Longtime Critic Dany Margolies Let Go by Backstage
Colin Mitchell | Jan 12, 2012 | Comments 10 |
Yep. I actually got the skinny on this over the BigCheap Theatre wavelength. 
The Backstage company line at the moment is that Dany was released for “re-structuring” reasons along with three other employees, including the Editor-in-Chief.
If you are incensed enough to make a stink, you can email the top dog over at Backstage, CEO John Amato at this address: jamato@backstage.com
I will say this, yes, Dany has been a stalwart supporter of LA Theatre for a long time, and yes, the loss of any quality critic is a loss for all of us, but having been on the inside of corporations and arts organizations I know that the reasons people are “let go” are so numerous that those of us on the outside are often blissfully ignorant to the real reasons for a dismissal. Though the fact that two other employees and the Editor-in-Chief have also been let go does not bode well and appears to be a budgetary decision.
The Death of the Dinosaur known as Print, LemonHeads. It is upon us.
Simon Levy from the Fountain Theatre is canceling his subscription. That’s one way to protest.
Also heard that Lisa Fung the Head of Arts and Entertainment at the Times has also jumped ship to some online organization called TheWrap. Yes indeed, it is upon us.
That said, best wishes to Dany and I know she will land somewhere soon. She is too much of an asset to the community to have her talents go to waste.
Filed Under: colin mitchell • Featured • Ponderings
About the Author: COLIN MITCHELL: Actor/Writer/Director/Producer, award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Broadway veteran, Marvel comics scribe, Van Morrison disciple, Zen-Catholic, a proud U.S. citizen conceived in Scotland and born in Frankfurt, Germany, currently living in Los Angeles and doing his best to piss off as many people as possible.
For those don’t know her (and I’d bet that is a minority on this site) Dany is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful theatre reviewers and editors. A lot of back-and-forth on Bitter-Lemons and other places about who is a reviewer but no one can questioned her legit place as one of the shinning examples of the profession. This is a hugh loss to the LA Theatre Community, as well as, Backstage.
Huge loss
Backstage should be bitch-slapped.
Here is a response I received: “Thank you for your message. Back Stage is entering a transformative period as we begin to transition into a dynamic, digitally minded media outlet dedicated to serving performers from coast to coast.
Recent changes have in no way shaken our commitment to our audience, in particular those readers in the Los Angeles-area theater community. Back Stage will remain dedicated to serving performing artists in all fields, in all parts of the country, now and always. Back Stage will absolutely cover L.A. Theater, We have never internally or externally made any indications otherwise.
As part of our effort to better cover Los Angeles theater, our editors will be working with Back Stage’s many L.A. critics to ensure that theater reviews are posted online on or shortly following opening night —an industry-standard practice that is more timely than the one that Back Stage had previously been engaged in.
Thanks,
John Amato”
Hmmm. Sounds like they are just doing what every other publication is doing: digitizing. But still seems odd that they’d let someone with as much experience as Dany go, which is why I’m guessing there are probably other mitigating circumstances involved that we aren’t privy to. It’s how it usually goes I’ve found.
Read some of Dany’s reviews and you’ll find many of them virtually incoherent.
I won’t go so far as call them “incoherent”, Chester. Has she ordered up some clunkers? Yup. But she is a solid critic and the loss of a solid critic in LA is a loss for everyone.
I still believe she’ll land somewhere that will allow her to continue to have influence on the community.
Chester, that is asinine. Did she write a negative review of something with which you were involved?
RIP = Rest in Print
As a critic who wrote for Dany for many years, I can say without reservation that she is a top editor who went way beyond her job description, not because it was required but because that’s how she operates. She’s one of the best as what she does.