About

Okay, so this is basically just filler for now.  Why am I doing this? Well, I love theater, but the only place to get a halfway decent review of a play or musical is in a newspaper or giant website. And the only time that happens is if the show is on Broadway, a regional theater or a festival or if it’s something truly groundbreaking. But in the latter case that too is only if the show has some avenue to a major reviewer.  What does this have to do with me? I live in central NJ. There is a lot of theater here.  Some of it is even good. But the scene is weirdly devoid of overarching community unless it’s Perry Awards season.  I don’t think the Perry Awards (or any awards) are particularly cool, so for me the local theater community is just my friends that I do shows with.  Which is fine, but dammit, I want something more.  The last show my wife was in was reviewed solely by a 10 year-old child. Don’t get me wrong, good for her, but it didn’t quite have the informed perspective that I’m looking for in a review.

I’ll be upfront about this, I don’t know what I’m doing here. To be clear, I do occasionally act in a play, but I’m not good enough to make any particular impact. There are no starring roles in international tours in my future. But I’ve been doing theater for long enough to know what I like and, for the most part, why I like it. I like spending a few hours after I’ve seen a show discussing it with my friends, deconstructing what made it work and not work. If I knew of a website that did what I’m looking to do, I would just go there. But I haven’t been able to find one so instead I’m going to make what I’d like to consume as a consumer.

Here’s my promise: I’m going to do my best to describe what I think works or doesn’t work about a show. Most of the time there are things that I love and things that drive me crazy.  I’ll try to be honest about both without cutting anybody down. Ultimately, I know that it’s a lot harder to get on stage and be vulnerable and try to make a connection with a few hundred people you can’t see than it is for me to type up a few pages about something. At the same time, NJ community theater is a weird beast that is remarkably self congratulatory, so if I see a production problem (i.e. not the acting/singing part) I’m going to talk about it. And yes, I am aware that those people are also doing something harder than writing a blog, get off my damn back already.

I’ve written enough here for now. My first review is already six pages long, you don’t need this. As I get a few reviews under my belt I anticipate that a theatrical philosophy, however ill-informed and poorly define, will start to develop. As that happens I’ll probably make generic updates to this ABOUT page.

Note for the indeterminate future: I almost always know somebody involved in the productions that I go to see. I’m not always personal friends with anyone, but I usually know somebody. A more professional critic would point this out in anything that they review, but since I would be pointing it out in basically every show, I’m instead just going to make a note of it here, so don’t forget.

Things I love about theater (that everyone else loves too, why the hell do I think I’m special?):

When it surprises me.

When it moves me.

When someone does something impressive (what the hell does that mean? How is that gauged?).