Stage | theguardian.com: Are critics too hard on new British musicals? Well, not on Matilda or Billy Elliot they weren't. The five-star reviews came thick and fast for those delights, both of which are still running in the West End and may well for years to come. Most critics loved London Road, now being made into a movie by Rufus Norris, and recognised its ground-breaking contribution to the genre. Sheffield's This is My Family is being remounted in the autumn after ecstatic reviews.
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When it comes to reviewing any form of entertainment the large majority of people care more about the opinions of people they can identify with over a critic, verified or not. That’s because the experience of art is so relative. It’s not like there are bad parts that fail such as in a machine, something that doesn’t work for one person could be admired by someone else. Of course these critics are fairly rebuttable, and a bad show can be identified, but people don’t care that a stranger they don’t know didn’t like a set of a musical. They DO however, care that their friend didn’t like it. You can of course argue that the critic’s opinion is more valuable, but facts aside, the friend’s opinion outweighs it. That’s how twitter and blogs dictate whether people go see shows. If someone’s friends loved a show they probably won’t even read any reviews before going to see it. So let critics post what they want, and make a piece you are proud of. With the right marketing the people will give you a clearer opinion than any critic.
British Musicals are different from American musicals in a lot of ways. I think that most people recognize this. In London, this is a constant problem when it comes to funding. This article agrees that it is hard to stage a new British musical and get proper funding for it. Because of this the writer says that critics should take it a little easier on these productions in this situation. While I agree that it can be tough to do, I don’t necessarily think that critics should go out of their way on this. Critics just give their professional opinion. They do not speak for everyone and I do think that most people would know that this show is a new British musical. They may not know about the shows budgetary constraints, but half of the fun is putting on something presentable with the budget you have. Critics are doing their job by just giving their opinion. It isn’t anything more than that and if they were to go easy on these productions they wouldn’t be giving their honest opinion.
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