Star Ratings

At best star ratings can be considered a necessary evil.

They not only de-emphasise the content of the review, including any constructive feedback, but they say nothing about how, why or to whom something is good, excellent or poor - not to speak of the grounds upon which something is being judged, nor by which measure stick or what parameters.A four star show on the professional stage is a five star show on the amateur one.

Everything must be judged in its appropriate context, and something may seem more or less pore in comparison to similar works, or the time and place where it is being written or performed. The body of a review leaves some space to give some of this context, but a star rating does nothing of the kind.

There is much difference between a "very good" 3* show and a "not poor" one. Likewise there is a breadth between a truly excellent 4* and one that made it because it is clearly  a leap ahead of most of what the 3* shows have been, thus it is the tone of the piece will dictate what side of the star rating the show in on, not the star rating itself.