Posted 11:18 AM by Gene

MORE EVIDENCE NEWS HACKS WILL NEVER TAKE BLAME FOR WHAT THEY DO. In this case, it's a trifle, but the kind of trifle multiplied in the business by millions: THE GREATEST SHOW OF ALL TIME, THE PRODUCERS, HAS HIT A RUT. (Actually, it's been in a rut for some time, but I guess only now can the Times editors see it from their empyrean perch.) Who to blame, what to blame? Is it -- "the material"? (No, says the Timesman, it's the audience.) Is it -- "the casting"? (No, says the Timesman, it's the audience.) Is it -- "the pricing"? (No, says the Timesman, it's the audience.) Is it "chutzpah"? (No, says the...never mind.) Was it -- OSAMA?!?!? (This the writer obviously wanted to say, but there are limits to how crass even news hacks can be.) One party NOT at fault -- The New York Times, whose cheerleading for the masterwork could have drowned out all of football's, whose superb theater ad-blurb copywriter led the well-synchronized yell that this was THE GREATEST SHOW OF ALL TIME, and which soon after ran a PRESS RELEASE quoting somebody saying it would run for FIFTEEN YEARS. But why should I just rail? Let the author of this idiocy speak for himself:

At a recent Saturday matinee, the St. James was almost sold out as Mr. Applegate vamped as Max, and Don Stephenson, another lesser-known, but good, actor, squeaked comically as the nebbish Leo. Audience members seemed to be enjoying themselves, though as Mr. Landesman had said, some of the more insidery jokes landed with a thud.

"I'm not going into the toilet," says Leo, with a flourish, as he leaves his boring accounting job for the glamour of producing. "I'm going into show business."

The house was nearly silent, so much so that Mr. Stephenson did a double take to the audience, as if to say, "That's a funny line." No dice.

No funny, either. We forget that in his landmark immortal praise of this landmark immortal show, THE TIMES' LANDMARK IMMORTAL THEATER AD-BLURB COPYWRITER CALLED THE JOKES HOARY. In short, this piece of tripe was a news-hack-produced phenomenon not nearly as wondrous as its hype. In short, NEWS HACKS SOLD US ANOTHER BILL OF GOODS. If we can't trust news hacks over trivia like The Producers, HOW CAN WE TRUST THEM OVER LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLES LIKE IRAQ?