The Theater issue is dead. Long live the Theater issue!

Last June, as my wonderful Time Out New York colleagues Adam Feldman and Helen Shaw helped me put the finishing touches on what we thought was a pretty darned good TONY theater issue, the editorial gods intervened and decided not to put Sandra Oh on the cover (she was appearing in a show at the Public at the time). As a partisan booster for maximum theater visibility, I was disappointed. The package was still excellent, if I do say so myself.

In case you don't know, the annual theater issue has been a tradition at TONY. Since I started working there in 2000, I've had the pleasure of working on six of them. They're always pegged to the first week of June, to coincide with the Tony Awards. We predict winners in addition to putting the spotlight on various artists and shows on and off Broadway.

Okay, so this year the issue comes a little early. It's a spring preview basically, with featurettes on linchpin folks in upcoming spring shows; a snarky collection of 20 dirty little theater secrets; and a roundup of our favorite "super troupers"--actors the theater scene couldn't do without. Then there are extra online tidbits, such as a list of essential theater blogs and Off-Off companies, and a podcast of me and Feldman being awfully witty and charming. Enjoy.

Comments

[ginavivinetto]

David - just stumbled upon your blog and I'm so pleased. I really enjoy your reviews in Time Out, even if I get them here in Florida a week after you folks. Bravo, David.

[Off-Off Blogway]

"Marketing departments have offered drama bloggers free seats to write about hipster-skewing plays such as Pig Farm and Dying City. Mind you, theaters don’t demand positive write-ups; they just want the cool-kid buzz. Blogs to trust: George Hunka’s Superfluities, Isaac Butler’s Parabasis and Jaime’s Surplus."

David...people who are given free tickets to write about shows are called theater critics, not bloggers. I can't speak for anyone else, but I pay for every show I see...

[David]

Ludlow Lad: Marketing depts and press reps routinely distribute comps to industry folks: artistic directors, agents, actors and critics and many others. Some bloggers are now considered part of the media/buzzmachine. As far as I know, they're as unbiased and reliable as most critics and yourself. Now, if marketing depts had their act together, they'd set up shill blogs to artificially create buzz. It's no sin to accept free tickets in exchange for your honest thoughts, just as it's no virtue to pay for them. Personally, I couldn't afford it.

[Off-Off Blogway]

The point of my post was to go on record as not accepting free tickets to shows I write about on OFF-OFF BLOGWAY. As TONY issued a warning to beware blogs that weren't on their white list of blogs to trust, I felt I should speak up, not being on the list.

We disagree about buying theater tickets not being a virtue. I support theater by buying tickets. I think that is a virtue. And I think by buying tickets to the shows I write about I can remain independent.

[Patrick Lee]

I wanted to speak up also, as I write a successful blog that also wasn't on the TONY "to trust" list, I've very happily accepted invites and comps when offered and many times I am greeted and given a presskit; I find no more conflict of interest in that than a traditional critic would. My blog is specific, as it isn't buzz, news commentary, gossip or debate. It's simply concise criticism in a single paragraph. There are an increasing number of blogs, many well worth reading, which also offer only criticism.

But the TONY list includes not a single criticism-only theatre blog. Does that reveal, as I suspect it may, a definition of theatre blogging that excludes them?

[jim]

Great stuff in the preview, but I was surprised by the sexism in a couple of the items. Can't we talk about theater without presumimng a male spectator ogling women who regarded as on the earth for the entertainment/pleasure of men? Grow up, guys.