“An ‘opera production’ is defined as a collection of sets and costumes plus a list of instructions of movements from one part of the stage to another. Communicating these (optional) instructions to the singers is the job of any old functionary the opera house happens to have handy: the director, the director’s ex-girlfriend, or the director’s ex-girlfriend’s assistant’s ex-assistant’s girlfriend. (It really doesn’t matter because people come to the opera to hear great voices, not for ‘acting’).”