| re: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN anecdote | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 08:54 pm EST 01/28/25 | |
| In reply to: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN anecdote - jbk 07:13 pm EST 01/28/25 | |
|
|
|
| That's fantastic, thanks for sharing. I am generally opposed to critics ever reviewing out of town trial workshop productions like this... especially the most powerful critic in the country. And given how smart and passionate Rich was about theater, and these creatives, I'm surprised he did this. But on the other hand, it's very possible that the weight of his negative review and some of the criticisms he wrote in it played an impactful role in the massive retooling and rewriting that the creative team did from Purchase to London. It really is a radically different show, and whatever one thought of the Purchase show (which of course I didn't see), the one they ended up with is incredible. In a way I'm grateful to Rich for his review if it was part of the push or guidance of how much it needed to be re-thought. So many shows don't work in their tryout or workshop, and all that's done is nipping and tucking and some polishing, sometimes even rewriting the wrong things and leaving the wrong things, and then they land with a thud in nyc. Years and years of work, all working toward the slightly wrong goal. Perhaps some of those shows could have used a Frank Rich review to guide and motive rethinking. On the other hand, very few writers are ever at the level of talent and experience as Kander & Ebb or McNally were ever let alone by that point in their careers, and even fewer directors are at Hals. So it's also likely they'd have gotten there on their own without Rich's unsolicited and damaging review, a review which could have (and in many cases would have) killed the shows chances of funding or effort after that production. Who knows. I imagine Hal talked or wrote a bit about this, and how he saw it, but I can't recall. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN anecdote - jbk 07:13 pm EST 01/28/25 |
| Next: | re: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN anecdote - AC126748 08:12 am EST 01/29/25 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.031892 seconds.