Broadway.com Unveils New Word of Mouth Panel; Theatergoers Offer Real-People Reviews

Broadway.com is thrilled to announce a brand new panel of Word of Mouth critics, who have all signed up to review the upcoming offerings of the 2007-08 Broadway season. Throughout the year, three select members from our Season Two panel will be sent to review each new show, as well as some old favorites, and their video reviews will be available on Broadway.com on opening night.

Word of Mouth is a fresh and unique concept to reviewing live theater in which regular theatergoers offer an alternative opinion to professional Broadway critics. Broadway.com first launched the feature in the 2006-07 season and received a tremendous amount of supportive reactions from both our readers and the theater community.

Panel members are chosen out of a pool of more than 10,000 Broadway.com full-price ticket buyers. From an initial e-mail outreach, Word of Mouth producers scour thousands of e-mail survey responses looking for interesting facts, funny comments and genuine passion for live theater. Hundreds are then asked to fill out a more detailed survey, from which close to 50 respondees are invited to take part in an on-camera screen test. Finally, a diverse group of 12 men and women are chosen to participate on the panel.

Get to know our new Word of Mouth panel:

Dawn is a self-professed "Jersey girl" with two kids and a husband that she met twenty years ago but married far more recently. She says their story mirrors that of Julia and Robbie in The Wedding Singer, which happened to be her favorite show.


Ellen is a just-turned-thirty single gal who lives and works in the field of corporate branding in Chelsea. She was first exposed to Broadway as a kid in Westchester during annual family treks to musicals.


Georgette didn't have any interest in Broadway until Rosie O'Donnell started promoting it on her talk show. On Rosie's suggestion, this beauty salon owner went to see The Beauty Queen of Leenane and didn't look back.


Hillary went to Woodstock back when she was a kid and these days, she's on the other side of responsibility as a high school guidance counselor. The star allure of Dustin Hoffman first brought this suburban mom to Broadway.


Julie is a retired English teacher who always made a point of exposing her students to Broadway back in her teaching days. Now she loves to take the Long Island Railroad to see shows with her next-door-neighbor grandkids.


Kathleen grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn with a large family. She saw The Me Nobody Knows when she was a kid and was shocked to find people like herself onstage.
She's been hooked on Broadway ever since.


Matt grew up in Iowa, has lived all over Europe and now calls New Jersey, where he is a graphic designer, his home. He and his wife who he met as a teen are new fans of Broadway, having recently been dazzled by The Lion King.


Randy was raised in "the 'garden' part of the Garden State" and now commutes to his NYC advertising job from his home in upstate New York. His first show came when he was a teen:
On Your Toes starring Kitty Carlisle Hart.


Smiti was born in India and raised in Washington, D.C. She lives in the Wall Street neighborhood and works as a marketing director. Theater is a passion that she often indulges in, whether on Broadway or off.


Steve spent his childhood in the Bronx, where he also later met his longtime wife while on line at the phone company! Although his family didn't have money to splurge on theater, he did get to see the original Fiddler starring Zero Mostel.


Susan is a Manhattanite who skillfully balances her jobs as both a lawyer and mom to seven-year-old twin sons. She saw Annie with her mom as a kid and has already exposed her children to the wonders of The Lion King.


Tom is a lawyer who lives in Brooklyn with his partner and their three dogs. Having lived in Chicago for a good number of years, he's newish to New York and thrilled to support favorite shows like Spring Awakening and Avenue Q.