Bloggers v. Critics, and Lloyd Webber's Temper Tantrum

We were interested in the Observer's piece yesterday about the dust up over bloggers attacks on Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest West End production, Love Never Dies. Notwithstanding Lloyd Webber's characteristically intemperate response, the piece raises good questions about bloggers' power to express 'unfettered opinions' that might influence the success of a production, especially given the speed and breadth of viral chatter. The piece also challenges the idle-minded notion that professional critics are mere gatekeepers, a view that completely ignores the 'cultural memory' they bring to their work. (In the interest of full disclosure it must be said that Michael Coveney, one of the critics who's quoted at length, is Juliana's sister in-law's father in-law - give it a second and it will make sense...)

Interestingly, too, the writer Vanessa Thorpe supplies some historical context about amateur criticism, specifically the 17th Century coffee houses where people used to drop in to spout off about the latest book they'd read or play they'd seen. These were shut down at the behest of Charles II, but not before they'd help raise the standard of criticism of the day, says Thorpe.

Thorpe's observations reminded us of Alex Ross's comment at last week's Royal Philharmonic Society lecture that informal classical music concerts outside concert halls are no invention of the contemporary age, courtesy of a clique of hipsters determined to make classical 'cool'. Instead, 'classical club nights' have an illustrious history in salons and other more intimate venues that goes back centures.

So while the bad news is that we're not nearly as original as we'd like to think, that's the good news, too. It tells us that the urge to talk about the arts and enjoy them at our leisure is truly a cultural imperative.

PS we could not find the Thorpe piece using The Guardian/Observer's appalling search tool. If anyone has better luck, please send us the URL!