"Lloyd W. Hanson" wrote: Dear mike and Vocalisters: But many who wish to hear every word or have the subtle dramatic force of the music explained through pantomime or choreographed acting have already eliminated themselves for what opera can offer. In recent years I have attended some opera productions in which there has been an a concerted effort to provide this explanation of the subtle dramatic force of the work, sometimes with so much happening that one would need to see ( and I mean "see") the production two or three times to see everything that was presented. I felt particularly "robbed" by the director of Opera Australia's production of Gluck's "Iphegenie.." I came away saying to my companion, "Why did we have to watch all that swinging around poles, and unedifying, crude dance? It [the inner drama] was all in the music. It's as if the director didn't trust us to get it,...or didn't want to risk our arriving at an interpretation differing in any way from hers/his.." The production was, at times, like an extreme example of an expression my teacher uses to describe "overdoing it", viz., spreading butter on the margarine. Margarine alone would have been enough. The *excesses* of choreography and overstatement in the action, when they occurred, seemed to me to indicate a lack of respect for the audience's role and capacity to engage with the opera rather than simply to observe it.Regards Helen Duggan -----------------------------------------------------
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