Choking Up at ‘Otello’

After attending the “Otello” performance at the Music Center, it was clear something must be done to combat the outrageous coughing disruptions by this audience. The delicate and sensitive opening scene of Act IV was ruined by an outbreak of lung-wrenching, unstifled hacking from all quarters of the crowd that reverberated throughout the hall, often drowning the sounds from the stage. One wondered why June Anderson didn’t simply step out of character and provide a moment or two for those insensitive clods to cough and get it out of their systems.

In decades of concert attendance in this town, I have never witnessed such a display of boorishness by an audience. It is possible to suppress coughs, or at the very least, cough gently into a handkerchief, but in consideration of others, please control yourselves!

J.S. KLEINSASSER

Bakersfield