Pa rum pum pum pum

Hahahaha wow, already regretting the comment I just submitted, which was a bit unfair and inaccurate. Shouldna reread that Rosenbaum review—it got my blood up, all over again—and DEFINITELY shouldna hit "Submit" before previewing and/or taking a deep, cleansing breath.

I'm going to add my voice to the chorus dissing Ron Rosenbaum's review. On rereading, it's even more disgusting now than when I first came across it. First he drops a megaton payload of names for no good reason, then he revives the tiresome "Emperor's New Clothes" cliché of arts criticism, then he—I didn't even notice this the first time—can't tell that the lines of poetry he's complaining about are obviously quotations from Rukeyser (did his library card expire? Did he break his google?). He also fails to even notice the music, which I think is the whole reason most people even go to the opera, and which (he uncharitably pretends not to realize) is the reason most critics loved the piece even if they hated the libretto. Not impressed.

Er—kudos to everybody else, though! Love Swed, love Parterre, love Adamo.

What Kyle and Meg said. There are plenty of legitimate complaints about the libretto to "Doctor Atomic," but Rosenbaum missed all of them in his version of "Look at me! Look at me! I'm the little boy who sees the Emperor Without Clothes!" He seems to be part of the contingent who will never forgive Adams for writing "Klinghoffer," which he has probably never heard or seen.

I attended Dr. Atomic at the Met, I know a great deal about opera (have seen 494 different operatic works in live performance as of this writing), have reviewed opera and theater for many years, used to work at the Met – and Ron Rosenbaum was absolutely on the money about that load of self-congratulatory undramatic crapola. I enjoyed his piece on Dr. A tremendously, and am SO pleased this award brought it to my attention.

P.S. Yes, Ron, your Sid & Nancy piece, which I remember reading at the time, would make a terrific opera. Don't let Peter Sellars write the libretto.

Kyle:

Right on. Who could possibly be lame enough to buy into Rosenbaum's pretentious twaddle?

That 'review' by Ron Rosenbaum was total bullshit. After reading it, it was obvious that he knows nothing about music or opera.

I suppose I should have voted. But I have no problem with the other winners. I loved Denk's blog.