Why was Stage and Cinema Critic Tony Frankel Rejected by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle? [UPDATED]

I wasn’t going to write about this. I really wasn’t. I heard the news and I thought, “Hey, this is a private organization, they are fully within their rights to accept and reject anyone they like and it’s really none of my business”. And I still believe that.

But Goddamnit to hell it wrankles me to no end.

Now full disclosure, Tony has contributed to the Lemon on the rare occasion – too rare for my taste (c’mon Tony!) – but as I read review after review in Los Angeles, rare is the critic who compares with Tony’s passion, intelligence and output here in the LAC.

Why? Why was Tony Frankel rejected from the LADCC membership? Why was LA’s most tireless, most honest, most provocative critic not accepted into “Los Angeles’ Critical Body of Note”. Those quotes are mine but the sentiment has been force fed to me on many occasions.  Apparently these are the guys that matter. Not the Ovations, not the Weeklies, not the Garlands, it’s the LADCC. This is the body of critics whose opinion matters most. Especially when it comes to awards. Which is why I am completely befuddled. And a wee bit miffed.

Before I continue, here is the list of current LADCC members:

F. Kathleen Foley
L.A. Times

Shirle Gottlieb
Gazette Newspapers, StageHappenings.com

Hoyt Hilsman
Back Stage, The Huffington Post

Mayank Keshaviah
L.A. Weekly

Amy Lyons
Back Stage, LA Weekly

Dany Margolies
Back Stage

Terry Morgan
Variety

Steven Leigh Morris
LA Weekly

David C. Nichols
L.A. Times, Back Stage

Sharon Perlmutter
TalkinBroadway.com

Melinda Schupmann
Back Stage, ShowMag.com

Madeleine Shaner
Park La Brea News/Beverly Press, Back Stage

Les Spindle
Back Stage, The Hollywood Reporter, Theatermania.com

Bob Verini
Variety

Neal Weaver
L.A. Weekly, Back Stage

For the most part, an honorable assemblage.

As far as I can tell the newest members that have been added this year are Amy Lyons and Mayank Keshaviah (SEE UPDATE IN COMMENTS SECTION BELOW). Both worthy candidates, I know Mayank, don’t know Amy, they both offer consistent quality work every week, they are obviously writing for one of the more established print publications in Los Angeles, but with all due respect, they haven’t been doing this all that long and their work pales in comparison to the body of work Tony Frankel has offered over the last year. Now in their defense I’m sure a lot of that is due to the constraints that the Weekly puts on their work, word count, editorial oversight, but the sleight is considerable here. Tony Frankel by far is the more worthy candidate here. My opinion, certainly, but I read practically every fucking review written in Los Angeles.

So, yeah, travesty, in all respects. There, I said it.

At least, that is, if the LADCC is serious about calling themselves THE critical voice of Los Angeles.

Now just so y’all don’t think I’m picking on Amy and Mayank I’m going to go ahead and say it; what the fuck is Sharon Perlmutter doing on this list? And Hoyt Hilsman? The guy had his day, but c’mon, people! Shirle Gottlieb and Madeleine Shaner still offer solid work, but even they are hanging on the periphery of relevance. And also, just so you don’t think I’m playing favorites,there are a number of worthy critics who should be added to this group, people like Harvey Perr, Trevor Thomas, Earnest Kearney, MR Hunter, Karen Weinstein, Don Shirley, Sarah Taylor Ellis, Charles McNulty and George Alexander, just to name a few. But Tony, I believe, is the only one of this group who applied.

So why not Tony Frankel? He put in his application, he probably sees more theatre in this town than, well, ANYONE. He is almost absurdly passionate about preserving and nurturing the quality of theatre in this town, his reviews are unparelelled in their desire to provide context and perspective, so why the fuck was he passed up?

Frankly, I can only speculate, because as I said, this is a private organization and they are obviously free to do as they will. The criteria they use to vet their applicants is a revelation to them alone.[UPDATE: I obtained the actual criteria used by the LADCC and here it is: "Our bylaws define incoming members as active theater critics covering the Greater Los Angeles area who have maintained a minimum of 18 months of consecutive work in professional local criticism prior to application. During that 18 months, the critic must have written, posted, or broadcast a minimum of three reviews per month (or close to that)" Tony's first review showed up on the Lemon June 14, 2010. I'm sure he was actively writing well before we noticed him. And Tony probably writes about 6 reviews a month. Easy. Back to our original programming.].So I am sending this out as an open question to the LADCC ( I believe Bob Verini is the president, a man I respect and admire) – what was the criteria? What was it that caused you to choose Amy and Mayank over Tony? Seriously. I’d like to know. Maybe I’m the only one who’d like to know, but nevertheless, why?

I’m going to go out on a speculative limb here. I think Tony was just too fucking honest and too fucking provocative for them. I really do. I believe that his addition would have been like Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men. The guy who just can’t let it go, the guy who just refuses to  capitulate until all doubts are eased, the guy who refuses to surrender his opinion to the collective will. I believe Tony Frankel would have been a wrench in the works of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, an organization that still has yet to impress me.

And I find this to be an unfortunate decision for the Los Angeles Theatre Community. The LADCC could have taken major steps towards joining the Twenty First Century. Instead they have simply decided to further distance themselves from their community and added to their further irrelevance when it comes to judging the quality of theatre in Los Angeles.

Tony has his faults, but they aren’t a lack of insight, passion and tireless work for the betterment of Los Angeles Theatre.

Shouldn’t those be the criteria for inclusion in the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle?

You tell me.