Critic Rising
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Jeremy McCarter of The New York Sun is one of the fastest-rising and most influential theater critics of his generation, and if you want evidence of that, mark the fact that he was barred from entry to review the Aquila Theatre Company’s new production of Aeschylus’s “Agamemnon.” Not only did the theater company deny him reviewer’s tickets, but they denied him entry when he tried to purchase a ticket. They cited his review in July of 2003 of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a negative review that nonetheless described Aquila Theatre Company as “a consistently delightful part of New York theater.”
Mr. McCarter is one of the writers who is trying to revive the craft of serious criticism. It’s obviously discomfiting for this particular theater, but, we think, ultimately good for the state of arts in this city. We tend to support the prerogative of proprietors, even to dilute their own enterprise, as the owners of the Aquila Theatre Company seem intent on doing. Please know, though, that Mr. McCarter has the warm support of the readers of The New York Sun, and also its editors.
