Just 90 Minutes

It was with great disappointment that I read in “Dances With Balanchine--a Muse’s Tale” (June 24) quotations from PBS’ “Great Performances” executive producer Jac Venza regarding the “Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse” program.

He was quoted as saying that the program was shortened from 115 minutes to only 84 minutes because “the subject deserves no more than 90 minutes. Frankly, I don’t see that anything will be lost to the broad audience.” He further states that “station managers feel that very few things in the world are worth ruining their whole evening’s schedule.”

As a contributing member of PBS, I am appalled that someone with that opinion of the art of dance would be in charge of “Great Performances.” After watching “Suzanne Farrell” on June 26, I could only conclude that the missing footage would have been a welcome addition to an excellent program.

It seems that Venza should either change his opinion of how time should be allocated on PBS, or let someone who appreciates the arts take his place. I certainly never heard anyone in charge of programming complain that the “Civil War” or “Great War” series were ruining evenings of schedules!

MELANIE WALLNER

Cypress