Editor’s Scratchpad

By Richard Halloran

Monday, March 19, 2001

Discordant coughs
and sneezes

Leonard Bernstein, the composer and conductor, once said there were three great musical audiences in the world: Moscow, Tel Aviv and Tokyo. "In Japan," the maestro said, "you can feel the quality of the silence in your back."

Honolulu, regrettably, is not in that league. During beautifully staged performances of "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Pagliacci" in the Blaisdell, a woman talked through the first overture. Cough. Latecomers insisted on climbing over people to be seated. Cough, cough. A man repeatedly flapped his program to fan himself. Cough, cough, cough. A pair of young lovers couldn't keep their hands off each other as if they were in an old-time drive-in passion pit. Sneeze, honk. A man walked aimlessly up and down the side aisle.

Maybe the Hawaii Opera Theatre could find a way to educate audiences here on good manners. At 50 bucks a seat, that would seem a reasonable request.

Richard Halloran

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Richard Halloran is Editorial section editor.
He can be reached by e-mail at rhalloran@starbulletin.com