By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 7 September 2008]

LOS ANGELES — Was Woody Allen trying to lower expectations for his directorial debut in opera? Or was he just being Woody?

For weeks, when asked how things were going with the new production of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” that he was directing for the Los Angeles Opera, he talked down his suitability for the job. “I have no idea what I’m doing,” he told The Los Angeles Times. But “incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm,” he added.