CALENDAR LETTERS : OPERA NIGHTMARE

We dozed through that warped version and wooden performance of “The Nutcracker.” We fidgeted through that excruciating “Carmen,” and by the time “Candide” was over, we were drained and exhausted.

My question is this: Why are we getting these second-rate productions? Do they think because we live in the “provinces” that we won’t notice or that we won’t know better? Or are they just basically bad?

FLORENCE R. STASCH

Newport Beach