By Sami DeSocio
There was a time in history where a review from a well-known theater critic could make or break a show. Their word decided whether the show would live to see an audience, or die before TONY day arrived. But in today’s world of instant information and social media, do critics still hold the same power with shows they once did?
If you go to see a show today and love it, you’ll follow their Instagram, facebook, and twitter before you walk out of the theater. And chances are if you’re doing that, you’re already telling all of your theater loving friends how much you loved the show! And now while that’s not an unknown form of communication (also known as word-of-mouth), with social media the way it is today, your friends will find out more about the show faster than if they were to wait to read a review.
On the other hand, if you hated the show you’ll be all over your social media telling people to stay away from it and why.
Your friends and family will more than likely go to see a show based on your review, not one written about or talked about in the newspaper, blog, or radio. And in that sense, the critic may have lost their audience.
However, the word of the critic becomes vital in order to get people to come see the shows you haven’t yet. If nobody you know has seen Finding Neverland for example, the theater critic is a great tool for you to try to decide whether the show is worth seeing or not. For instance, if you listen to a radio ad for Aladdin (playing at the New Amsterdam Theater), you’ll hear the narrator quote the wonderful Ben Brantley article from the New York Times, telling audiences how brilliant the show was! Based on that, and the amount of times you hear the commercial you may be more swayed to go see it-and then brag to all of your friends!
I started this article by making the point that the words of the theater critic isn’t as important as it once was in the theater industry. And usually when I write, I keep my opinion from the time I begin to the time I end an article. But, dear reader, for the first time I’d like to change the opinion here if I may. I don’t think the critic’s voice is as loud as it used to be, on that I’m sure. But, has it completely gone away? No, of course not. Shows need that initial voice to get the word out to the world that hasn’t seen it yet. I think it’s changed. I think for the first time in theater history, we’re seeing the fan, and the critic work almost as one unit instead of different entities. The critic goes and lures people into the shows with their glowing reviews (or steers them away with a bad one), and the fan goes out to see the show, and reviews it again for their circles and the audience then grows.