Compare and Contrast 11

I skipped out on the premier of The Bonesetter's Daughter this past Saturday - I'll catch it at a later date - but here's a roundup of reviews:

• Janos Gereben in SFCV; he is skeptical about the music (not a direct link because the permanent link won't exist until tomorrow)
• Joshua Kosman is enthused in the Chronicle.
• Anthony Tommasini has mixed feelings in the Times
• Opera Tattler finds the characters caricatures and the production "overwrought," with the music unfocussed and too much in the background.
• Richard Scheinen thinks there's something missing, in the Mercury News
• Perhaps it's melody, Scheinen speculates. But Marin Alsop, whom he quotes at the end of the article, got it right.
• Mark Swed in the LA Times calls the score "exotic ear candy" but mostly seems to approve
• The Standing Room makes fun of it all
• Civic Center minces no words; "Why does Stewart Wallace continue to get opera commissions?" (Considering how much I remember of Harvey Milk - Jill Grove in the black leather jacket - I was wondering just that myself.)
• And see The Standing Room's delicious links and commentary
• Alan Rich says it "must be considered a noble yet abject failure, rarely worthy of its evocative words"
• Patrick Vaz has more to say about the drama and plotting than any other reviewer; I can't readily summarize except to say that it's mostly negative.
  
• Richard Bammer, from the Vacaville Reporter, weighs in.
• Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal loved it. I'll never trust her judgment again.