In every opening night's sweet taste of triumph, as the production many have worked on finally takes "flight" on stage, there's an inverse side of impending criticism. It feels especially crushing when that negative review finally lands on your lap as a creative.
In this particular season of Broadway, there seems to be a lot of the latter happening mixed in alongside the positive ones. In light of this, Sara Bareilles took to Instagram to encourage creatives to keep "wading" through these criticisms and keep making art.
Conversations About the Effects of Bad Reviews on Broadway
Posted last Monday, April 15, Bareilles shared her two cents about criticism and art in an Instagram video after attending the new Broadway musical opening night: "Lempicka."
She said: "As I sit here in the middle of this season of shows opening on Broadway and people putting records out into the world-spring is 'springing' and artists are 'artisting,' and there is so much vulnerability in the choice to do that."
"And there is so much cruelty in how we receive the work that is done," she continued. "And I just think the worst thing that could happen is that people stop making art. It's so important to make art and reviews are like, fuck, who cares?"
She also sympathized with how "it feels like garbage" when that "cruelty" finally lands on the artist, saying, "I literally know that from the inside." Despite this, Bareilles remains steadfast in her love for the theatre and music community.
"I love that people make things. I love that we are trying to put beauty in the world. I would always rather be on that team, so I celebrate all of these openings," she concluded.
Response to the Waitress singer-songwriter's message was largely supportive and reflected the current landscape of criticism and the feelings of theatre artists about them, with the discourse mainly revolving around the appropriate response to said reviews.
Similarly, playwright-actor Douglas Lyons extended his own thoughts in an X (formerly Twitter) post on the subject, writing, "The industry has to decide, will we allow reviews to forever be the way we market what is 'good'?"
"We can't praise the Times for a critics pick, but shame them after a pan. This is a systemic conversation that needs to be had," he added.
