Baz Luhrmann, quoted in the 3/14 NYTimes, about his reasons for bringing
his version of "La Boheme" to Broadway:

   "The classic performance in the temples of opera, that's to be enjoyed
   because it's a huge pageant, with the incredible voices like Pavarotti,
   Domingo," Mr. Luhrmann, 39, explained one afternoon recently, as he
   munched on sushi during a break in auditions. "But you have to be a
   club member so that you can decode it to enjoy it. I can, but there's
   a young audience out there for whom those codes - they can't read
   the codes. They just read, `Shaky scenery, weirdness.' They just go,
   `That's weird.' "

   http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/14/arts/theater/14BAZ.html

Weirdly enough, that's just what I thought of Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" -
weirdness, weirdness and not a drop to like.  And this from a lifelong fan
of musicals, somebody as far from being a "club member" among operachniks
as one can go.

Why do I think he is a charlatan? Must be my weirdness.

For a lively, accessible, successful-among-"outsiders," the SF Opera
"Boheme" run in the Orpheum was just fine, even without Nicole Kidman.
What works, in the long run, is talent, not gimmicks.

Janos Gereben/SF
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