Once again, I'm thrilled to invite another guest poster to Broadway Abridged, this time it's legendary West End producer Michael Codron!

I may or may not actually be Michael Condron Updated by Probably Not Michael Condron Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Hi folks,

In a recent Guardian article, I was quoted as having a "flash of anger" towards bloggers who review shows before their opening night. I said:

"It's almost invariably reactionary responses. They're the modern equivalent of the lot that used to boo the plays in the 50s and 60s. I think they're ghastly."

This has annoyed more than a few bloggers, so I thought I'd elaborate, with a focus on Broadway because who knows what those London Looneys are doing.
Now in the great olden days, Broadway previews...

• Were rusty.
• Couldn't be seen by critics, not till opening night. Literally.
  
• Were sold for cheaper because, again, they were rusty.
• Actually they weren't *that* rusty, because of this ancient artifact called "Out of Town Tryouts".
  

Of course, we've made some changes:

• They're still pretty rusty.
• Hell, they're even rustier. Half of us have done away with out-of-town tryouts. It's a budgeting issue, but I like to blame this one on the bloggers "out of town reviewing habits" too.
• We dutifully ignore the Wicked producers who swear it wouldn't be running without them having done out-of-towns.
• Critics still can't see them until literally opening ni--
  Well, until about a week before opening night.
• They are now just as expensive as the regular, non-rusty performances.
• Telecharge and theater box offices make it pretty hard to even differentiate which ones are preview.
  
• Telecharge even list the upcoming previews as "upcoming performances".
• The chances that a show skips out of town, starts previews horribly, and end up Pulitzer and Tony award winning aren't that good.
  
• But I still like to whine and bitch.
  

So do I expect the not-getting-free-tickets blogger to not talk about preview performances at all, even if they paid full price of their own hard-earned money from?

Yes.

Does that make me an old fuddy duddy jackass?

Oh. Yes. It fucking does.