Sheen Bites In The Big Apple

Charlie Sheen dropped by New York City for a couple of shows. The consensus? The professional reviews say he’s awful; comments from fans are more open-ended.

Sheen’s first show at Radio City Music Hall April 8 ended halfway through a scheduled 90 minutes when the crowd began to boo him. His return performance April 10 apparently went better.

“One thing is now clear: Sheen’s 15 minutes are over. Kaput,” Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said. “I don’t mean his 15 minutes of fame, of course, or even of infamy. I mean his 15 minutes of being a Rebel.”

In between, the reviews were mixed for the April 9 show at Toyota Presents The Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Conn.

NBC’s “Today” show said it was pretty much a fest of standing ovations. The Hartford Courant focused on walkouts starting about 20 minutes into the show, plus one person shouting from the balcony, “Start the show!”

Either way, it was mostly the Q&A format that basically saved Sheen after the opening-night Detroit fiasco, although most reviews question the choice to rerun the mock television interview that can be found for free on YouTube.

Courant readers were not so cruel, with many posting comments on the review that defended the performance.

“I was a spectator at this event and let me tell you this,” one wrote. “You can poke out all your opinions left and right on the show because myself and a few friends were there and we loved it.”

Another laughed “Hysterically throughout the show” and yet another called the review “garbage.”

Yet, there was “Mike,” who said he and his friends bought tickets for $5 and called it the “worst live act I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“It wasn’t even worth $5 a seat,” he said. “In fact, we honestly felt like someone should have PAID US to sit there and listen to this crap.”

The “Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat is Not an Option” tour is scheduled through May 3. Randy Quaid is reportedly in talks to open for Sheen in Vancouver.