Ok, so it’s a bit much to expect but The Portable Consultant couldn’t help but be amused at the manner in which the producers of the LOTR musical arranged for the premiere to be reviewed worldwide:

method #1
1) Stage a special reviewers’ preview a day or two before the event

2) Let the reviewers travel home to NY, London, or wherever (where they left their typewriters, I suppose)

3) Stage the premiere

4) “wait” for the first night reviews to “hit the streets”

This is so 20th. Century, right?

Most of the current generation’s performances would go something like this:

method #2:
1) Wrap the venue in wi-fi or at least ensure that cellphone reception in the lobby is good

2) Make sure the intermission is long enough for bio-break, beer, and blogging

3) (shh… have a few of the producers’ bloggers prime the pump before the curtain goes up)

Ok, so it’s a long walk from the Princess of Wales Theatre to Union Station where the Cluetrain just pulled out, but a quick search of Technorati did not find a single valid opening night review on the first page (some splogs -spam blogs- but no bone fide reviews).

Well, perhaps method #1 is appropriate for LOTR. It’s quaint and harks back to the days of manual typewriters (reporters would never be caught dead with an electric typewriter) and guys throwing bundles of newspapers off the back of trucks as they rumble through rain soaked city streets at night… anxious theatre folk waiting for the first reviews to hit the streets.

Perhaps method #2 would be appropriate for The Matrix – The Musical.

Hmm?

-pmh