tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post6137706276917502930..comments2023-09-29T03:23:53.191-07:00Comments on Stage Thrust, with Bobo the Theater Ho: *Evita* reviewJoelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16492478732621202655noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-56742350837807813792010-09-24T19:18:22.456-07:002010-09-24T19:18:22.456-07:00ON THE OTHER HAND, there's this thing called t...ON THE OTHER HAND, there's this thing called the Internet. Which, theoretically, makes length irrelevant. And I can pre- and re-view every single show. Which doubles my workload<br />And I'm on the classical and books beats, too; plus editing and other stuff.<br />I told George that we'd support his shows with pre- or re-views for this year.<br />But it's not as if I've never reviewed there before.<br />I'm surrounded by non-theatrical Muggles here at work. Ted and Jer go to some of Best of Broadway; Chris Bovey used to act around here; there are polite inquiries, but no one else really loves it at the paper, not really.<br />And I put up with a fair amount of "OMG, another production of South Pacific?! Do we really need to cover that?"<br />So it's a battle. Nice to see shows; it takes hours; I'm only human.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-57508974127077662662010-09-24T19:18:07.420-07:002010-09-24T19:18:07.420-07:00. Reviewing at Lake City: Back in 2002-04 (I'.... Reviewing at Lake City: Back in 2002-04 (I'm estimating here), I reviewed nearly all their shows; as a new critic, I wanted to review as much as I could. Also a way to separate our coverage from the Spokesman's. And there was, in general, less going on in the area.<br />Then the quality of the shows at LCP, in general, suffered. My boss, Ted McGregor, took me aside on at least two occasions and basically said, Let's try to help them; your reviews have been consistently negative; maybe we should preview 'em, or else not at all.<br />Work piled up; other duties; soon it dwindled to pretty much not at all.<br />I made it to Amadeus last spring; first show there in awhile for me.<br />Lots more in the way of cultural events now; Luke B. is A&C editor now, not me. Coverage is his call. I have to make a case for, argue the merits of, nearly every theatrical pre- or re-view that I do now. Much more pressure from other kinds of cultural events (and cultural trends, not event-driven stuff).Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-42353806317129034922010-09-24T19:17:25.623-07:002010-09-24T19:17:25.623-07:003. Reviewing at Lake City: Back in 2002-04 (I...3. Reviewing at Lake City: Back in 2002-04 (I'm estimating here), I reviewed nearly all their shows; as a new critic, I wanted to review as much as I could. Also a way to separate our coverage from the Spokesman's. And there was, in general, less going on in the area.<br />Then the quality of the shows at LCP, in general, suffered. My boss, Ted McGregor, took me aside on at least two occasions and basically said, Let's try to help them; your reviews have been consistently negative; maybe we should preview 'em, or else not at all.<br />Work piled up; other duties; soon it dwindled to pretty much not at all.<br />I made it to Amadeus last spring; first show there in awhile for me.<br />Lots more in the way of cultural events now; Luke B. is A&C editor now, not me. Coverage is his call. I have to make a case for, argue the merits of, nearly every theatrical pre- or re-view that I do now. Much more pressure from other kinds of cultural events (and cultural trends, not event-driven stuff).<br />ON THE OTHER HAND, there's this thing called the Internet. Which, theoretically, makes length irrelevant. And I can pre- and re-view every single show. Which doubles my workload<br />And I'm on the classical and books beats, too; plus editing and other stuff.<br />I told George that we'd support his shows with pre- or re-views for this year.<br />But it's not as if I've never reviewed there before.<br />I'm surrounded by non-theatrical Muggles here at work. Ted and Jer go to some of Best of Broadway; Chris Bovey used to act around here; there are polite inquiries, but no one else really loves it at the paper, not really.<br />And I put up with a fair amount of "OMG, another production of South Pacific?! Do we really need to cover that?"<br />So it's a battle. Nice to see shows; it takes hours; I'm only human.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-686752342537071382010-09-24T19:16:51.188-07:002010-09-24T19:16:51.188-07:004. Back to critical comments re: community theate...4. Back to critical comments re: community theater. I said my piece above, but ... are any of us above criticism? I'm not. I regularly publish comments on this blog, critical of Bobo, that piss me off. (I am not referring here to what DavidG or Marianne said; what they said was quite reasonable.)<br />Possibly related anecdote: I recently had an animated conversation, 10 mins. at least, with a woman I'd just met; we had a common interest.<br />And where do you work? she asked, just making small talk.<br />I told her. Her face froze: "My opinion of you just went from [hand held high] to [hand held very low]."<br />Why? "My husband is a cop."<br />We had published a cover story critical of police oversight. (I had virtually nothing to do with that story; I was only a third reader on it.)<br />I'm grateful to cops, I said, truly. But are cops above criticism?<br />No.<br />Are we all getting too touchy?<br />I go to bat for a show that I truly enjoyed, and ... kinda funny how some of the criticisms I made of *Evita* have gone, at least here, unchallenged. <br />My loyalty is to the art form: We all want to see good theater. All our standards are high, and should be.<br />I'm just glad that I can work in a town where people like DavidG and Marianne and Rebecca and many, many others are intelligent, creative people who care enough about theater to get angry about those #$%@#!?&^ critics.