By Anne Harpham

Looking for a movie or trying to decide on whether to attend a play? A review, for many readers, is a logical place to start when making a decision.

Reviews can make or break some productions. If someone is on the fence about whether to go, comments about the acting or script can be the deciding factor. Other shows carry a popular appeal that transcends whatever the reviewers think.

But even though they sometimes don't like what is said about their productions, venues around town seek out reviews. They know how valuable they can be. And readers seek them out, too. We hear from our readers when we don't review something they find interesting or have attended.

So how do we decide what to review? In general, we review theater, concerts and dance productions with performances that go beyond one night and have broad appeal to the community. We also review art exhibits.

Deadline problems

Many decisions go into what merits a review or not. Sometimes our deadlines make overnight reviews problematic. Sometimes it simply depends on whether a knowledgeable reviewer is available, or whether there are several events occurring at the same time.

The Honolulu Symphony's classical music performances, for example, are Sundays, repeating on Tuesday. Our reviewer attends Sunday afternoon and our goal is to get the review in the paper by Tuesday morning, in time for that night's audience to read before the concert. Opera reviews, too, are published before the next performance.

Both the symphony and opera have a large fan base that avidly follows reviews, said Island Life editor Elizabeth Kieszkowski, adding, "They know our reviewer's voice."

Community appeal

We also base decisions on how broad the appeal will be in the community, and whether the productions feature experienced performers or amateurs. For example, we do review Honolulu Theatre for Youth productions because they are staged and performed by professionals, but we don't usually review school productions in which students perform. An exception might be made if a school staged an elaborate, first-time production of wide interest.

Readers often wonder, too, about timing on reviews. Some of it is dependent on our deadlines, some because we try to meet needs of readers. The Island Life section, where most reviews run, has early deadlines. If a review of a stage production that will be running over a few weeks cannot get in immediately, editors will sometimes hold it until the next performance in the following week. That may mean a review runs a week after opening, but Kieszkowski said she feels that puts it closer to the time when a reader who is interested in attending is most likely to see the review.

Sometimes we've skipped a review if there's only a limited run that's sold out — the recent performance of the Shaolin Warriors at the Hawai'i Theatre comes to mind.

Of all the arts we review, movies have probably the greatest interest. Roger Ebert, a nationally recognized critic whose reviews are syndicated, is our primary film reviewer, but we also use critiques by others. Ebert has both his fans and detractors, as does any reviewer, but one plus as far as Hawai'i audiences are concerned is that he is knowledgeable about the Islands through his participation in the Hawai'i International Film Festival.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is the reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.