Customer Reviews

Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993

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This is one of the best purchases I've made in a long while. I sat up way past my bedtime pouring over this wonderful book. Frank Rich became the NY Times Theatre Critic shortly after I began making annual pilgrimages to NYC and staying abreast of what was happening both on and off-Broadway. Consequently, almost every show I've seen over the years is reviewed somewhere in this book. And how wonderful it is to re-visit some of those cherished experiences through his eye! Reading Rich's reviews of "Dreamgirls", "Amadeus", and "Angels in America" again gave me chills. His reviews of "Moose Murders" and "Carrie" had me laughing out loud. And his review of the 3,389th performance of "A Chorus Line" left me in tears. But more than just these isolated moments, the book as a whole provides a rich, varied overview of the commercial theatre during the last decade and a half, obviously written by a man who loved his job and knew what he was talking about. It's a must!

What better way to view 10+ years on Broadway than through the eyes of a theatre critic? The so-called "Butcher of Broadway" has collected a large number of his reviews in this volume, and it is a must-read for anyone who remembers the theatre of the 1980s, or wants to experience it for the first time. Rich's reviews are insightful, well-written, and succeed very often at drawing you into the shows, and making you feel like you are part of the audience. The addition of editorial comments, from a modern day perspective, helps put some of the events his reviews and articles detail into an even greater context. Whether you agree with everything Mr. Rich says or not, there are few better windows into the twelve or so years of New York theatre while he was the theatre critic for The New York Times.

i miss frank rich's reviews so much. they were brilliant and insightful and funny. i loved re-reading them in this book. i love you frank!

Obviously, every theater buff (and library) in the country will want this book. But even those of us who are not quite so high-brow will find that it captures a huge chunk of our cultural lives -- 1980 to 1993 -- and in a medium not so easy to grab hold of. Favorite movies? You can just go rent them. TV favorites? Tape them or watch in syndication. But with the theater, what do you do? This book is at least part of the answer. If you want a seat at the opening of Dream Girls, or to read why Cats was the hit it became, or to dip into reviews of plays you saw or that might be coming to town in revival . . . this is a book for your library.

I am so tired of the cliché response to critics those who can't do, blah blah blah. As if it constituted some sort of argument. Here's another cliché saying for you: You don't have to be a chicken to smell a rotten egg.

As to the example of Rich's venality, let's walk through the argument:

1) Rich writes a somewhat favorable review in which he discusses things he think would make it a better play.
2) The producers make those changes.
3) Rich thinks it's a better play.

What a monster!

Also, I love the hypocrisy of "mindless drones." Don't read reviews to figure out what to think...unless of course it's my review of Rich's book. Talk about mindless.

Rich is a fine writer with true insights and provocative opinions. You don't like them? Fine.

I've always enjoyed reading Frank Rich's pieces about theater and, when I found out there was a collection of his reviews during his tenure at the New York Times, I was amazed. When I found out it was already out of print, I became a men obsessed. I finally tracked a moderately priced, good condition copy through the Marketplace and it was yielded many a late night reading session. I end up discovering more and more productions that fascinate me, thanks to this book.

While Rich's book may be a somewhat useful book of reviews he created for the New York Times, it must be remembered how he nearly ruined Broadway by writing hostile reviews of shows written by creative people he didn't like and glowing reviews for his personal favorites. He and his soon to be wife (Alex Witchel) who wrote the Friday Broadway column in times gave new meaning to the words "conflict of interest" and nearly destroyed Broadway in the process.