In his Time Out New York theater blog, Editor and Reviewer David Cote wrote the following in an article about New World Stages:

Something strange is happening at New World Stages, the five-year-old theater complex on West 50th Street:  you can actually see worthwhile shows there.  Not so long ago, we’d associate the former Hell’s Kitchen cineplex with gimmicky tourist trash (Naked Boys Singing, My First Time, etc.).

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking I’m ticked off that Cote called my show “trash.”

Well, I’m not angry.  I’m confused.

I’m confused, because I don’t understand how an editor of a prominent publication can make a derogatory statement about a show that he has never seen.

That’s right, my readers, David Cote has never seen My First Time (or Naked Boys Singing for that matter), yet he feels it’s appropriate to comment on the quality of the work.

I’m sure you can understand my confusion.

Making insulting and demeaning comments about a show that you have never seen is simply irresponsible journalism.

Now, Adam Feldman, Time Out’s other main theatre writer, well, he can call the show anything he wants, and he has!  See, Adam actually saw My First Time.  He didn’t like it, and you’ve never heard me make a peep.  Why?  Because not liking My First Time is his right, and it’s his responsibility as a theatrical reviewer to let people know what he thinks.

But how the editor of the theater section can make snarky comments with no firsthand knowledge of the product is shocking to me.  It’s not journalism. It’s tabloidism:  making bold and exaggerated statements to give your rag personality (and I can call it a rag, because I was a subscriber and an advertiser).

And we wonder why people aren’t listening to reviewers anymore.

Oh, and for the record, when I read David’s blog, I had my press agent reach out to David and invite him to see the show.  Perhaps once he got in to see it, he’d like it?  Or perhaps he wouldn’t, and he’d cut it up even more (which would then be his right, and the risk that I’d be taking).

He said he was too busy.