A Short But Critical Lesson For All Wannabe Opera Directors

Here, in five easily comprehensible canonical principles, is the inalterable way of things in all artistically and aesthetically successful opera production:

Canonical Principle 1: The composer is God.
Canonical Principle 2: The score is Holy Writ.
Canonical Principle 3: All involved in the production are but God's faithful servants faithful to God's will.
Canonical Principle 4: God's chief servant is the music director or conductor whose will is second only to God's.
Canonical Principle 5: God's chief servant's handmaiden is the stage director who, at all times and in all circumstances having to do with the production, must in the end submit wholly to the chief servant's will.

See how that works?

What's that? You don't?

In that case, you contemptible full-of-yourself little cretin, confine your activities to ordinary theater where your sort of self-indulgent, self-important persona is not merely tolerated but encouraged and admired, even required, and leave opera be. Your sort is not welcome here.

(The above rant provoked by this nasty little tidbit.)