Ad Nauseam: Irena’s Vow gets sneaky | Upstaged | Time Out New York:
What Irena’s Vow is up to now, however, strikes us as indefensible. For some time, the show has been running quotes above its daily ad in The New York Times‘ alphabetical Theater Directory (which, though it looks like editorial content, is actually paid advertising). Here are some sample spots: “GIVE YOURSELF THIS GIFT!—NYTimes.com” (April 10); “BEST PLAY IN YEARS!—NYTimes.com” (April 11); “AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE!—NYTimes.com” (April 15); “SEE THIS SHOW!”—NYTimes.com” (April 16).
The casual reader might conclude that The New York Times had flipped for this show. In fact, however, Charles Isherwood’s actual March 30 Times review called Irena’s Vow “theatrical hokum” that was “efficiently manipulative,” “banal” and “ham-fisted,” noting that this supposedly true story “sometimes feels like bad fiction.” So where do all those rave reviews from nytimes.com comes from?
The “Readers’ Reviews” section, that’s where: anonymous comments from anonymous people on the Times site. Exactly who wrote these raves is anyone’s guess. Take the one from March 29, headlined “Best Play I’ve seen in years”—a sentiment paraphrased into one of the ad quotes above. This reviewer signs himself “georgebraunstei.” Who could that be? Could it, for example, be Hollywood lawyer and sometime producer George G. Braunstein, whose site currently includes a plug for Irena’s Vow, and who collaborated with Dan Gordon on the obscure 1975 movie musical Train Ride to Hollywood? Or is it someone else? Is the Irena’s Vow ad using a quote from a friend of the author, or just a completely anonymous stranger with no established critical experience or credentials whatsoever?
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