LAist, my preferred of our two major local blogs, has been severely lacking in its theater coverage recently. After a month an a half of silence, it returned at the end of June with a review of The Evidence Room's closing production, The Cherry Orchard. This week, it has a review of Rock and Roll Heaven at Theatre 68 (which I'd never heard of before). This review, however, is by someone named Lizy, who doesn't appear in the LAist staff lineup and who says
"I had high expectations going into this show as I assumed that professional theater in LA would be of a similar caliber to professional theater in New York- which is where I have had the majority of my theater-viewing experience. Perhaps that is why my surprise at the amateurish quality of the production was so intense."
This quote really rubs me the wrong way because it is extremely generalized and poorly informed. First of all, why allow this person to be a theater reviewer if she's never seen a show in LA before? Second, why should this brand-new theater be the benchmark of professional theater in LA? And what does she mean by 'professional,' anyway? This show seems to be a vanity piece performed at a theater-for-hire, which is a very different approach to theater than, say, the Actor's Gang or another local theater ensemble that does original, professional work. This "Lizy" needs to learn a bit about how the LA theater scene works and see a few more shows before she goes around comparing the city unfavorably to New York. LAist, in a town with some amazing small theater options, needs to get their act together in actual coverage of the LA theater scene, preferably coverage by someone who knows what they're talking about.
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