The Season's Ballet

Don surprised me by buying tickets to George Ballanchine's The Nutcracker. I'd never been to see it, but Don had been once before a long time ago. The Pennsylvania Ballet performs at the Academy of Music in downtown Philadelphia.

It usually takes between forty-five minutes to an hour to get to Philly from where we live. Notice I wrote "usually." We were going to stop on the way and eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Don Pablo's. It is located in the Deptford mall, and neither of us took the time of year into consideration. We were half an hour just trying to get off the expressway onto the exit ramp when just two miles out. Then because we had decided to go the GPS way instead of the way we knew, we got turned around in traffic (lots of traffic) until we decided to eat on the way back instead. There sure are a lot of Christmas shoppers in this down economy! Luckily, we finished most of our shopping in October.

We got there in plenty of time to have a snack at a grill across the street from the Academy. Parking cost $18! Somebody besides me is making a lot of money for concrete and painted lines. Thank goodness everything was really close to where we parked though because it was really cold.

A few things were new to me since I'd never been to a ballet. I loved the bells signaling everyone to be seated. The theater was beautiful with red and gold decor. We were seated by the door which made it nice. I don't think there was a bad seat in the house unless it was behind a beam, but I noticed no one bought tickets there. Also I noticed that someone might miss a lot of the performance if not returned to their seat in time. You are not allowed back into the theater if the performance is ongoing. I'm glad that didn't happen to me.

I'm sure most everyone knows the story of The Nutcracker, but here's a short synopsis from the playbill:

"...begins on Christmas Eve, as the Stahlbaum family and their guests gather in the parlor for a jubilant holiday celebration. The eccentric Herr Drosselmeyer arrives and enthralls the children with his antics. He presents Marie with a beautiful wooden Nutcracker doll, which breaks in a scuffle with her brother. After the party winds down and the house is silent, Drosselmeyer mends the doll and the magic begins. The grand tree begins to grow beyond the proscenium, the snow begins to fall, and Marie and her Nutcracker Prince are carried away to the Land of the Sweets where delectable dances are performed for the pair. The Dew Drop Fairy, Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Candy Canes the Marzipan Sheperdesses, Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles, the Waltz of the Flowers, and the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier entertain Marie and her Prince. After all the dances in the Land of the Sweets have concluded, they sail off into the sunset on a gilded boat as Tschaikovsky's memorable music reaches its rousing finish."

Don kept mentioning how he would love to take the girls (Emily and Bri) to see a performance one day. We both enjoyed ourselves. I had a lovely time. I really want to go back now and see some other performances.