Friday, October 02, 2009
Douglas Watt, Critic for Daily News and New Yorker, Dies at 95
NYTimes.com: "Douglas Watt, whose well-informed theater reporting and stylish criticism for The Daily News in New York were fixtures in an era when theater was king and critics were legion, died Tuesday in Southampton, N.Y. He was 95 and lived in Southampton and Manhattan."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow, I'd never heard of Mr. Watt before reading this article, but it seems like he had a very impressive career as a theatre critic. It would've been amazing to be at some of the performances listed in the article. I especially liked how the author of the article mentioned that Watt could write a negative review so well that he didnt infuriate the subject of his review. I think that says a lot about Watt's character and personality, and shows how much he will be missed within the theatrical community.
I think what I like most about this article is the way it portrays Watt as someone who's heart was in the work. Often, we think of critics as these demigod figures who sit behind a large desk and decide what is good and what is not in a hateful and spiteful way (think of Ratatouille). Though Mr. Watt did perform his job as a critic, the story at the end gives me the impression that he really cared about theater and spreading the good.
If you think about it, a critics job is to help everyone else figure out what is worth spending their money and time on. Believing strongly enough in a show to yank it back from the dead, just so others can enjoy it, is a strong testament to the kind of person Mr. Watt was. He did not want to just write reviews that destroyed shows. Without even knowing this man or knowing anything else about him, that story made me like him.
Post a Comment