Critic’s disdain colors review of ‘Vanessa’

Certainly Mark Swed is entitled to his opinion, and if he doesn’t like “Vanessa,” so be it [“ ‘Vanessa’s’ Wintry Discontent,” Nov. 29]. But his antipathy is so intense that he should have recused himself from reviewing the production at all, and The Times should have sent someone else. Are we really expected to take seriously a review in which the critic compares seeing an opera to “root canals, major surgery, colonoscopy” and jail time?

Last time I checked, opera is an art form that relies quite a lot on singers. Yet Swed chose to devote considerably more space in his review to his own dislike of the piece than to the performances of the entire cast. This is criticism?

I went to “Vanessa” on Saturday with an open mind. I had not heard the opera before and was willing to see where the production’s artists would take me. What I saw was a compelling opera with a literate libretto (the themes of which seem to have escaped Swed entirely) and a beautiful score.

Allan Halcrow

Irvine

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Opera is expensive. The top ticket price for the current Los Angeles Opera production of “Vanessa” is $190 a seat.

Because of that, I like to use the newspaper reviews to decide whether to attend. In his review of “Vanessa,” Mark Swed uses the first five paragraphs to state that he had already decided he did not like this opera before he even attended the performance.

I cannot trust a reviewer who already has made up his mind before the performance even starts.

Brent Trafton

Long Beach