ON BAD REVIEWS

Make no mistake, audiences will freely speak their minds and the angry patron can tell many more people than a satisfied theatergoer, which is what sites like Yelp are for.

So, I will be completely transparent and admit that despite the hundreds and hundreds of wonderful letters of references and audience comments that are posted on our web site, we have had a few bad reviews on Yelp and the other day, we received a real angry one after getting a copy of an email sent to the venue where we performed on Saturday December 9.

Let me start by stating that in 1990, Paul Newman was co-directing a show that I was performing in at The Actors Studio and after opening night told us: “Look don’t believe the bad reviews…and don’t believe the good ones either. Just do your work.” That always stuck with me. So even if a bad review hurts me personally, my first thought is always to follow the late Mr. Newman’s advice and just move on and continue to work and improve on my craft.

But “The Killing Kompany” is also a business. Social media experts argue that today, as a business, we should address each complaint. You see for public shows (private events are written completely different), I create new plots all the time and actors will portray characters involved in a comedy mystery: there is adult content and adult situations and other issues which may not be appropriate for all ages and tastes. And because our shows are based upon real crimes, past murders and/or recent headlines, some audience members may be uncomfortable at some point: as comic actors and writers, we may push social boundaries with stories and expressions that are normally unacceptable but hopefully met with laughter and agreement when they are told on stage. Despite our efforts, some shows work, some don't. Still, whenever a character in our plot has committed a wrong, we don't make light of it: they are punished. We don't joke about motives for any crime because there are never good motives for hurting others.  At the end of a show, you will probably find audience members who loved the show, wanted pictures taken with us, autographs, want to see more, etc.  But if you did not enjoy the show, your experience is just as valid.

I guess the bottom line is this: whether audiences "Yelp" us bad or "Yelp" us good, the power of the internet is strong. I truly believe this person “hated” the show and that’s their right and privilege. There are even some shows we did which I did not like. I wish everyone loved us but that’s unrealistic because our shows are not for everyone and certainly are not like those performed by similar companies, especially due to our form of interactive participation. According to the venue, this particular show was raved by everyone but obviously this person did not like it. We respect that, we feel bad, we are sorry, we wish you had a great time but in show biz, people like what they like and there's nothing we can do about that…but know that we did try our best and we will continue to read every review in the spirit of self-improvement and humility and collectively improve the quality of the work.