Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A critical review stirs things up at the Play House
Cleveland.com: "Plain Dealer theater critic Tony Brown got all that and more a couple of Fridays ago in the Drury Theatre at the Cleveland Play House, just before the performance of 'Rabbit Hole.' Artistic Director Michael Bloom, inspired by an unfavorable review Brown had written of the play and his direction, spied Brown in the back row of the theater, hurried down the aisle and ran the critic down in the lobby, where he passionately delivered an intimate and unrestrained critique of the review."
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2 comments:
I am amazed at this article. I cannot believe that Bloom would call out a critic. Even if the critics are extremely harsh, it is one critic’s opinion and it does not reflect the opinions of the entire community. It is healthy to have constructive criticism on any project, and I feel that a bad review is not out of line. Bloom was the director of the project, he is a little sensitive to the criticisms, get over it. The Plain Dealer is not the only paper in the area, other people will review the show as well. If Bloom is upset on the consistent ‘bad press’ that Brown dishes out towards the Playhouse he is out of line there as well. The press surrounding the festival last summer was huge and very positive. The other issue at hand is that the Plain Dealer wrote this article and it may be biased since Tony Brown is their columnist. I would love to be able to see the production, read the review and judge for myself. I feel I need to call my friends that work at the Playhouse to get the real scoop.
-Julie Cross
While it admittedly sucks to get bad press, there is no excuse for Bloom's outrageous reaction to Brown's less than positive review. As the Artistic Director Bloom is a major representative of the company, and such immature and outlandish behavior speaks badly on not only Bloom himself, but reflects poorly on the theatre he works for. Even if Brown has personal issues with this particular theatre, or for some odd reason issues with just it's artistic directors, his lack of professionalism is not a greenlight for his targets to act in an equally childlike manner.
-Samantha Englender
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