All press is good press, right?

Last week, I opened Les Demoiselles de Rochefort as Andy Miller at the Lido Theatre in Paris, France. This show has been a huge undertaking as it is the first major stage production since 2003, and the only one to stay truthful to the original film. As such, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the show. It feels like every day, there’s different TV outlets present to film segments, countless interviews, and of course: critics.

This show has been a series of firsts for me. This is my first time playing a principal role (originally played by Gene Kelly, nonetheless!), which means it’s my first time where I’m frequently getting critiqued.

It seems like there are five new reviews to read every single day. Some of them are general overviews of the show, but others detail their opinions on the actors’ performances.

The good news is that the critiques have been overwhelmingly positive. There’s no better feeling than creating something in the rehearsal room that you feel is really special, and then you get confirmation from other people that it is in fact that way. I’ve been in shows where this has and hasn’t been the case, so I feel really lucky that the critics are loving the show as much as we do!

However, when you open yourself up for critiques, you are bound to get negative ones as well. It’s only natural; art is subjective, and not every piece of art is going to be for every person. So amongst all of the positive critiques, there have been a couple of negative ones sprinkled in.

I am no stranger to negative criticism. I’ve been posting on TikTok and Instagram for the past few years, racking up very niche (yet devoted) fan bases of 44.7k and 38.3k followers, respectively. As a queer person who posts their art online, I am subject to so many hate comments from blank profiles on a daily basis.

At this point, they make me laugh. I used to post the most ridiculous ones on my main feed to encourage other people to laugh at them with me. I think it’s crazy and embarrassing to hide behind a blank profile (or sometimes public) and shit on someone publicly.

But sometimes, the hateful comments know exactly where to hit you in just the right spot. Maybe one day you’re feeling particularly insecure about something, and someone comments and confirms what you already secretly believed about yourself. Sometimes they know exactly what to say that will ruin your day, even if you have built up a good sense of confidence / sense of self.

I think the same goes for critiques as for hate comments, except I think I value the opinions of critics more than blank profiles. Usually they have experience reviewing theatre/art professionally and know what they’re talking about. So when they say something negative about your performance, it can really hurt.

Reading too many positive reviews can also mess with your head though. If multiple critiques mention a certain aspect of your performance, you may then try even harder to get the laugh, nail the turn, hit the high note, etc. This can cause you to get in your head because you’re trying even harder to strive for perfection.

While it’s important to keep a performance fresh and keep striving for the next level, you don’t want the perfectionism to become a detriment to your art. And it can easily become a detriment when you are trying to live up to good critiques instead of just showing up and doing your job.

So what’s the solution?

The easy answer is to not read any critiques, good or bad. Way easier said than done… It’s nearly impossible to avoid critiques, between the theatre/show posting them on social media, or loved ones sending them to you. Plus it’s only human to be curious to see what people are saying about you.

Something I’ve been reminding myself while navigating the reviews for my show is the following concept:

Critiques are opinions, not constructive criticism.

If you are looking for constructive criticism, you should look for that from your creative team. People who can give you constructive criticism include your director, choreographer, music director, and any of their associates. It is their job to give you notes to uphold the integrity of their show. If they haven’t given you any notes, you should not change anything about your performance.

Sometimes you may even agree with something a critic says. You may agree that you don’t like the way a piece of choreography is staged, or that you don’t like a costume piece, etc. But you cannot change something based off of a critique. As a performer your job is to uphold the integrity of the work that has been set by the creative team. At the end of the day, no one else’s opinions really matter.

And you have to remember that people are honest and truthful. No one has time to lie to you. If your creative team thought your performance was bad, they would tell you. If they agreed with something a negative critique said, they would have passed along that note. They wouldn’t let you go onstage and look like a fool; how does that make them look good?

So often we think that people are out to get us and to set us up to fail. But remember that in this industry, one person’s failure is also someone else’s failure. One person’s success is someone else’s success. No one gets anything from dogging on someone else. All we can do is lift each other up to the best of our abilities.

In other news, I got up to some fun stuff this week! Here are some highlights:

Restaurant/sightseeing highlights:

• Carette: I got the famous 13,50€ hot chocolate from Carette to see what all the hype was about. Honestly, I think it was worth the hype, but not the price. I maybe would have paid 10 euros for it, because it really was quite good and it did give me at least 2 full cups of hot chocolate. But I think the price tag is a little high. I don’t know if I’d return, but I’m glad I tried it.

• Musée d’Orsay: This is my favorite museum. The line was longer than last time I was there which meant a 30 minute wait in line. However, it was free for me as I’m under 26 and a member of the European union! I got to see all of my favorite impressionist painters.

• Madame Arthur: I went to Broadway night at Madame Arthur, which is a world renowned drag cabaret in Pigalle. 3 queens and a pianist sang (live) clever spoofs of Broadway songs, as well as some more serious/faithful renditions. It was such a fun night out to see such talented performers.

Music I listened to this week1:

• “Hallucinate” (Dua Lipa)

• “Talk Talk” (Charli XCX)

• “Last Night on Earth” (Green Day)

For those of you who are new here, hi! I’m Paul Amrani, and I just moved to Paris to star as Andy Miller in the Lido Theatre’s production of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. I was born in France and moved to the US when I was 2 and a half, but it’s always been a dream of mine to come back and live here. I post weekly diary style (or however I feel that week) entries detailing my life in the city of light. Subscribe to Paul in Paris to follow along on my journey!