C. Webber asks re.: my misgivings over the Puddle and the HazMat team in the
SF Opera's musically wonderful "Kat'a Kabanova" production:

>Just occasionally, however, I find myself moved to wonder just precisely
>what such critics would have us theatre people do?

Speaking for all such, I say that "you theatre people" should join
physicians in upholding the simple principle of "Do no harm."

Diverting attention from a great work is doing harm to the artists, the
audience.  I have seen (and praised) hundreds of "modern" productions
in SF and around the world, but will never be beaten into respectful,
cowardly silence by trendy, self-aggrandizing directors and their groupies.
The "Stuttgart School" and even the formerly great Kupfer/Berlin group
neither trust nor respect the power of great music.

Some may appreciate continuous rape scenes competing with Handel's music
in "Alcina" or Kupfer's direction of mountain-climbining during crucial
arias and duets in "Tristan and Isolde" and "Otello," this mousy,
ultra-conservative observer doesn't.

Janos Gereben/SF
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