Theater Critic Richard Zoglin is Not—We Repeat, Not—A Drag Queen

Zoglin comes out about this, if you will, in his review of [The Little Mermaid] in Time. Frankly, it is quite possibly the strangest example of quasi-criticism I've ever read.

I also understand that when Zoglin was completely done gazing lovingly at his navel, he found lint and glitter. Not a drag queen, huh? Yeah, sure. Harrrumph.

What really bothers me, though, is not that Zoglin reveals how enamored he is with Disney's musicals, beginning with The Lion King, which I will agree is probably the best of the lot by far, mostly due to Julie Taymor understanding something about narrative as well as what is visually arresting.

What gets me is that Zoglin attacks the world's favorite whipping boy, Ben Brantley. I mean, I'm not saying Brantley is the second coming of Aristotle, but how much must it suck to be him, hmm? Zoglin first calls him "the Scar of the grump brigade" and writes about how, in reference to The Little Mermaid, Brantley "loathed the whole wretched thing..."

Read the full "[Richard Zoglin is not a Drag Queen" here.]