PA ballet: Handel's Messiah, at the Academy, Sunday 3/9/08
Mom and I went to the ballet today. It was Handel's Messiah. Based on the poster art, I was expecting a lot more wings and a lot less Jesus, but oh well.
First of all, I completely forgot to spring ahead my clocks. I woke up at 10:30, thinking I had an hour and a half to get ready before I had to leave for the train, and luckily I checked my voicemail almost right away. Mom had called to remind me. Instead of an hour and a half, I had less than 30 minutes. I had to run around like a crazy person, but when I caught the train, I was fully clothed and even had deodorant on. \m/
Just like last year, when Mom and I went to the ballet for the first time, today was the St. Patrick's Day parade. Unlike last year, today was really really windy and chilly. It was not fun to be outdoors, so we didn't get to enjoy the parade much.
Today's performance was at the Academy of Music, not at the Merriam. Our seats at the Academy aren't bad, but there's definitely a large pole to our left that blocks a corner of the stage. Periodically the dancers all get in that corner where we can't see them and laugh at us while they dance. Also, our seats at the Academy are in the back row of the first balcony, and the house lights don't really hit that row, so we can never read our programs. I noticed this last time, but today I completely forgot to bring a flashlight. (Well, today I was lucky I brought my pants, considering how late I was, but still.) The "order next season's tickets now" brochure just came out, so Mom was skulking about trying to see what seats would be better. Our current seats are in row F. Moving up to row D or C would make for a major improvement in both the pole and lighting situations; Mom would like to move to row A, but we don't know if that would be a big jump up in the price. Mom says she's willing to pay extra. We will see. We're still not sure if we're doing season tickets next year.
Anyway, there was some ballet going on! Handel wrote the Messiah in the 1740s, and the ballet was first choreographed and performed in 1999. It's an interesting piece because it's an oratorio without a specific storyline, just on Biblical themes, so it made for kind of a neat ballet interpretation. I had two favorite parts: the part with the giant piece of black silk fabric, that they waved about and turned into a parachute and all got under, and the part where the angel first came out accompanied by several dancers whose job was just to be her wings. That looked pretty cool.
Mom and I kept getting distracted by the male dancers today. Their costumes were... really snug. And thin. Sort of transparent. It was like every one of them was up there dancing in a jock strap and nothing else. And the guy who was dancing the Messiah himself had the largest package on the stage. The beginning of the third act starts with a song that goes "I know that my redeemer lives", and I couldn't help rewriting it to be "I know that my redeemer... has a big shining white package". I was wondering if all the dancers were laughing about the costumes backstage, or if they're pretty much used to shit like that by now. Seriously, these guys would not have been able to walk down the street in those outfits. Holy dang.
At the beginning of the first act, there were several songs that only involved the male dancers. (This was before the package fixation really hit us.) I thought it was cool because they were dancing together, you know, doing lifts and stuff just the guys. I told Mom that, and she said she thought it was kind of gay--not judgmental or anything, just, it was kind of gay. Well, yeah, kind of, because it's the BALLET, but then I started thinking more about it. The female dancers dance together all the time, and we don't think that looks gay. It looks like happy maidens in a field or something. But two dudes hold hands and dance on a stage and we automatically think it's gay. Male ballet dancers tend to be pretty muscular guys, too--not that gay men aren't, but, I mean, if you saw a male ballet dancer in his street clothes you wouldn't think he was effeminate. I'm sure plenty of male dancers ARE gay, but that's beside the point. Why are two, or ten, or however many men dancing automatically labeled? But then you're like, those outfits! and I have to admit that it IS kind of gay. It's okay that it's kind of gay, but I don't want to be one of those people who makes "gay" a classification. If that makes any sense.
I'd also like to note that whoever does the lighting at the ballet is a freakin' genius. The lighting is art. It seems like very often at the ballet, there's no set, but that doesn't matter because there's lighting. It adds so damn much to the performance, it's amazing.
First of all, I completely forgot to spring ahead my clocks. I woke up at 10:30, thinking I had an hour and a half to get ready before I had to leave for the train, and luckily I checked my voicemail almost right away. Mom had called to remind me. Instead of an hour and a half, I had less than 30 minutes. I had to run around like a crazy person, but when I caught the train, I was fully clothed and even had deodorant on. \m/
Just like last year, when Mom and I went to the ballet for the first time, today was the St. Patrick's Day parade. Unlike last year, today was really really windy and chilly. It was not fun to be outdoors, so we didn't get to enjoy the parade much.
Today's performance was at the Academy of Music, not at the Merriam. Our seats at the Academy aren't bad, but there's definitely a large pole to our left that blocks a corner of the stage. Periodically the dancers all get in that corner where we can't see them and laugh at us while they dance. Also, our seats at the Academy are in the back row of the first balcony, and the house lights don't really hit that row, so we can never read our programs. I noticed this last time, but today I completely forgot to bring a flashlight. (Well, today I was lucky I brought my pants, considering how late I was, but still.) The "order next season's tickets now" brochure just came out, so Mom was skulking about trying to see what seats would be better. Our current seats are in row F. Moving up to row D or C would make for a major improvement in both the pole and lighting situations; Mom would like to move to row A, but we don't know if that would be a big jump up in the price. Mom says she's willing to pay extra. We will see. We're still not sure if we're doing season tickets next year.
Anyway, there was some ballet going on! Handel wrote the Messiah in the 1740s, and the ballet was first choreographed and performed in 1999. It's an interesting piece because it's an oratorio without a specific storyline, just on Biblical themes, so it made for kind of a neat ballet interpretation. I had two favorite parts: the part with the giant piece of black silk fabric, that they waved about and turned into a parachute and all got under, and the part where the angel first came out accompanied by several dancers whose job was just to be her wings. That looked pretty cool.
Mom and I kept getting distracted by the male dancers today. Their costumes were... really snug. And thin. Sort of transparent. It was like every one of them was up there dancing in a jock strap and nothing else. And the guy who was dancing the Messiah himself had the largest package on the stage. The beginning of the third act starts with a song that goes "I know that my redeemer lives", and I couldn't help rewriting it to be "I know that my redeemer... has a big shining white package". I was wondering if all the dancers were laughing about the costumes backstage, or if they're pretty much used to shit like that by now. Seriously, these guys would not have been able to walk down the street in those outfits. Holy dang.
At the beginning of the first act, there were several songs that only involved the male dancers. (This was before the package fixation really hit us.) I thought it was cool because they were dancing together, you know, doing lifts and stuff just the guys. I told Mom that, and she said she thought it was kind of gay--not judgmental or anything, just, it was kind of gay. Well, yeah, kind of, because it's the BALLET, but then I started thinking more about it. The female dancers dance together all the time, and we don't think that looks gay. It looks like happy maidens in a field or something. But two dudes hold hands and dance on a stage and we automatically think it's gay. Male ballet dancers tend to be pretty muscular guys, too--not that gay men aren't, but, I mean, if you saw a male ballet dancer in his street clothes you wouldn't think he was effeminate. I'm sure plenty of male dancers ARE gay, but that's beside the point. Why are two, or ten, or however many men dancing automatically labeled? But then you're like, those outfits! and I have to admit that it IS kind of gay. It's okay that it's kind of gay, but I don't want to be one of those people who makes "gay" a classification. If that makes any sense.
I'd also like to note that whoever does the lighting at the ballet is a freakin' genius. The lighting is art. It seems like very often at the ballet, there's no set, but that doesn't matter because there's lighting. It adds so damn much to the performance, it's amazing.