No 7 — July 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
Dear Michael, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to thank you for the two copies of GG ... After noticing a couple of slights at Reed I read them with a sourly critical eye, but I must confess to enjoying then - after I'd skipped the amateur operatic section. I found McClure's article rather disappointing, it seemed to peter out suddenly, and he didn't really touch on the subject of authenticity, surely the only real point at issue in discussions between the traditionalists and the innovators?... It surprises me that no theatrical, or music, critic ever comes to grips with the positive feature of the D'Oyly Carte tradition - the extraordinary charm their presentation of the operas has on a large part of their audiences. Purely Gilbert & Sullivan considerations have very little to do with the D'Oyly Carte style & it is this, encores and all, that I suspect keeps the Company popular. I wouldn't suggest that musical inadequacies are a necessary ingredient of that style but I feel that harping on them is not so much unkind as inappropriate. Cheerio, SARAH LENTON.
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