Put up a few well-written, well-received show reviews on Facebook, and what happens? People start telling you you should do more reviews, and do something more formal with them. And apart from sending them into the R-J (who probably wouldn’t appreciate my verbosity anyway), something like this seemed to be the best option. Here I can take up as much space as I want, mention everything about a show that I feel should be acknowledged, and not worry that an editor is going to cut all the positive things and make me look like a heartless monster. (I’ve talked to more than one critic who told me that the review they turned in for a show sounded much less harsh prior to editing.)
So, what to expect? While “more formal” is a relative term (and I suppose this qualifies as more formal than random posts on Facebook that only so many people can see), I don’t think theatre review needs to be overly serious or academic all the time. At times I may be critical and thoughtful, others I may be light and fun. I hope I will never be vindictive, nasty or cruel. But above all, I hope to be honest.
While the blog is titled Las Vegas Theatre Review (and I do plan for that to be the majority of what you see here), I may hijack the blog to comment on other theatre-related subjects. You will NOT see reviews of any shows I am personally involved with (unless I get in a guest blogger…hmmm…there’s an idea…), but you may see some shameless self-promotion of those shows. Maybe I’ll reveal the secret to pleasing all audiences all the time (as soon as I find out myself.) Maybe I’ll rail on about how everyone is playing it safe and how frustrating that can be. We’ll just have to see what happens, and where it goes.
As of right now, this blog is a labor of love by a single person. Therefore, based on time and monetary restrictions, the amount of reviews may be limited. I hope to get to as much as I can (another reason for the blog is to make me get off my butt and see more shows), but don’t flame me if I don’t get to your particular show. I can’t be every place at once, I’m only one person, everybody’s only one person.* (Yes, expect obscure musical references as well.)
I plan to kick off the main section of the blog with reviews of shows in the upcoming Vegas Fringe Festival presented by Las Vegas Little Theater. Thirteen local theater groups will be presenting twelve different plays over the course of ten days. While I certainly can’t afford to see all the shows (and not even sure it would be possible to see all twelve the first weekend even if I could), I hope to see at least half, and will be posting reviews for each one.
So we’ll see how things go. I enjoy seeing all kinds of shows, and love sharing my opinion of them, but ultimately, I am doing this for the community. If people like it, read it, want it to continue, then it probably will. If not, then it will probably continue until I decide it isn’t worth it any more. Either way, it is sure to be an interesting ride. And I hope you all will join me for it. Ready. Set. Here we go!
*Chita Rivera, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer from The Rink by Kander and Ebb, in case you were wondering.
Las Vegas Theatre Review 