Critical condition
Sir: Michael Coveney's new-found and self- appointed role as a defender of the honour of London drama critics (Letters, 28 June) will cause considerable hilarity among those of us who recall that his last book, as his publisher Nick Hem will confirm, had to be expensively withdrawn and pulped because of a threatened libel action by one of his colleagues, something I have not yet experienced in 30 years' reviewing.
As for his opinions, he is of course as entitled to them as I am to disagree; but as for the critical reaction to Les Miserables and more recent musicals good or bad, it is a matter of record that most producers now think twice about opening a new score in London. It may, compared to Broadway at least, be cost-effective, but they also risk infinitely more hostile reviews than any- where else in the world. Cameron Mackin- tosh and Lloyd Webber and Sondheim are not alone in their belief that as a critical body we are less well-disposed towards new musicals than any other theatrical nation on earth, which is why we are already see- ing Toronto emerge as their new starting- ground.
Faced with a critic like Coveney who can still defend Damn Yankees, no wonder they despair of the future of the art in such criti- cal conditions.
Sheridan Morley
5 Admiral Square, Chelsea Harbour, London SW10
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