Sometimes it's a sad little town

Just had my LA Times assignment for tonight changed at the last minute. It looks like I'll be heading off to the Odyssey to see Conquest of the North Pole, directed by Steve Pickering, whose Among the Thugs (scroll down) was a highlight of last year's theatre.

The thing is, when I chatted with Don Shirley, who gives me my assignments, about the play I had originally been assigned and for which I'd reserved tickets, which will now be reviewed by another critic later in the weekend, Don told me that the show's publicist said something like, "Now, hypothetically, a show that's not selling out might try to fill the house on the night the Times critic comes..." In other words, the producers of the show I won't be seeing tonight (which shall remain nameless here) have no doubt been scrambling over the last hour to call their friends and get them to reschedule for the performance at which the Times critic will show.

This can be a cruel business–even, say, a wicked one.