Sunday, October 07, 2007
FIERSTEIN FIRES BACK
New York Post: "AS a rule, theater peo ple tend to take their lumps from critics in silence. What's there to do, once you've been caned, but slink off into a dark corner and lick your lacerations? But feisty Harvey Fierstein is having none of that. On his blog and in e-mails to several influential friends on Broadway, Fierstein has lashed out at Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times for panning the actor's new musical, 'A Catered Affair.'"
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4 comments:
As the article points out, most people, myself included, had not heard about this bad review. Then again, I didn't even know about the show. It's really the principle of the thing. I know a lot of potential audience members, in film and theatre, who are against a show as soon as they hear a bad review. Most know that a review is only the opinion of one person, but often that opinion is more highly valued because of its prestige. Nice to see someone fighting back against critics and audiences who follow their advice blindly.
I thought this quote from the movie Ratatouille is appropriate..
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new."
Critics do good and they also do bad. At the end of the day, do they help or hurt? Who knows.
This makes me wonder like both varsenik and brian said is the art of a good review. Doc has taught us about writing reviews for theatre and sometimes the best reviews are bad ones if they are done properly and objectivly. I feel like someone like Firestein would appreciate a well written and properly argued negative review would be appreciated and by the looks at what was written, though I havn't seen the show I feel like this was just the example of a poor review...
How childish is it that Harvey Fierstein couldn’t take a bad review, It’s part of being a professional artist. There are always going to be people who don’t like what you do, and the mature thing to do is to honor the fact that they have a right to voice their opinion especially if they are paid to do so for a living. If Harvey would have just kept his mouth shut then a lot fewer people would have known he got a bad review. He also got some raves it seems. Really it’s a good thing to get some really good reviews and a really bad review, it creates controversy and may drive more people to see it for themselves. Harvey Fierstein just looks like a insecure small child in this article also that picture makes him look like a nutjob.
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