“DID THEY LIKE IT?” REVIEW SITE LAUNCHES TODAY
Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara / Kendall Edwards
rick@omdkc.com / marie@omdkc.com / kendall@omdkc.com
212 695 7400
FOR RELEASE ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
NEWLY BRANDED REVIEW AGGREGATE
WEBSITE
DID THEY LIKE IT?
TO LAUNCH
TODAY!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1
ANNOUNCING
CRITIC COHORT
TO AMPLIFY UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES
OUTSIDE OF CRITICAL MAINSTREAM
SIGN UP FOR ALERTS HERE
New York, NY – Did They Like It? (Formerly known as Did He Like It?), the leading review aggregator of live theatre on Broadway and Off-Broadway is proud to announce their launch TODAY, Friday, October 1. Did They Like It? has one mission: to make reviews more accessible, digestible, and fun.
To sign up for alerts, please click HERE.
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As previously announced, the newly formed Did They Like It critic cohort, comprised of five theater critics representing lesser amplified voices in the critical mainstream, will provide users with broader, more diverse perspectives.
The critic cohort, led by Jose Solís, will include Bedatri D. Choudhury, Christian Lewis, Juan Michael Porter II, Ran Xia, and Ana Zambrana. This group of five reviewers will allow for a comprehensive, multi-dimensional look at each show by adding new, vital voices to the conversation. Members are paid for their critical and editorial contributions to the site.
The first production to be reviewed by Bedatri D. Choudhury of the Critic Cohort will be the highly anticipated Broadway musical, Six, opening this Sunday, October 3!
Did They Like It? uses a signature visual rubric guided by an unbiased and unaffiliated DTLI editorial team (aka The Thumb Squad). Fans can quickly understand the critical response to a show and make informed decisions with just a few clicks. So, whether you’re new to theatre and searching for a must-see, a serious superfan whose Playbill collection is “becoming a problem,” or even an industry insider who wants all the opening night reviews at your fingertips, Did They Like It? has got you covered!
Jose Solís (he/him) began his career as a critic at age 16 when he launched a film review website while living in Honduras, where he was born. He began writing about theatre while attending college in Costa Rica, and upon moving to NYC in 2012 focused entirely on the stage. His work appears in The New York Times, American Theatre, TDF Stages, Backstage, 3 Views, and America Magazine. In 2020 he was selected as the Floria Lasky Visiting Artist at Hunter College where he will host the Wed@One series, and started the BIPOC Critics Lab, a workshop he created meant to train the cultural critics of the future. The second installment of the Lab will be hosted by the Kennedy Center. He is also the creator and host of Token Theatre Friends, a weekly web series/podcast where he talks to some of the most influential theatre artists working today.
Bedatri D. Choudhury wanted to be a dancer growing up but ended up writing her first “culture criticism” at age 6 and fell in love with the sweet feeling of seeing her name in print. It was on “The Jetsons” and it asked where the service class disappeared if robots took over all housework. Whatever it is she writes on, she writes from the intersections of post-colonialism, race, and gender. Her day jobs, too, emerge out of the same intersections. She has managed documentary projects at Doc Society, Working Films, The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Rada Studio, and CAAM, among others. An alumna of the NYFF Critics Academy, Sundance and SXSW Press Inclusion Initiatives, the National Critics’ Institute, and Berlinale Talents, she grew up in India and now lives in New York City. Presently, she is the Managing Editor of Documentary magazine and an Associate Programmer at DOCNYC. She loves dogs and dessert and is also trying very hard to keep her houseplants alive.
Christian Lewis (they/them/theirs) is a queer nonbinary freelance theater critic with published pieces in American Theatre and BroadwayWorld, among others. Christian is also a member of the Outer Critics Circle. They have been featured on various panels (The Brain Lab and RE: THEATRE) and podcasts (The Fabulous Invalid and Stage Left). Christian is a co-host of What’s Up Broadway on the Broadway Podcast Network. Christian is (far too) active on twitter and can be found @clewisreviews. In addition to all the theater stuff, Christian is a PhD candidate in English at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Juan Michael Porter II is a Black queer man living with HIV who (probably) knows more about Sailor Moon and ballet than you do. He started dancing after realizing it was the closest he’d ever get to being an actual superhero and spent his performance career tricking people all over the world into paying him to work with them. He became a critic in order to steal jobs from writers who think that reviewing means telling readers how they “should” think. JM crafts his reviews around the art of conversation in service of what he observed. His greatest hope is that readers will leave his writing feeling compelled to see a particular show so that they can decide how they feel about it for themselves. JM is a National Critics Institute fellow, the staff writer of TheBody.com, and spends most evenings dancing naked at home with a giant disco ball.
Ran Xia is a Shanghai born, Brooklyn based playwright, director, and audio designer. Resident director at the Tank, Beatrice Terry Resident 2021-2022 at the Drama League. She will be directing Orlando (by Sarah Ruhl) at Barnard and is a commissioned playwright at Vanderbilt University this fall. Ran has deep admiration for axolotls, sloths, and goats. She’s also probably worse at bowling than you are. In 2020 Ran made it her business to one day surpass Grandpa Joe as the No.1 fan of Amtrak after travelling across the country from NYC to Portland OR and back.
Ana Luz Zambrana (She/her) is a Latinx actor, director, and critic. She received her BFA in Acting from the University of Central Florida, training as well at The Atlantic Acting School and BADA. She is a recipient of The KCACTF SDC directing fellowship and was recently apart of The Kennedy Center’s BIPOC Critic Lab lead by Jose Solís. Having grown up as the only Puerto Rican girl in the small town of Sisseton, South Dakota – with her media consumption ranging from Rebelde to The Lizzie McGuire Movie – Ana looks to create and enjoy stories that explore the diasporic experience of a POC in the United States.
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