To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 05:50:06 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Jay Johnson-Los Angeles show


On Wednesday night, Jay Johnson got a standing ovation. The Brentwood Theatre audiences are mostly older, and most have attended theatre for years. Being older means it takes effort for a standing ovation.

I remember when th L.A. Times announced the arrival of Charles McNulty as a critic. From the article there was no clue that "critic" was now an oxymoron. Pity.

As a reader, the reason I read reviews is mostly to see if it is a show I would want to see, and if here is a financial or schedule problem, at least I want to know what I missed. That information was missing for the most part. What we got was a smart-ass mouthing off, with bad psychology and a poorly-told joke. Plus he missed the whole point of the show. That was not just opinion, it was sloppy writing.

There was a time when I did theatre reviews in Los Angeles for a small magazine. since we no longer have five daily newspapers, the L.A. Times can and has literally killed some shows. Sometimes unfairly. For instance, one puppet show was criticized for a number listed in the program which was cancelled and never performed.  The reviewer was not even in the audience. That is irresponsible.

Los Angeles has a lot of little theatres, plus the mid-sized and larger ones---and they ALL depend on fair reviews for survival.

No-one expects any writer to like every production. But if the reason is personal bias, the reviewer/critic will own up to that bias if they are reputable, and the reader can still decide if the show sounds interesting. In my reviews if I did not care for a show personally but everybody else did, I'd say so. That is reporting the news.

When I was a kid, reading my mom's copy of Ladies Home Journal magazine, there were short quotes on various topics spread throughout the magazine. One stuck in my mind for decades: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how unqualified they may be." And every reader is entitled to question those opinions.

ALAN COOK

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