The Playgoer: Lord Lloyd Webber gets another title

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Monday, December 04, 2006

Lord Lloyd Webber gets another title

"Mr. Lloyd Webber is often referred to as the Shakespeare of his time with musicals like 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' 'Evita' 'Cats' and 'The Phantom of the Opera.' "

I have never seen a more egregious use of the passive voice. "Referred to"? By whom??? Other than the publicists over at the Really Useful Group. "Shakespeare of his time"? What the hell can that mean???

And yet there it is in the New York Times, in an article by Holli Chmela about the Kennedy Center Honors last night.

I've searched hard for a wink of irony in that line, by the way. There isn't any.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Shakespeare of his time"?

All he does is cobble together crowd-pleasing spectacles from the material of more talented, long-dead creators.

He's more like the William Davenant of his time.

Anonymous said...

I'm often referred to as God.

Anonymous said...

http://www.slate.com/id/2154888/?nav=tap3