So, we did finally see Swan Lake tonight. Like the week before, Shweetie dropped me off while he went and parked the car. As I entered the lobby, I actually saw the same lady who had politely pointed out that I was a dummy the week before, but chose another line to have my ticket scanned (you know, because the other line was shorter, not because I was afraid she’d recognize me, of course). Oh, and remember how I’d been wondering if the programs they were handing out were free? They were.
Shweetie met me a few minutes later and we went in and found our seats. The San Francisco Ballet company performs at the War Memorial Opera House, which is a gorgeous venue. It is huge compared to the Curran, Orpheum, and Golden Gate Theatres, where musicals are performed. Though I’ve seen 30+ musicals in the last 15 years, the last time I saw a ballet was back when I was in elementary school, when my family saw the Oakland Ballet production of the Nutcracker. I can’t even remember where that was performed.
Another really cool thing about the San Francisco Ballet is that their ticket-buying system is a lot smarter than Ticketmaster; you can actually see each and every seat that is available and can pick the two individual seats you want. This way you don’t have to rely on Ticketmaster’s seemingly random system of assigning the “best available” seats. This definitely was an advantage, as we were able to get two very good, but non-consecutive seats in the fifth row of left orchestra. Someone had apparently purchased seats 7 and 9, as we had seats 5 and 11. Ticketmaster would not have given us the option to purchase these seats, but they were great, and all we had to do was ask the people in seats 7 and 9 to scoot down one seat (which made them one seat closer to the center of the theater anyway), and they were more than willing to oblige. Also, the ticket prices for side orchestra were nearly half the cost of center orchestra, which was a great deal, considering we were only four seats over from the aisle that separated us from center orchestra!
The performance was beautiful, though, because I haven’t seen a ballet in so long, and because I have seen so many musicals, I kept expecting them to break out into song or say something when they were gesturing wildly to each other. The other thing I noticed was that it’s a really good thing there is a very detailed synopsis in the program because, although the dancing is very expressive, I would have had no clue what the heck was going on plot-wise if I had not read it before the performance started. My only other issue was that the performance was really long, at two hours and 42 minutes (I was really tired by the end and was worried I would fall asleep), with two very long intermissions.
During the second intermission, we discovered exactly why the intermissions are so long. Downstairs in the basement of the theater, there is a full-service restaurant. It opens a couple of hours before the performance, so theatergoers can eat there and then see the show. This is perfect for those who don’t want to worry about parking more than once that evening. What we found really interesting, though, is that you can also pre-order food to be ready and waiting for you during intermission, which is a neat concept! When we were walking around down there, we saw lots of people eating salads and desserts. I’m sure the theater keeps this in mind when planning how long to make their intermissions, as it seems they get a lot of business during those times.
All in all, I had a really enjoyable evening at the ballet, but I don’t think I’ll need to go again for awhile. I certainly don’t think I’ll wait another 20 years to see one again, but at least I now know for sure that I prefer musicals over ballets. However, at the risk of sounding totally pretentious, it was really nice to attend and broaden my cultural horizons.
Shweetie put it best: “So much...dancing.”
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