Every Broadway show gets a standing ovation because they're too expensive

Something is very wrong on Broadway: There's a standing ovation for every performance.

Last week, I went to see the new musical The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. A day later, the New York Times proclaimed it "genuinely ghastly" and a "collapsing tomb." Reuters said its "artistic inspiration pretty much ended with the pitch meeting." The Washington Post deadpanned that it was "this year's answer to the question How many talented people does it take to screw up a concept?"

It was torpedoed by pretty much everyone. Yet just a few hours before, the audience I was in rose to its feet. What's going on here?

Simple: The devaluation of the standing ovation.