Overnight reviews are back, in case you hadn’t noticed, at The New York Times. The first
one in years — an opera review by Anthony
Tommasini, of “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” — appeared this morning in the Metro section on
page B2. (Online it’s listed in the Arts section.) Overnight notices used to be the custom for
ink-stained critics. I recall pushing midnight deadlines on theater reviews for the morning edition
at the Chicago Sun-Times. Not all NY Times reviews will be overnights, according to classical
music editor James R. Oestreich, only those deemed practical and/or appropriate because of an
event’s importance. He told a conference of music critics at Columbia University several weeks
ago that the move is part of the paper’s effort to give its arts coverage more zing.
Postscript: Here’s an update on those overnights.
