clarify myself in the most recent New York Times column I wrote where I said that I feel the pain of those people whose cellphones ring during the middle of a show. Many of you thought this meant that I, the most powerful man in NY Theater, was condoning cell phone use. So I thought I should set the record straight. It's only okay if they're my friends, and they didn't have to pay a single dime for their ticket. Thank you, BEN BRANTLEY 0 people like to hear themselves talk. Click to add/read comments. |
I'm not going to talk much about the production except to say that it's solid, the cast is pretty great, and that the first half could have used some additional humor or cuts to make it move along more swiftly. If you've ever wanted to see a solid production of As You Like It, I suggest this one. If you don't know/remember which one As You Like It is, it's the one where the guy and girl fall in love, and the girl dresses up like a guy to teach the guy she loves how to be Super Husband-Slash-Lover. But what I want to talk about SHAKESPEARE SPOILER ALERT is a little moment in the final scene. Rosalind-Dressed-As-A-man stands in front of everybody and reveals that she's going to make everything okay for everybody, and that she'll be right back in a few minutes. She goes offstage. Touchstone (the fool, played with aplomb by reasons to be pretty's Thomas Sadoski) gives a whole 5 minute monologue about how to verbally quarrel, the "Retort Courteous/Quip Modest" speech. This goes on for a short eternity, long enough to allow Rosalind to come back dressed all pretty pretty like a woman, and everybody gasps. The reveal takes freaking forever. And as surprised as I was that Sadosky actually made the speech funnier than I ever though it was, where is the production with a decent costume designer that cuts or at least moves the speech? The production that has Rosalind say, "I'm going to fix all this", then suddenly a clever costume transformation onstage, and suddenly the man is a woman, and everybody gasps and you buy it? Why isn't everybody doing that? 0 people like to hear themselves talk. Click to add/read comments. |
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