An open letter to Peter Gelb

It is said that during the first-ever Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast, Milton Cross was more than a host, he was a narrator. During the performance, Cross was instructed to describe the action on the stage, interjecting comments over the music like "there goes the witch flying by on her broomstick!"
The story goes that before the broadcast was even completed, the network was flooded with telegrams saying something to the effect of, "Tell that guy to shut up, no one can hear the opera!"
Apocryphal or not, the story illustrates that, when translating the live opera experience to another medium, the depiction should be more journalistic than interpretive. Though undoubtedly well-meaning, the director of the March 22 cinema broadcast of Tristan Und Isolde once again proved this true.
By breaking the screen into tiny boxes, the production took away the most powerful element of these HD broadcasts, the illusion that the theater view is there in New York, or at least that there exists an unbroken, unfettered connection between the performer and the audience.
Inserting herself into this connection sends the subtle, mistaken message that her medium, video, is equal to the opera. The direction thus calls attention to itself when it should be merely the clear-glass window that allows the audience to see this marvelous event.
At its worst, the "little boxes" insult the very thing it wants to magnify, telling the view that the opera's staging is somehow lacking, and that this extra pizzazz is a needed improvement.
The fact is that the split-screen effect fails even as a video presentation. I can't imagine any film director would choose to depict the most intimate moment between two lovers by putting them in two separate boxes divided by a thick gold pinstripe. Perhaps it was just an unfortunate by-product of the NCAA playoffs going on at the same time, but division of the screen left the viewer with the feeling of watching an opera at a sports bar.
I appreciate immensely the Met's desire to present excellence in every single aspect of it's presentation, even including the theatrical broadcast going outside the hall. But I trust that you will also understand that addressing a problem that does not exist brings about a fundamental opposite of that goal.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Plummer