Filmgoers will have say at Beacon

LENOX Now let's get this straight: Even before Pittsfield's Beacon Cinema lights up its six screens beginning late Thursday evening with midnight showings of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," some cinema devotees are griping about the programming philosophy outlined by owner Richard Stanley and his manager, John Valente, in this space last Sunday.

[To much fo-fo in lenox]

May I add this, sorry I opened up that column. Chartock is a complete idiot. Why don't the eagle find somebody who can write interesting columns. What junk....

[My View]

Fanto's rather superficial understanding of marketing both live performances and film is showing. Seems to me he is depending on his usual small circle of adoring pr people for his information.

For one thing, the opera offerings at the Colonial were poorly promoted, and consisted of a few old filmed performances of La Scala (Milan, Italy), not live in HD performances from the Metropolitan Opera here in the United States. The Met has built its American audiences for decades with its Saturday afternoon broadcasts and numerous PBS telecasts. Besides at least one of the Colonial performances took place on a very snowy day as I recall. I had to cancel because of the bad driving.

Fanto insinuates that the Pittsfield area does not like classical music, and by proxy, I presume, independent films. Nonsense. Last time I saw the Berkshire Opera at the Colonial it was sold out. And Pittsfield's South Mountain Concerts are a hard ticket to get at the last minute. The Berkshire Symphony? Dumbing down the programming is the worst thing you can do for classical music in the Berkshires.

Yet Fanto echoes the Beacon's Stanley and Valente in reassuring us that the Pittsfield audience is "down home" and programming is the way to go with this expensive investment. Perhaps they are right, Barnum once said that "nobody ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public".

But if you are looking for dumb and dumber to leave the comfort of their tv lounges and go out to see a movie for a change, they are in for a rude awakening.

They've been blinded by the demographics. They should be looking at who actually leaves their homes to seek entertainment. They are generally better educated, more discerning and more open to novelty and risk than the presenters themselves seem willing to take.

Talk about a mismatch made in Hell.

Time will tell which of us is right, won't it.

[Rinaldo Del Gleason]

My View wrote:

Fanto insinuates that the Pittsfield area does not like classical music, and by proxy, I presume, independent films. Nonsense. Last time I saw the Berkshire Opera at the Colonial it was sold out. And Pittsfield's South Mountain Concerts are a hard ticket to get at the last minute. The Berkshire Symphony? Dumbing down the programming is the worst thing you can do for classical music in the Berkshires.

Time will tell which of us is right, won't it.

"My View" makes solid points.

I'm not the biggest opera or symphony or independent film fan. But I have, on occassion, attended such events.

And because I do not follow these forms of entertainment, in the back of my mind I has initially thought that there will only be a handful of us in the audience.

Because I had not attended these sort of events, I had automatically assumed that nobody did (a basic human assumptin, I suppose). So I think that a lot of other small-minded people (yes, myself included) have made the same sort of primitive assumption.

But these types of events are usually packed. And let's face it - these folks typically are more affluent than hillbilly's like me. And that's a good thing for the area.

[Sigh]

Ok first of all, "To much fo-fo in lenox", you need a grammar lesson, badly. Why did you read the article? Could you not infer from the headline what it might be about? And you're from Pittsfield...sigh, you're proving the author's point, I'm afraid.
However, I have to agree that Beacon should be giving the moviegoers what they want. I can't tell you how aggravating it is to live in a town where the local theater caters to the second homeowners.

[Movie goer]

It was a Grand opening!