Clive Barnes, theater, dance critic, dies at 81

Clive Barnes, longtime theater and dance critic for the New York Post, has died.

Barnes died Wednesday of cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital, the Post announced. He was 81.

The London-born Barnes had a long run as a critic covering the arts scene in New York and abroad. He arrived in 1965 from England to write for The New York Times, where he was its dance critic until 1977. He was also the paper's daily drama critic for 10 years.

Barnes then moved to the Post where he was the paper's chief theater and dance critic for more than three decades.

"Clive Barnes was a genuine legend," Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, said in a statement. "For 30 years as a critic for the New York Post, he wrote with honesty and a delightful whimsy. Clive's colleagues and the readers he served for so long are impoverished by his passing."

Barnes was a prodigious, prolific writer on the culture scene, often out four, five or more times a week, attending theater, ballet and opera, which he also reviewed for the Post.

"Clive was charming, witty and learned - not exactly what most of today's critics can claim for themselves," said John Simon, the veteran theater reviewer, first for New York magazine and now Bloomberg News. "His good humor and spirited contributions to our (New York Drama Critics' Circle) meetings will indeed be sorely missed."

Before coming to the United States, Barnes, an Oxford graduate, assiduously covered the English dance scene, which was experiencing a post-World War II renaissance. He wrote for various British publications including Dance and Dancers, the Daily Express, The Spectator and The Times of London.

Barnes was still writing last month, filing a favorable review of David Mamet's "Speed-The-Plow," his last theater notice, and reviewing works at American Ballet Theatre.

Barnes was married four times. He is survived by his fourth wife, Valerie Taylor, a former soloist with the Royal Ballet, and two children, Christopher, and Maya, from a previous marriage.

Funeral services are planned for Monday.