A Wandering WeyrCat...

TLDR: I was disappointed to find out the ballet was performed by a school, at a local high school, but the show and dancers turned out to be lovely! So happy I went! Last week I heard about the ballet La Sylphide , to be performed in Boca Raton on a day my husband was away on work. On those days I like to treat myself to the arts, since he's not interested in dance, opera, or classical music. I went ahead and bought the tickets (honestly I was intrigued by the thought of a ballet in kilts!) Though I went to university in Boca, I didn't get around much, so I recognized the name "Countess de Hoernle Theatre" as sharing a name with the large public park (and its small, lovely conservation area). It's really the name of the local high school's auditorium. Nope, not an arts school, like Dreyfoos, just a regular high school, with a significant patron. The auditorium was as you might expect, a bit dirty and shabby, and the seats are not especially sloped, so fo...

Shane and I made our annual visit to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens' Hatsume Fair for spring! We got there early this year, as in 20 minutes before it opened. Last year, we stood in line for an hour, just to have the "newcomer" line and the "been here an hour line" get merged. It was stressful, and getting there early made such a huge difference. We were able to go into the main entrance right as it opened, and there was really no line. We got our Japanese Mix Mochi balls right away, because last year they ran out! These delicious ice cream balls wrapped in rice gelatin and powdered with sweet rice flour, always a highlight for me.

I had the opportunity to see the live broadcast of the Met's Idomeneo. I've been to a couple Met operas broadcast into a regular theatre, but this is the first time they had reserved seating and a little coffee/snack bar. The gentleman next to me (I was on the end) has season seats and we chatted a bit. It turned out that he couldn't read the subtitles and didn't know the story. So between scenes I tried to give him a brief summary of what just happened. It worked pretty well, but in the third act it became clear that he didn't realize Idamante was a trouser role (a role written for a woman to play as a man). He kept asking who the "white-haired woman was" and thought I misunderstood when I told him it was Idomeneo's son Idamante. He began asking things during the scenes, and people started shushing him. Honestly, I felt he was less irritating than the folks with their snack wrappers. All in all, I think I enjoyed the opera a little more with hi...