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Who critiques the critic?

Contributed by: Jordan Leigh on 10/16/2007

Who critiques the critic? Who reviews the reviewer? And who in the heck decided that there ever should have been a job where someone is paid to judge artists? These are the questions I've been pondering the years I've been a theatre professional (ten of those here in my hometown of Denver, including four years in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at the Denver Center).

Most recently, this question has come to a head after many conversations I've had with my theatre peers and many other savvy theatre-goers regarding the Rocky Mountain News critic Lisa Bornstein and how for years now, many of her reviews have done nothing to help this fragile yet surviving art form, and indeed have injured this supportive, creative, tight-knit community. We all think it's about time her reviews were called into question since often times they are mean-spirited and appear to have an agenda about them. Of course, just like these reviews themselves, this editorial is up for debate, and I'd welcome any chance to do so.

The following breaks down a recent review Bornstein wrote on the Arvada Center's recent production of Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight and Magnolias. Her review can be found archived via the News website for cross-references, but I have provided the particular quotes here with which I take issue as Bornstein
states things as facts as opposed to opinions, and since her job (seemingly) is to aid the ticket-buying public in their choices, I do believe it is entirely irresponsible to list such "inaccuracies" (not to mention entirely unfair and cruel to those involved).

Inaccuracy #1: Bornstein writes: "History has it Hecht took 17 days on the script, a short stint, but Hutchinson reduces it to five."

If Bornstein had taken the time to check her "facts," she would have discovered (as those of us involved with the production had) that although there were indeed dramatic liberties taken with how the week of writing ensued (such as turning "seven days" into "five days a working week"), it was precisely a week and not 17 days. She seemingly only checked Internet Movie Database as her source, but the accepted notion (as stated by Hecht himself in his autobiography, A Child of the Century) is that it did take a week. Either way, it is wrong to state the other as "fact."

Inaccuracy #2: " Erik Sandvold, as Selznick, acts out the characters, which isn't funny - we all know the story - and doesn't make sense, since he is performing the characterizations that didn't exist until the film was made" (referring to Gone With the Wind).

Since production of the film had already been going for three weeks (not to mention innumerable screen tests, etc.), Selznick as producer did indeed know about certain characterizations the actors had come up with. In any case, by reading the book, he could have likely chosen similar characterizations. Not to mention, IT'S A FARCE. SOME SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF IS IN ORDER...

Innaccuracy #3: " James Nantz, saddled with an ill-defined role whose only characteristics are that he slapped Judy Garland and an obscene amount of time delivering the lines of the movie's female characters in a falsetto."

Actually Nantz's character, Victor Fleming, is much more well-defined in the show than Bornstein states. His blue-collar history as a studio driver, his rise to directorial prestige through those very same blue-collar mechanical abilities, the fact that he comes from a Cherokee/German background, and his close relationship with Clark Gable are merely a few of the additional character traits that are delved into.

Inaccuracy #4: " Jordan Leigh plays Hecht with ... a New York Jewish accent - puzzling since the script says a half-dozen times the writer was from Chicago (he was born in New York but raised in Wisconsin)."

Puzzling that Bornstein would state something so emphatically without checking her facts once again (or even thinking through the facts that she so cursorily copied down). Indeed, Hecht was a Chicago newspaperman, but he didn't move there until age 16 after he graduated high school and left college. He was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, after spending the first few years of his life in New York, but his primary daily vernacular influence came from his parents, who did indeed spend their lives living in New York and surrounded by what is commonly understood as a "New York Jewish accent." However, all this stated, if Bornstein had done a slight bit of research, she would have discovered (as I had) that there are recordings of the adult Hecht where his dialect can be heard and studied, and although there is indeed a distinct East Coast influence in that patois, his overall "accent" is very specific (including a lisp that came from his pronounced underbite) and I can assure you, I studied it, embodied it, and voiced it with that specific detail.

Despite these printed inaccuracies on Bornstein's part, the most disturbing aspect of her column is how she decidedly states how unfunny the play is. If she is being paid to report what she sees as an aid to potential ticket buyers, I personally find it reprehensible that she wouldn't at least state that the majority of those surrounding her were laughing their proverbial asses off (as have all subsequent audiences since that opening performance).

Doesn't the Arvada Center (an artistic/theatrical gem in this town) and its patrons deserve more respect than this? After all, they buy your paper AND they buy theatre tickets. If I did both and found my theatrical tastes so insulted by your theatre critic, I'd most certainly drop my subscription to your paper and delightedly keep my subscription to the Arvada Center. After all,200 people giving standing ovations every show, eight shows a week, can't ALL be wrong now, can they?


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jordan Leigh

Denver , CO

Jordan Leigh has posted 2 stories and 0 comments since joining on 10/15/2007. Jordan Leigh 's average story rating is 5.
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