Having started my career as a publicist, I have gotten to know the majority of the major theatre critics over the past 25 years or so – some casually, others more closely (regional theatre publicists sometimes have an advantage over their NYC counterparts, since the regional reps function as hosts for out of town visitors, above and beyond the standard business requirements). However, because I haven’t done p.r. for some 14 years now, my personal knowledge of those who populate the critical field is rather less current, and while I remain an avid reader of all theatre journalism, I don’t know the writers themselves as I once did.
Of course, the public rarely gets to know any of these folks personally, and only the astute readers who check bylines really develop a sense of the author’s voice – and personality – through their reviews.
So when I had the opportunity to meet Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal yesterday, while taping a Downstage Center program, it was my first opportunity in years to meet a critic after knowing him only through his writing. In the course of the conversation, we spoke about this issue, and Terry commented that he feels people can get to know him from his reviews alone (although he blogs constantly), because he writes the same way he talks. And after an hour with him, I can say that his self-assessment is correct: the man I met is the man I’ve been reading for four years.
But even more striking, after years of knowing and reading dozens of theatre critics: he’s the exception more than the rule. The personal conversations I have with critics about shows and issues often seem quite different than when I read about those same shows and topics in print.
I am too close to this issue to have any genuine perspective, but I do wonder which is more useful to those who read and follow reviews: do they want “the critical voice” or “the personal voice,” or are they always one and the same?
Posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 12:57 pm
by
Howard Sherman
Filed under:
Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the
RSS 2.0 feed.
You can
leave a response, or
trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 pm
[...] 23rd, 2007 · No Comments Terry Teachout (Wall Street Journal) posted an excerpt from Howard Sherman’s blog. The two met for an interview, and Sherman noted something that I alsonoted while meeting Mr. [...]