My Rating System

I call myself “The $20 Critic” for a very good reason: I can’t afford to pay more than that to see a show. Besides, I’ve always judged plays that I’ve seen on whether it was worth the money I paid to see it.

A few years back, I created a radio show about musical theatre on WBCR-LP, Great Barrington, Mass. I asked my friend, the local critic J. Peter Bergman, to review summer stock and other local musicals.

As we were discussing ways we could rate the shows he reviewed, I shared with him my idea of a show’s worth. In other words, my kind of rating would reflect just how much a reasonable person would value this production (which turns a Theatre into a Marketplace. How crass…).

Being an experienced critic, Bergman explained to me how difficult it would be to hold great regional theatres and local amateur productions to the same sliding scale. For example, a rating of “$25” would be a poor review for prestigious Barrington Stage, while it would be a supreme compliment for the local Town Players.

I saw the logic of his argument, but I’ve never forgotten my original concept. Even today, I come out of a theatre judging a production by whether or not it was worth what I paid. After moving to New York City and having to live on a tighter budget, I’ve found a way to use my idea to review Off-Off-Broadway plays.

Since the plays I’m seeing all have the same $18-$20 price point, with small theatres and even smaller budgets, I feel confident in using that price as a base line for my reviews. So, my rating will assess just how much bang I got for my bucks.

$100 – outstanding values in all areas; Broadway Bound!

$  50 – far above the standard OOB play; worthy of Off-Broadway

$  20 – got my money’s worth; just what I expected

$  10 – gave it the old college try, but deficient in one key area

$     5 – values far below standard; was this community theatre?

$     1 – how did this get to New York? Go back to High School!

Because I go into an OOB play without any great expectations, most of my ratings will be right on the money, $20. And I invite readers to make their own assessments, too. Did you get your money’s worth?

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