Actual Human Voices

In her Dec. 21 review (“Neil Diamond Veers From Hokey to Heartfelt”), Natalie Nichols writes: “Although high-tech, the concert felt slightly old-fashioned, due in part to the lack of video screens and the presence of a string quartet instead of synthesized strings.”

I join Nichols in decrying those pesky live musicians cluttering the Forum stage, although I must alert her to an even more alarming situation: In many plays and orchestral performances there are old-fashioned, unamplified human beings squawking everywhere! Let us all resolve to mechanize the performing arts in the brave new world of the 21st century.

NEAL McCABE

Los Angeles