I would hate to think of the theatre world without critics. Without them, we'd not have the record of each season.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't think the audience always listens to the critics. That's been proven time and time again.
The critics - how come you never see any of them on TV?
I don't really think about the critics or the commercial success.
Theater criticism should be visceral, at least on some level, an articulation of that fierceness and passion. I usually do a fair amount of research before I see a show - on the history of previous productions (if it's a revival) and the creative team.
I guess you'd have to say that sometimes the audience is smarter than the critics.
I don't care about the critics.
In my whole career, in fact, I can remember only two first nights when a show was at its peak on the first night. And I just wish we could devise a system where critics came not on a single evening but were given a choice of performances to attend.
I don't read critics, and I don't care what they say. You can't let them steal your soul. You do what the director and production is committed to doing. I just think it's terrible that critics have the power to keep people away from a good production.
So I haven't thought about the critics for a long time.
We don't make movies for critics. I've done four movies; there's millions upon millions upon millions of people who've paid to see them. Somebody likes them. My greatest joy is to sit anonymously in a dark theater and watch it with an audience, a paying audience.