One of the interesting things about on-line reviews is the capacity for rapid rebuttal of comments and discussion.  I encourage people to comment on any aspect of my posts that they like or dislike. Occasionally they do.

One such anonymous reader of my review on Via Beatrice , disagreed with my take on the music aspect and commented accordingly. Unfortunately a technical glitch seems to be affecting the comments but until I get it fixed I thought his/her points were worth a separate post. 

I did confess that my knowledge of music was at a Music 101 level and my friendly commenter had a suggestion for that too!

Read on:

From Anonynous:

"I have to disagree with you regarding the music. I found it neither "dissonant" nor "uncomfortable".  While it wasn't toe-tapping musical theatre, I actually found the music to be incredibly powerful and memorable. It did indeed push the story forward and allowed us into the characters' heads in a way that we perhaps would not have gotten through any other means.

I actually found that this play, more strongly than many I have seen in a while, reminded me of the power of live theatre. This operetta forces one to suspend disbelief as characters change through nothing more than a shift in posture and voice, we do "go" to Rome through an arched platform and a video projection, and, of course, there's the whole breaking into song thing.

I really love reading your reviews and hesitate to contradict what you say (I most often agree with your picks and pans), but I couldn't let this one go by without comment.  If it's not too forward, perhaps you ought to look into music 201? "

I love it - Music 201 here I come.