They let me inside the Sydney Opera House

Some of us bought tickets to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Sydney Opera House. I really couldn't wait to go since I'd just read this play a few months ago in my Shakespeare class at UMD. It very well could be my favorite Shakespeare play. That or Titus Andronicus.  I kind of want to start this blog over because I'm starting to sound like a nerd. Too late, I've continued typing too far at this point. 

I'll set the scene. It was a gorgeous Sydney midsummer night. Very fitting, for in my hand was a ticket to "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I got off the bus and walked a short while before my eyes ran into this:

We all stopped and took seventeen photos each before we proceeded into the opera house (off to the right in the picture). The interior as I walked in was really cool. I don't know how to describe it and I didn't take a picture so deal with the fact that I saw it and you didn't. I definitely felt out of place though. We entered with a group of people in their early 20's. Everyone else there looked like they were born in the early 20's. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say we were the only ones who weren't old enough to potentially have grandchildren. The Shakespeare crowd must be a bit older than what I'm used to seeing at Showcase Cinemas. They also seemed more calm about the whole "being in the opera house about to see a world famous play" thing. I was genuinely pumped to be there. After some people bought a few snacks or whatever, we entered the enormous concert hall. I later found out this is the larger of the two main venues at the opera house. The other is the slightly smaller opera theatre. 

Why was a play being performed in the concert hall instead of the theatre? I was about to find out. But first it was time to find our seats. How exciting. It was extremely important to me that I find the correct seats without getting lost. I never want to be the person walking around absentmindedly looking like a tourist more and more every second. Especially at the Sydney Opera House. I figured they wouldn't be good seats. We got them pretty cheap. But that wasn't the case (entirely). As we walked up the stairs, and then more stairs...and then some more stairs, I finally spotted our row. We sat and I was pleasantly surprised by our view. We could see the whole entire concert hall. AKA we were in the very last row. I chose to look at it like this: Other people have to turn around to see just how big the place is. I was able to take it all in right from the comfort of my forward-facing seat. I was also far away from anyone who could yell at me for taking pictures (which I hear is not allowed but I'm not even sure). They're probably on their way to arrest me right now for posting these next few photos. Note the lack of youth in the audience.

I'd like to thank ^this^  gentleman for standing and disrupting 

what otherwise would have been a flawless picture.

You might notice that the stage has no set. There's an orchestra right in the middle of it. Confusing. I thought we were seeing a play. Unfortunately, there were no crazy sets or costumes. The actors simply walked through the musicians and recited their lines. It was still an amazing show, but much of the creative potential that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has was stripped away by limiting the set like this. Still, the acting was great and they still managed to entertain me a bunch. Just watching the musicians play was something else. These are the professionals. I saw a very high quality show at one of the world's most famous venues. Maybe I'll go back to see something else that catches my eye. They have a Jerry Springer play showing there soon, no lie. The back row has my name all over it. 

A good way to tell how high you are on the obnoxious tourist scale is to see how long you stay after the show taking pictures outside. Since we were by far the last ones there, snapping away an hour or so after the last guests had left, I'd say we set a tourist record. You would have too if you were seeing the things we were seeing. I'll leave you with these nighttime photos to enjoy until I get around to my next entry. 

ADIOS