Solange just emailed this bit of trivia regarding next season's mainstage production.

Gaetano Donizetti to his librettist, Felice Romani, about L'Elisir d'amore:

"I am obliged to write an opera in fourteen days. I give you a week to do your share...But I warn you, we have a German prima donna, a tenor who stutters, a buffo with a voice like a goat, and a worthless French basso. Still, we must cover ourselves with glory."

And TV writers think (with perfect justification) that they have tight constraints...