Never one to shy away from causing a stir, New York Times Chief Theatre Critic, Ben Brantly, has crossed a line with many due to his review of Head Over Heels which opened at the Hudson Theatre last night.
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Last year, Chicago Sun-Times theatre critic, Hedy Weiss, was rightfully criticized for her review of Mamma Mia where when mentioning the costume design, she said the following:
"Theresa Ham’s character-defining costumes make the most of the many “real women” figures on stage, just as the gold and silver spandex outfits outline the perfect bodies of the terrific chorus dancers"
Obviously, the fact that Weiss made a point to emphasize "real women" figures as opposed to the "perfect bodies" of the dancer, was met with harsh backlash and accusations of body shaming.
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This past Sunday I had the amazing pleasure of seeing Skintight. It's the new Off-Broadway play written by Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Significant Other). It follows Jodi Issac a middle-aged woman whose marriage falls apart after her now ex-husband leaves her for a younger woman. Left to pick up the pieces she visits her father for a weekend only to find her father is in a relationship with a much younger man who may or may not have secrets of his own.
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on July 5th. You can click here to read it.
All caught up? Good. Hopefully, as you were reading it, a couple of questions began to form. But one that should definitely be raised is, "Was this article necessary at all?"
I understand Reidel's methodology here. It's not every day one gets permission to publish extremely-candid quotes from one high-profile star bashing another. So clearly, from Reidel and the Post's point of view, there is a story to tell and clicks to get.
But from my point of view, the whole article feels like a well-orchestrated hit on a show's leading lady by portraying her as either a selfish diva or a fragile performer, incapable of meeting the demands of a lead role on Broadway. Even if either were true, the fact that this has gone public is wrong and is certainly a violation of the unwritten rules of being in a Broadway cast: You don't air your dirty laundry in public, especially not to the press, especially not to Michael Riedel.
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#TenthPlanet
Normally, if someone were to use this hashtag, one might think that it’s some sort of Doctor Who reference. (At least, that’s what I noticed later on, after I started using it, myself.) This year, however, this hashtag has taken on a whole new meaning, in reference to the 10th anniversary season of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York’s premiere socially conscious and eco-friendly theatre festival, founded a decade ago by arts professional Glory Kadigan, and led this year by Producing Artistic Director Shaun Peknic, who is at the helm of one of the most passionate and enthusiastic festival staff teams you’ll find in New York, which his overseeing dozens of bold new shows from various genres.
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