Naked Harry Potter and the London Theater Sites
It's so nice to have a friend who's a fanatic, who obsesses endlessly over his or her passion and then keeps you up to date on all the important stuff. Sharon Isch, theater maven extraordinaire, does that for me with London theater. Here's her take on the state of theater review sites, and specifically, the newly redesigned WhatsOnStage.com:
I've often wondered why London's theater web sites are, generally, so much more useful and informative than those on this side of the pond. Now one of London's very best has gotten even better. Today, WhatsOnStage.com
debuts its revamped site with what looks to be just about the most efficient-to-navigate home page I've yet seen.
Today's lead link is the "review roundup" for Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe's stage debut last night as the psychologically disturbed stable boy, Strang, in the West End revival of Peter Shaffer's "Equus." For months, Muggle moms and dads have been up in arms about our Harry's anticipated nude scene. So now that it's happened, how'd our boy do? According to the critics, very well indeed. Billington in the Guardian is surprised that Radcliffe "really can act"... Nightingale in The Times found him "brave" and "assured" ...Spencer in the Telegraph finds him to be "a thrilling stage actor of unexpected range and depth"... Lister in the Independent says he "cuts a compelling figure" and "there are moments when he touches, even if not tugs at, the heart strings." London's most feared critic, DeJongh of the Evening Standard, who rarely likes much of anything, is less effusive, but even he finds Radcliffe's performance "touching" although "he never convinces you he is wild with desire for horses or girls." Co-starring as the psychiatrist is Richard Griffiths, better known as Harry's dreadful Uncle Vernon Dursley.
But that's just WOS's lead. The home page has dozens of other links to review roundups for other shows, news, interviews, gossip, first-night photos, contests and lots and lots of discount ticket offers. There's also a show clip video -- today's is from "Porgy." I generally find the sound blasts from these annoying, especially after the second or third run-through. Happily, it's killable with just a click.
By K.C. Summers |
February 28, 2007; 3:22 PM ET
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Posted by: MB | February 28, 2007 4:05 PM
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Theatremonkey.co.uk is invaluable - the Monkey rates seats in all the West End theatres by value for money based on location, view obstructions, etc and describes exactly what is good about the best ones and bad about the worst ones. Good comments on leg room and handicapped seating, too.
If I'm prebooking in a theatre I've not been in before, I find his advice tremendously useful. Much more useful than an ordinary seating chart because he notes the height of the stage, the height of those bars on the edge of the circle to keep people from dying, where the pillars are - everything that someone in a dreary phone room wouldn't even know, much less me using the website to book.
As for What's On Stage, it's vastly better than it used to be, and what it is now is a cleaner looking version of Broadway.com. Compare apples to apples - secondary cities don't have the great theatre websites, so at least compare NY and London.