If you Believe the Good, you Have to Believe the Bad - Theater Reviews

The title to this post is paraphrasing my old opera director, Buck Ross, and how he viewed theater critics.  It is fun to read about yourself in the paper, but you should take every review you read with a grain of salt.  If you start to believe in the good press, then you have to be prepared to take the bad.  In the end, a good theater review is a nice bit of publicity but you should always remember that critics are extremely subjective.

This came to the forefront of my life with two reviews of the musical I am involved with, On the Twentieth Century.  We were fortunate to receive not one, but two reviews by theater critics (very nice for a young company).  However, after reading them, you may feel like that the two critics saw different shows, even though they came ON THE SAME NIGHT.  One review is extremely flattering, and the other is more critical.  I was very happy to receive positive comments from both critics.  Do I put a lot of weight on either review?  Not really.  The fact is that I am extremely proud of this production and everyone I invited loved the show.

So rule of thumb: don't take reviews to heart.  Don't let your critics define your work.  Do your own thing.

DWS

P.S. I did receive nice comments from both reviewers...I've attached both reviews to this blog.

Houston Chronicle's Buzz Bellmont: Click Here

Houston Chronicle's Everett Evans: Click Here