Mercifully strangled at birth ... Peter Pan, El Musical. Photograph: Hugo Philpott
When an announcement was made that the dismal new musical All Bob's Women would be shutting shop at the Arts Theatre after just three previews and six regular performances last weekend, the press release that was issued by the producers stated that it was closing "after receiving a mauling from the critics." One of its Italian producers Guido Fabris for Chokalate was additionally quoted as saying, "Unfortunately this is another example of a European hit getting lost in translation in London. The original Italian version of All Bob's Women ran for nine months in Milan. We are extremely proud of our cast and production team and the hard work they put in."
The combined implication of these statements is, of course, that the reception of the London critics was to blame for its fate, and that this was in striking contrast to the reception it had received in its native Milan, so perhaps a bit of xenophobia could be put into the mix, too. It was a similar strategy employed by the producers of Peter Pan - El Musical, a Spanish-language musical version of the JM Barrie story that came to the Garrick earlier this year - and likewise got what could politely be described as critical mauling.
In fact the producers on that occasion didn't just imply xenophobia, they specifically stated it, with producer Leon Padilla accusing the critics of banding together to protect UK vested interests; he told the Guardian, "It is our opinion that [they] are defending a well-established business to protect their market from any foreign company that could take a piece of the cake." (The show played out its full limited one-month run despite its reception.)
When Gone with the Wind announced its closure in June after a run of just six weeks, producer Aldo Scrofani alluded in a closing statement to the fact that even if the critics didn't like it, the audiences who came did: "Despite the critical response the Company have enjoyed much praise from audience members during our run and for that we are grateful, nevertheless we have made the difficult decision to close the production."
Presumably, however, they did not come in sufficient numbers to make the production viable, or he would not have had that difficult decision to make. What, in each case, is the chicken and what is the egg? (Or maybe the turkey?) Are critics really so powerful that they can close shows that audiences are genuinely enjoying? Frank Rich, who during his tenure as chief theatre critic of the New York Times was labelled the "butcher of Broadway", was often blamed for the fate of shows that announced their closings as soon as his review appeared; but as he replied at the time, "I don't close shows - producers do".
Nowadays producers try to build in a "fighting fund" to counteract and ride out possible critical disapproval, until the audience find a show on their own. Too often, of course, it is a case of throwing good money after bad; but sometimes it can work. Nowhere has this been more brilliantly demonstrated than with We Will Rock You, despite reviews like Charles Spencer's in the Daily Telegraph that labelled it "prolefeed at its worst", while the Daily Express review at the time said, "Only hardcore Queen fans can save it from an early bath".
There are either more hardcore Queen fans than the Daily Express expected, or it's reaching a much wider demographic than the Telegraph's "proles", because here we are, seven years on and counting, and not only is the show still running, but it's a big, thumping hit. The public have voted with their feet - or rather, seats. As was once famously said of Man of La Mancha when it ran on Broadway, it's a show that no one likes except the public.
And they, of course, are the people who buy the tickets (whereas critics go for free). But with tickets running at up to £60 for a West End musical nowadays, critics have a responsibility to their readers to call it like they see it, and if the public think differently, that's up to them. In any case, the public nowadays have many outlets to express their own opinions, on bulletin boards, in chatrooms, and on blogs, like that of the West End Whingers (who can, as their name implies, sometimes be even harder task masters than the professional critics). And in the case of a show like All Bob's Women or Peter Pan - El Musical, critics are not merely saving the public the time and expense of making the mistake of seeing them, but merely confirming a self-evident truth about how bad they are; they perform the public service of wasting their time so no one else has to.
