Identities and Audiences in the Musical by Knapp Raymond;Morris Mitchell;Wolf Stacy;

Author:Knapp, Raymond;Morris, Mitchell;Wolf, Stacy;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2018-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

6

Audiences and Critics

MICHELLE DVOSKIN

THE TERMS “AUDIENCE” AND “CRITIC” seem straightforward. The online American Heritage Dictionary’s first definition of audience is those “assembled at a performance. . . or attracted by a radio or television program.” Thus, an audience comprises people who engage with a particular performance text—for example, musicals. “Critic” is similarly uncomplicated: “one who forms and expresses judgments,” in this case, about musicals.1 By these definitions, every audience member is also, fundamentally, a critic. Everyone who attends a musical, has a response to it, and then shares that response has acted the part of a critic, even if the response was as basic as applause (or lack thereof).

Of course, typically when we talk about musicals and critics, we refer to published critics, individuals who make their living experiencing and responding to musicals, alongside other forms of performance. These are most often writers with some knowledge about and interest in the form, and throughout the musical’s history they have been influential in regard to both audiences’ attitudes and size. While this specialized role continues to exist, more and more audience members are beginning to share it, thanks to the Internet and the self-publishing possibilities it offers.

While defining both terms and recognizing their relationship is easy on this basic level, thinking about how to make use of them as a scholar of musicals is more complicated. How do musicals affect audiences, and how do audiences affect musicals? How do we make use of and understand the work of critics, both professional and recreational? These are the questions I begin to address in this chapter.

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