Critic Linda Winer's unintentional review of 'A Delicate Balance'

There's a sign outside the Booth Theatre that had me confused for weeks. Above a glass door in front of the all-star revival of Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance" is one of those critic quotes we see outside all the Broadway theaters. This one said "AN EXQUISITELY MODERN WORK" and -- here's the confusing part -- it was credited to Newsday.

In other words, I was supposed to have said that. I certainly could have said that about Albee's scintillating and terrifying 1966 drama, which I saw in director Gerald Gutierrez' unforgettable 1996 revival starring Rosemary Harris, George Grizzard and Elaine Stritch.

But how could I have said it when I hadn't yet seen this production, the one directed by Pam MacKinnon and starring Glenn Close, John Lithgow and Lindsay Duncan, plus the similarly enticing Martha Plimpton, Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins?

And how could I have said that when the play, in previews since Oct. 20, didn't open until three nights ago?

More, how could critics from The New York Times, the Post and the Daily News have quotes up there on the handsome marquee when the play hasn't been revived here since 1996 and they hadn't seen this revival yet, either?

Here's the answer.

I did write the words. But I wrote them 18 years ago in a review of the last revival, while those of my colleagues were culled from reviews of that production and from the original, when the play won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize and starred Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn.

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As the revival's producer Scott Rudin explained in a recent phone interview, this is not deceptive because the quotes pertain only to Albee's text and not to this cast or direction or production. "We were very, very careful not to refer to anything but the text," he said, "The text is sacred. Nothing has changed between 1966 and now."

But don't theatergoers and potential theatergoers read these quotes, or the eight on the official website, or hear the ones on the TV ads and assume these are comments on the current production? After all, the quotes are not dated or identified by name.

"Everyone knows we haven't opened yet," he contends, giving audiences credit for recognizing a distinction some may not. "Since we started advertising six months ago, there hasn't been a single ad that didn't either say 'beginning previews' or 'in previews.' It's entirely open. I don't see how anyone would see these descriptive quotes and say they are reviews of this production."

It is possible I haven't been paying attention. Rudin, arguably the most powerful independent producer on Broadway, says that using old quotes is nothing new. "Producers of many revivals do it," he tells me, "How do you expect people to put a play up there for $4 million without communicating to the audience what you're selling? We're saying 'Here is a play called 'A Delicate Balance.' These are people's reviews of the play we are performing.'"

There is one current quote on the website, from a gossip columnist's fall preview, raving about the production's "great acting." I don't know how he would know that because, of course, he couldn't have seen it yet, either.

I'm thinking that, if I'm confused, perhaps non-specialists out there in the dark may be, too. According to Rudin, several recent shows -- including "Pippin" and "No Man's Land" -- used quotes about different productions or different casts than the ones we ended up seeing. Of course, these productions weren't using quotes from New York media -- or at least from me.

I'm fascinated and a little uneasy about the use of old quotes. In fact, while most people have bigger things to think about, you should know that critics have an implicit conflict-of-interest in the use of quotes in ads altogether.

The more we are quoted, the more famous we become. The more we love, the more we are quoted and the more free advertising our publications get. The more we use the words "funny" or "laughter" or "comedy," the more times we can see our names in lights.

Yes, it is a little thrilling to have praise for shows we love blown up on marquees. But you should know there are creatures in the profession so adept at making sure they get their names on billboards and buses that they write variations on "kill for a ticket!" blurbs into their copy. We call these people "quote whores," but never to their face.

So I've tried to track down some of the quotes used outside the "Delicate Balance" theater and on its website.

The play got very mixed reviews when it opened in 1966. Walter Kerr, writing for the Times, called it an "elegantly lacquered empty platter." So we know he wasn't the Times critic who described its "masterful wit, humor, ferocity and ease." Both Kerr and Vincent Canby, who reviewed the 1996 revival, are dead now, a fact the current Times critics surely know when they see the quotes screaming out there.

In fact, I am the only critic from one of the New York dailies who reviewed the 1996 revival and lived to read her recycled words. Maybe that's why I noticed.