Uh-oh. After the bad word-of-mouth, the producers of Gone with the Wind woke up yesterday to bad word-of-press, and in a rare display of critical unanimity, the reviews were overwhelmingly negative. Of course, the FT and Sundays are still to come, but I canvassed at least two of these last night for their star ratings, and was told two stars by each. How convenient these are: we don’t have to spend time finding out what we think, but can cut to the chase! Tomorrow, on the other hand, I’m also hosting one of the regular theatrevoice.com discussions, in which a group of critics get together to talk about the major recent openings and our conversation is posted for the world to hear, so there’s an opportunity for a more detailed exchange of views that we don’t - and can’t — have on the night.
We may, of course, raise an eyebrow in shared pain (or a smile in shared pleasure), on a press night, but there’s a rule that we don’t discuss what we’re thinking on the night, and there’s certainly no colluding to reach the same conclusion.
In fact, it was impossible with Gone with the Wind anyway, since most of the “overnight” daily critics actually went in a night early on Monday - though Paul Callan of the Daily Express was in on Tuesday with the rest of us, and despite a 10.45pm curtain down, still managed to still get a well turned-out notice into yesterday morning’s paper, so perhaps the others could have managed it, too.
One argument for press night reviewing is to maintain the newsworthy imperative of the event, though the best that this one could muster on that front was the sight of showbiz veterans Barbara Windsor and Joan Collins sitting in adjoining rows (each with their far younger spouses). Even the Daily Telegraph wrote a poisonous diary story yesterday, pointing out that “It was striking how few big names were in the first night audience of Sir Trevor Nunn’s Gone With the Wind at the New London Theatre. The stench of failure kept everybody but the likes of Vanessa Feltz away. Ben Elton was there, too, and was somewhat insensitively bragging about what great business his We Will Rock You was doing at the Dominion.”
Mind you, at least Vanessa (as I pointed out yesterday) didn’t have to last to course and could flee at the interval (as did my guest, too). For those of us who lasted the course, a friend from New York wittily enquired of me last night whether it was so long “that by the time you left the New London Theatre, it had been renamed the Old London”?
The regular 7.30pm start time is going to mean a late night home for regular audiences, who won’t be on the streets till gone 11pm. Perhaps they need to move the start time to 7pm, which I notice, is intriguingly already the case on Monday evenings. Though staggered starting times are confusing to keep abreast of, a host of Broadway theatres annually offer a “Tuesdays a 7” winter season of early curtain times. It was first implemented in 2003, following research that showed that audiences would welcome a more flexible approach: as George Watchel, who conducted the research, commented at the time, “The earlier curtain time will increase weeknight business by responding to several audience constituencies - theatergoers with children, those who live in the suburbs, and sophisticated New Yorkers who enjoy dining out after the show. By focusing on only one weeknight, theatergoers accustomed to an 8 o’clock curtain will still have other options.”
It has proved to be a great success; but even a Mondays at 7 season for Gone with the Wind won’t get you out in time for a leisurely dinner.
Crikey, the only name I spotted at the press night was William Roache. Oh, and - front of house, talking on his mobile, five minutes before curtain up - Darius Danesh. Is the New London so badly designed that he took the wrong turning?