Sir, - Ill-conceived, ill-judged and frankly sick-making. My blood boiled - and what a cynical marketing ploy to invite Roger Daltry, Gladys Knight and Aidan Quinn over to do nothing that John Kavanagh, Brendan Grace and Eileen Reid couldn't have done far better.
The glossy programme (£5) was entirely devoted to self-congratulation and we - who paid, by the way, £37.50 for our seats - were treated not to the glorious rendition of Messiah we expected, but as a TV studio audience lucky enough to be there to watch them video the proceedings. As a performer, I would dearly love to know what the visiting artists were paid.
To put it in perspective, I spent most of this year acting at the Gate Theatre, six nights a week, for which I took home the princely sum of £189 after tax had been deducted at source. I'm not complaining, just wondering how much they paid Aidan Quinn et al - and why? Not to mention the fact that Handel must have been spinning in his grave to see McNamara credited as joint composer. For truly I say unto ye that Messiah XXI was billed in the programme as being by Handel/McNamara. Shome mishtake here shurely? - Yours, etc.,
Jeananne Crowley, Winton Road, Dublin 6.