Michael Feingold was a tough critic, but a champion of Off-Broadway theatre

The passing of long-time Village Voice theatre critic Michael Feingold on Monday, at the age of 77 from aortic valve disease, is yet another reminder of how the field of theatre criticism has been radically altered in recent years. The outpouring of appreciation of Feingold online also gave lie to the cliché that critics are all loathed by the artists they write about; many expressed the value of his penetrating insights, even when he wasn’t pleased with what he saw. 

Writing for an alternative weekly, Feingold was no countercultural revolutionary, having attended Columbia University and the Yale School of Drama, steeped in the European dramatic tradition. He wrote with a critic’s voice and a dramaturg’s mind – able to parse out not just what he saw on stage, but the intellectual and structural underpinnings of the drama upon which he opined. His heart evidently lay Off-Broadway, consistent with the downtown ethos that fuelled the Voice for so long. It was not uncommon for Feingold to write an extensive review of works at smaller theatres, and then afford just a few paragraphs at the end for whatever Broadway had offered that week. 

Part of Feingold’s expertise arose from him being not only a critic but also a practitioner. He was, at various times, the literary manager of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. He provided translations of many classic works of German theatre – most notably by Brecht and Kurt Weill. His translations of the famous duo’s Happy End and The Threepenny Opera played on Broadway in 1977 and 1989, respectively. Meryl Streep appeared in the former before her fame, while the latter brought Sting to Broadway for the first time. 

To be sure, Feingold could wield a poison pen along with his colleagues, but he was often a bulwark against prevailing sentiment. Upon his passing, the online version of the Village Voice reposted his takedown of Miss Saigon. It began: “Every civilization gets the theater it deserves, and we get Miss Saigon, which means we can now say definitively that our civilization is over.” He went on to speak of the need to eradicate Broadway and Tthe New York Times, and imprisonment for anyone who bought a ticket. He concluded that scorched-earth first paragraph by declaring: “Cameron Mackintosh and his production staff should be slowly beaten to death with blunt instruments; this year’s Pulitzer Prize judges in drama could be used for the job.” 

This is not recounted to encourage such threats in future theatre reviews, but rather to display the Swiftian satire that Feingold could deploy to express his views. It’s a reminder that even when criticism was tough, it could be literature in its own right. Given that volumes of criticism in all forms have anthologised the best stylists and most influential voices – from George Jean Nathan to Pauline Kael to Frank Rich – Feingold’s reviews are mostly now found only in online archives. 

The Village Voice Feingold wrote for has long been diminished over the course of a series of corporate ownerships, which included Rupert Murdoch from 1977 to 1985, who sold the paper to the chairman of Hartz Mountain Industries, which built its fortune selling pet products. Yet despite these upheavals, Feingold retained his place as the chief drama critic for three decades until 2013. 

His passing is a reminder of how Off-Broadway criticism has fallen over the years, with the Associated Press dropping regular Off-Broadway reviewing more than a decade ago. The New York Daily News rarely reviews Off-Broadway (its critic, Chris Jones, is based at the Chicago Tribune and flies in primarily to cover Broadway for both papers), while the New York Post gives Off-Broadway space mostly when stars appear or political topics – or topics that can be viewed politically – are portrayed. 

While the New York Times and online sources still attend to Off-Broadway, the absence of Feingold, and indeed any consistent attention from the vestiges of the Voice, have contributed to the challenges faced in the essential community that works to thrive in the shadow of Broadway. No doubt the decades-long presence of entertainments such as Stomp and Blue Man Group, which took two prime theatres essentially out of circulation, rankled Feingold. Off-Broadway has become mostly the bailiwick of institutional companies (yielding some of the most important work on New York stages) but losing the variety that came from the constant turnover of independent productions that were part of the mix a couple of decades ago. 

In this era, losing someone in their 70s can still be seen as too young, and the human loss of Feingold cannot be overlooked. Shifting to the personal, I had known Michael, casually and cordially, for almost his entire run as chief critic at the Voice and through his mentorship of young critics at the O’Neill Critics Institute each summer. He was an excellent resource and entertaining companion who forced me to be always at the top of my game in theatrical conversations that resembled fencing matches which veered from dramatic trivia to learned observations (his) to base puns from moment to moment. 

Michael’s passing is yet another symbol of the changes in theatre and theatre criticism over the past 40 years or more. Even as there is always something new and exciting to discover in a changing ecosystem and economy, Off-Broadway needs its supporters in media who can reach both artists and audiences alike to sustain the form and keep it not only alive, but on its toes.  

This week in US theatre 

The Yale Repertory Theatre describes Leah Nanako Winkler’s The Brightest Thing in the World as a classic romcom that evolves as the women in the story come to terms with their own limitations. Margot Bordelon directs the world premiere, which begins performances in New Haven tonight.  

Postponed at the last minute due to Covid cases in the company, the new Broadway musical KPOP, featured in my column last week, will now open this Sunday. 

Jordan E Cooper wrote and stars in Ain’t No Mo’, opening Thursday on Broadway. First seen in 2019 at The Public Theater, the play imagines an America where all Black citizens are offered the chance to return to Africa, interspersing that framework with scenes both dramatising and, at times, parodying Black life today. Stevie Walker-Webb once again directs.