It was great to come back from being out of town and see most of the Arts and Entertainment section in this past Sunday's Times-Dispatch devoted to theater. And one of the things the T-D has the resources to do well is cover a broad spectrum, with stories on everything from the local scene (Foster Solomon and Susan Sanford in this weekend's "Taming of the Shrew") to the national scene (the article on "The Color Purple") to the interplay between local and national scenes (Scott Wichmann to appear at the Gloucester Stage Company). They also manage to cover a production that might otherwise be overlooked by the "mainstream" (Tony Cosby's "The Meeting").
However, I wouldn't be a critic if I didn't also see the cloud within the silver lining. Why, for instance, was it so hard to find the reviews for "Steel Magnolias" and "The Full Monty?" This seems to be one of those cases where economics -- not common sense -- drives coverage (that is, reviews get put in Metro because that section is one of the last ones printed). My reflex will always be to look for reviews in the sections (either A&E or Flair) where the rest of the entertainment stories are. In the immortal words of Jon Lovitz, is that so wrong?
I also have trouble finding many of the articles I want online. Oh well; I guess you gotta take the bad with the good...
No comments:
Post a Comment