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| Author | Topic: Reviews |
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 Rose
Registered User
Registered:
9/28/2003
From:
NY
Fav. BP Song: No One Is Alone and Some People
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Rose/The Witch
Fav. BP CD: Gypsy
| posted: 12/21/2004 at 3:41:12 PM ET
Is there a website where I can get reviews of old shows?
"Oh no, you won't. No, not a chance. No arguements, shut up and dance."
|  GYPSY1527
Registered User
Registered:
2/20/2004
From:
New Jersey
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Dot
Fav. BP CD: Sondheim Ect.
| posted: 12/21/2004 at 5:49:42 PM ET
well, All That Chat has reviews of past shows. Its pretty interesting to read them, if I might add. Anyways, here;s the link:
http://www.allthatchat.com/
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/21/2004 at 6:29:26 PM ET
Here are a few, there probably are more and I'll bet others can give them to you:
http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/reviews/index.html
http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Listing.aspx?ct=39
http://www.curtainup.com/mastridx.html
http://www.theatermania.com/content/news_archive.cfm?int_news_cat=3&int_city_id=1
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 12/21/2004 at 11:34:21 PM ET
Rose-
John Simon has an archive of his reviews (as far back as 1998,and I don't know if every review since then is archived):
John Simon's archives
Frank Rich has his reviews from his "Butcher of Broadway" years in a doorstop format:
Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for the New York Times,1980-1993
And John Simon's coming out with a three volume set of his criticisms on theater,music,and movies.
John Simon on Theatre
Not full reviews,but you'll get the main points:
Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Age of the Musical Theatre
And the "sequel"
More Opening Nights on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Musical Theatre from 1965 Through 1981
If you don't want to purchase them (you can get them used,however),check your library-if they don't have it,they can do an interlibrary loan,and it's not a big deal. You may have to wait a few weeks,depending on where the books are coming from.
Also-if you have a library card,then you'll have access to your library's subscription of databases. Many systems (actually,the vendor from which they purchase the subscriptions) allow access from home (for certain databases-some vendors will not allow home access to some databases)-depending on what your library subscibes to,you can access past issues of magazines and newspapers.
Jenn
|  Chip1012
Registered User
Registered:
7/13/2003
From:
Boston | posted: 12/22/2004 at 3:02:48 AM ET
If you go to your local library, you might want to look for Ben Brantly's book "The NY Times Book of Broadway." It has many reviews from the NY Times from the last century.
I was perusing through a book at my school library last week that had reviews from 3-4 papers of mostly every show that opened in the last hundred years. (The book was thousands of pages, a reference book that can't be checked out.) A fascinating find.
"The child is so sweet and the girls are so rapturous. Isn't it lovely how artist's can capture us?~" Sunday in the Park with George
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/22/2004 at 8:01:12 AM ET
Jenn--
Thanks so much for the references; but I should expect this by now.
I was looking at some of John Simon's reviews, and couldn't help saving this quote from his review of "Gypsy", in case anyone missed it:
"Most Mama Roses have been too butch or brash (Bette Midler, Tyne Daly, and even Ethel Merman), too sophisticated (Angela Lansbury), or too ladylike (Betty Buckley). It remained for Peters to achieve the perfect blend of fanaticism and femininity, of monster and victim. Here for once is a demonic stage mother who can also convey sexiness, pathos, and charm. We understand now how she could enslave a man, make children her thralls, breach hearts and barriers, and steal restaurant flatware with puckish style. Also what made her what she is—desperate to attain vicariously through a daughter what her background prevented her from becoming herself."
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 12/22/2004 at 12:46:55 PM ET
I forgot about the New York Times book-that's a good one.
The New York Times Book of Broadway
Chip-do you remember the name of that reference book?
I found this-the copyright is 1983:
No Stone Unturned-The Worst Ever Theatrical Reviews
Oh,dear. It's out of print,so you'd either have to buy it used or get it through the library.
Jenn
| Chip1012
Registered User
Registered:
7/13/2003
From:
Boston | posted: 12/22/2004 at 2:32:50 PM ET
That's not it, it wasn't just bad reviews. It was a super big, awesome book of all reviews, good and bad! I don't know the title, but I'll be back at school in a few weeks and can check for you.
"The child is so sweet and the girls are so rapturous. Isn't it lovely how artist's can capture us?~" Sunday in the Park with George
| Rose
Registered User
Registered:
9/28/2003
From:
NY
Fav. BP Song: No One Is Alone and Some People
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Rose/The Witch
Fav. BP CD: Gypsy
| posted: 12/22/2004 at 2:48:27 PM ET
Thank you all so much. I'm making a Bernadette calendar just for fun and I wanted to include some show reviews.
"Oh no, you won't. No, not a chance. No arguements, shut up and dance."
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/22/2004 at 3:09:18 PM ET
Oh Rose, you must see this one--I don't think you'll see it on any of the sites we gave you. It's for "The Goodbye Girl", and it's from the Washington Post, March 5, 1993, review by Lloyd Rose:
"Not to mince words, Bernadette Peters is one of the glories of the modern American musical theater. She not only has a soprano capable of navigating the most intricate Sondheim song, but she's funny, gorgeous and sexy. Her speaking voice is a cat-with-cream purr, her figure is somehow both trim and zaftig, and her comic timing is as precise as an atomic clock. Like Streisand, she's a master of inflection, and a bigger-than-life stage presence. But she's a soft, cuddly diva: That husky voice blunts the edge of her sardonic temperament, gives her a wistful sensuality.
With Peters warming up the role, Paula seems less like a pill and more like a woman who just needs a break -- that is, to meet Mr. Right, embodied here in the unlikely guise of Martin Short..."
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