An amusing anecdote:
James Arrington, whom you may know from his “Farley Family” one-man shows, is head of the theater department at Utah Valley State College and occasionally directs there.
When I used to review UVSC productions — something that occurred infrequently, as Arrington was not especially good about sending notification that the plays even existed until a few days before they opened — I sometimes had occasion to write negative reviews. The last one I reviewed was “Almost Perfect,” a dreadful new piece of work which Arrington directed, though I did note that his direction was not necessarily among the show’s problems.
Anyway, when the current semester began, Arrington met with all the theater faculty, as would be the custom for a new semester, and included among his remarks, “The good news is Eric Snider is no longer at the Herald, so we don’t have to worry about bad reviews anymore!” This he followed with one of his trademark hearty laughs.
Much to his chagrin, the first production of the semester, “You Can’t Take It with You” (which he did not direct) managed to get bad reviews — even from the UVSC paper — without my help. He is reported to have groused, “I thought the bad reviews would stop when Eric Snider left!”
Dear James Arrington: The bad reviews will stop when your shows stop sucking! Love, Eric. P.S. Your shows suck.
