It was interesting to see a show on the same night as almost all of the critics. It's fairly obvious that things can change radically between previews and press night, or indeed just between any performance, that's part of what makes live performance so exciting. Live performance is never quite the same. But it does pose a problem when so much relies on the impact that those reviews will have. Whatever people say about the value of reviews, I imagine that there is little dispute that Michael Billington's one-star lambast in the Guardian is not a good thing (from the producers' perspective anyway), whereas Michael Coveney's four stars in whatsonstage.com is.
For a West End show labelled with the rather ominous "strictly limited run" getting audiences in early is crucial. And the conventional wisdom is that reviews help with that audience, making people book to go see a show who hopefully will then persuade other people to see it and so it will sell out. And by conventional wisdom I'm not just guessing, it's supported by the Society of London Theatre's 2008 Ipsos MORI study which found that 57% of the audience were influenced by the show's "general reputation", 37% by a personal recommendation and 35% by good reviews in the media.
It would of course be foolish to try and put a value on a review, but that 35% influenced by good reviews are likely to be among the people who pass on personal recommendations and contribute to the show's "general reputation" because the show doesn't have time to build up any other reputation (it is, after all, strictly limited).
I wouldn't dream of reviewing the show myself, but when discussing afterwards what sort of shows I would like to put on Onassis didn't immediately spring to mind. It's a difficult question to answer even if I had just seen something with obvious appeal (or queued for hours for it). But it's also a stupid question: what sort of shows. Well, do you mean that I have to limit myself to producing one of dance, opera, new writing, revivals, or a musical and can never do anything else? Because given the right show I'd like to be part of all of the above.
So how do I choose what to I do: well, it's what I'd like to see. That's it. My personal taste. I don't know what will be popular and trying to rely on my non-existent experience of an audience I know nothing about would probably be a tad foolish. I'd like to put on shows that I think are great and I'd like lots of other people to agree with me. Preferably by buying tickets to come and see the show. And then telling all their friends.