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-63981305473769803342010-09-24T19:16:11.534-07:002010-09-24T19:16:11.534-07:00. Back to critical comments re: community theater.... Back to critical comments re: community theater. I said my piece above, but ... are any of us above criticism? I'm not. I regularly publish comments on this blog, critical of Bobo, that piss me off. (I am not referring here to what DavidG or Marianne said; what they said was quite reasonable.)<br />Possibly related anecdote: I recently had an animated conversation, 10 mins. at least, with a woman I'd just met; we had a common interest.<br />And where do you work? she asked, just making small talk.<br />I told her. Her face froze: "My opinion of you just went from [hand held high] to [hand held very low]."<br />Why? "My husband is a cop."<br />We had published a cover story critical of police oversight. (I had virtually nothing to do with that story; I was only a third reader on it.)<br />I'm grateful to cops, I said, truly. But are cops above criticism?<br />No.<br />Are we all getting too touchy?<br />I go to bat for a show that I truly enjoyed, and ... kinda funny how some of the criticisms I made of *Evita* have gone, at least here, unchallenged. <br />My loyalty is to the art form: We all want to see good theater. All our standards are high, and should be.<br />I'm just glad that I can work in a town where people like DavidG and Marianne and Rebecca and many, many others are intelligent, creative people who care enough about theater to get angry about those #$%@#!?&^ critics.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-48694406512645973502010-09-24T19:13:09.222-07:002010-09-24T19:13:09.222-07:00David, Rebecca, Marianne -- thanks for your commen...David, Rebecca, Marianne -- thanks for your comments. Sorry to be slow in responding; work has piled up.<br />1. The "community theater" line _was_ condescending. I apologize. (For what it's worth, I changed it for radio to something like, "... with some of the less-than-accomplished aspects sometimes associated with community theater.")<br />I can see why this would be a touchy subject, because by virtually every possible measure, a community theater — the Civic — is the alpha dog of the Spokane Theater scene. <br />I do not assume that "professional" and "amateur" theater are in two entirely separate categories. <br />I'd compare it to the snobbery that supposes that brilliant people only go to big-name schools. I've personally known brilliant people who dropped out of college and/or went to average colleges. And I've known undeserving idiots who went to big-name schools.<br />Especially here and now, it'd be just silly to assume that all community-theater productions necessarily are of lower quality than professional productions. Because it just ain't so.<br /><br />2. Todd, acting, singing: I'm on record as admiring Todd Kehne's acting ability: Three months ago, he won a Spokie. Throughout *Evita* at Lake City, he has wonderful posture and presence (as I said in the review's longer version): sullen, sulking, sauntering over into people's faces to deliver stinging barbs. And in a couple of sequences at least, when Che raised his voice in protest, Kehne had impressive vocal power. But he doesn't project well with his voice when he sings. And Che is a mostly sung role. In fact, it was the contrast between his impressive acting and weaker singing that generated the comments I made.<br />As always, just one guy's opinion.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-19989638381952319882010-09-23T08:44:02.220-07:002010-09-23T08:44:02.220-07:00As a director I would cast a strong actor with a g...As a director I would cast a strong actor with a good voice over a weak actor with a great voice in a heartbeat .Todd held the stage and gave a powerful performance .Michael your obsession with constantly making classifications is tedious give this cast credit for strength of this their performance and obvious hard work for such a large cast moving so gracefully in such a small space .I also appreciate that you reviewed this show and it does sound like you enjoyed it but please leave the condescension behind.Marianne McLaughlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-71803531833037807362010-09-23T08:41:09.213-07:002010-09-23T08:41:09.213-07:00As a director I would cast a strong actor with a g...As a director I would cast a strong actor with a good voice over a weak actor with a great voice in a heartbeat .Todd held the stage and gave a powerful performance .Michael your obsession with constantly making classifications is tedious give this cast credit for strength of this their performance and obvious hard work for such a large cast moving so gracefully in such a small space .I also appreciate that you reviewed this show and it does sound like you enjoyed it but please leave the condescension behind.Marianne McLaughlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-21453011918140030862010-09-21T19:56:29.534-07:002010-09-21T19:56:29.534-07:00Speaking as a person who prefers straight plays to...Speaking as a person who prefers straight plays to musicals, I really appreciated that the role of Che was well-acted. I thought the singing was very good for an actor I understand to be a non-singer. And in a choice between this Che or stronger vocal power but weaker acting, I far prefer the better acting.<br /><br />And thank you for reviewing at the Playhouse. It's so important for the theater to have that feedback in order to continue improving.Rebeccanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-59924711024230251042010-09-20T08:23:52.423-07:002010-09-20T08:23:52.423-07:00Having attended the same performance, I cannot hel...Having attended the same performance, I cannot help but think some of your critique results from what you think of the venue, rather than the production. No, it isn't perfect, but it does not deserve the condescending remarks about being a "community theater production". There were some performances in this production, in particular, Kehnes', that warranted better remarks. That said, it's good to see you reviewing at Lake City. This little theater is growing in leaps and bounds!DavidGnoreply@blogger.com