CMU School of Drama


Friday, September 19, 2008

Theater Review - ‘A Tale of Two Cities’

NYTimes.com: "So much for all those satisfyingly cheap jokes a critic might have been making this morning about “A Tale of Two Cities,” the lumpish musical adaptation of the beloved Charles Dickens novel, which opened on Thursday at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. Those snarky duties have already been expertly tended to by the satirical revue “Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab,” which inconveniently opened on Wednesday and devotes a short, sharp skit to this newest arrival to the neighborhood."

1 comment:

Josh Smith said...

Ben Brantley is killing theater. Not only is he killing theater, but he's killing the ability of original theater to get it's wings off the ground.

As I see it, the American Musical comes in primarily two different flavors nowadays: media based (TV, movies, music artists), and completely, undeniably, unadulterated originality. However, the media based musical already has a good footing in gaining attention - partially because of it's parasitic nature to its 'mother.'

The original musical now relies on word of mouth and print media, and unfortunately, with Ben Brantley lampooning the newcomers and underdogs each season - i'm not sure if there's hope for other shows to come.

I do hope that Tale of Two Cities is able to rise above Brantley's terrible review - but I fear that it will also land in the original musical graveyard.