Wondering who would be chosen to be the Wall Street Journal‘s next drama critic (in the wake of the sudden, unexpected demise of Terry Teachout on Jan. 13), I did a double take when I came upon this review in Saturday’s paper—a harsh putdown of the Broadway revival of Neil Simon‘s “Plaza Suite,” starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker (a married couple in real life, although the review doesn’t mention that).
The familiar but surprising byline on that review—Charles Isherwood—belongs to a former NY Times theater critic who (as you’ll see in the second-place result if you do a Google search on his name, at this writing) was reportedly fired in 2017 after complaining publicly about the Times’ reduction in its arts coverage. (Other alleged missteps are detailed in the New York Magazine “Vulture” piece accessed at the above Google link.)
I haven’t yet seen an announcement of Isherwood’s new gig, but it’s clear that his byline isn’t a one-off. The tiny type at the bottom right corner identifies him as “the Journal’s theater critic”—Terry’s longtime title:
Reading about the trouble another writer incurred by criticizing his own publication struck a nerve: As CultureGrrl readers may remember, I wrote here that 2017 (the same year when Isherwood was reportedly fired) was “a year of transition” for me, having “marked the end of my decades-long run as a freelancer for the Wall Street Journal.” That departure was a consequence of my having imprudently criticized (in writing) “the cutbacks in its [the WSJ’s] superlative arts coverage, which I was proud to be part of” (in the words of my blog post). My last piece for the WSJ—a review of Jasper Johns/Edvard Munch show at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts—was never printed on paper. It was online-only, because the WSJ had decided to reduce the space allotted for cultural coverage in its hardcopy publication.
Below is the headline and signature image from my swansong review. The words of the headline—“Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life”—are an uncannily apt description of my own “transformative” WSJ experience:
My public airing of dismay at the WSJ’s culture-cutback took the form of a post on this blog, which resulted in my being harshly reprimanded by my editor for “pissing on [not “pissing off”] my colleagues.” He declared that he didn’t know if he could keep me as a contributor after that offense. Offended at being fiercely chastised, I saved him the trouble of trying to keep me. But having decided to quit, I took down the offending post of my own accord (something that I’ve never done for anyone else, before or since), out of respect for a colleague who, until he lambasted me, had been my ideal editor: Having come to the WSJ with a background in visual-arts coverage, he immediately understood and appreciated my ideas and constructively helped me to hone them. It had been a great working relationship…until it wasn’t.
I prefer to remember the good times.
When I preempted my possible termination, I was at a comfortable retirement age and was losing my appetite for churning out copy under deadline pressure. CultureGrrl and the devotion of its loyal, supportive readers now suffice as an outlet for my journalistic urges. Blogging has the added advantage of giving me flexibility to devote quality time to grandmothering, now extending to five adorable family members, all of whom reside nearby.
But enough about me. Back to Isherwood: As it happened, while he was at the Times I had criticized him on CultureGrrl for what I regarded as “crossing proper boundaries—his personal foray into advertising” for a Broadway play that opened after he had taped a radio commercial for a show that he would be reviewing for the Times. To the best of my formerly inside knowledge, the WSJ has written guidelines that require unwavering adherence to best practices. I assume those requirements will extend to its new theater critic.
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