It started innocuously enough.. my friend picked us up some tickets available through a early private pre-sale thing, to go see Jimmy Carr on the 22nd January at Brisbane City Hall. She got on the phones as soon as they were available and we scored tickets in the second or third row if memory serves – which is a sort of dubious position to be in given the amount of audience participation at Jimmy Carr shows, but time will tell. I am really looking forward to it – he’s like a one man game of Cards Against Humanity! 🙂
Not long after that it was ‘hey, Opera Australia are doing Opera on the Beach next year’, so tickets were acquired for The Magic Flute next May… yah, Mozart under the stars with comfy chairs (somewhere in the red section), lots of wine, good company and gourmet hampers. Sounds like lots of fun. 🙂
Then I saw that the new Cirque show, Amaluna was going to be in New York City! And waited desperately for several weeks for dates to be released to see if they would coincide with our planned travels for next year. Eventually dates for NY were released and squeals of delight were heard all over the house and tickets were promptly booked to go even though we hadn’t booked flights or anything else yet! ‘Cos that’s just how I roll… book my Cirque tickets first and then plan the rest of my travel around that.
What was after that? I think it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. A couple of friends reported going and said that it was fabulous. I was already toying with the idea of taking the Small Child – just to get a bit more culture stuffed into him… a bit of musical theatre can’t hurt! – and their recommendation sold the plan. Managed to get us two tickets to a Friday afternoon matinee session on the 20th of December and I’m really looking forward to it. We’re in the front row of the first balcony, so let’s hope he hasn’t inherited his father’s fear of heights!
Then I went and booked some tickets to go see La Nouba in Orlando while we are in the States… because, well if I have to go do all the space stuff in Cape Canaveral and Orlando isn’t that far away, we might as well get another Cirque show in, right?
Then just yesterday I decided I could take Mum and Great Gran to go see The King and I for Christmas (don’t worry – neither of them read this blog!), so I bought tickets for that which is… looking, looking… April 29th for next year! For the first time in years I bought tickets in the stalls – no opera which means no surtitles, no flying cars in the plot which means no potential aerobatics, and so in the stalls we are! About eighth or ninth row towards the centre. 🙂
So, what’s left? Well, I still need to book tickets for Ka in Las Vegas (Take Two!, hopefully we will get to see it this time). Tickets for Beatles Love in Las Vegas maybe, and potentially tickets for Varekai in Beaumont Texas… Keith is threatening me with tickets to ice hockey games *groan* but I am going to see what I can do to get out of that. Still, sooo many tickets! What’s a girl to do!
UPDATE:
I’ve been busy booking more tickets – this time for Vegas. We have got tickets booked for Penn and Teller, because I really think this is something that Mr K will enjoy. Personally I have no idea, though I do find it kinda odd that their seating plan is arse about and the stage is at the top of the picture. 😀
And… We also have tickets for Ka! Yep, second time is a charm, I am hoping. After missing out during my last trip to Las Vegas, I am really looking forward to going and seeing this. Fourth row, centre! Awesome.
And because I am in Las Vegas, and it is the best show in town, I decided to go see ‘O’ again. Mr K wasn’t interested… I know! What is wrong with this man?!? So I am going on my ownsome and leaving him to gamble. Could be dangerous – the gambling that is.
But wait! There’s more! While we are in New York and in a most fortuitous turn of events, it appears that one of my favourite operas is on – La Bohéme at running at the Metropolitan Opera. The Met Opera House at the Lincoln Centre is HUGE, and tickets are beyond ridiculously expensive so we are going to be sitting in the Dress Circle where you can nab a seat for around $150-$200 each, and unfortunately for Mr K, this is the third balcony… which might be a tad interesting given his severe aversion to heights! 😀
No doubt this means I am going to have to rethink my wardrobe choices for our trip. It’s going to be cold and for me that means casual because Brisbanites are not normally people who own lots of evening wear for cold weather! And, I’m not so sure the regular Met Opera patrons would appreciate a couple of random Australians rocking up in jeans and sneakers and hoodies!
UPDATE:
OMG… I knew this was going to cost me, only I thought it would just be money. Mr K is retaliating for all this culture and opera and theatre and stuff and it involves… (Oh the abject horror of it all!)… attending sporting events! I obviously didn’t think this through. O_o
First he’s booked tickets to go see the Washington Capitals play the Vancouver Canucks (which I think is ice-hockey, but I could be wrong) for March 16th at the Verizon Centre in Washington. From what I understand he’s got good seats (Section 121, Row E, Seats 1&2)… something to do with being towards the centre and his team aiming for that end twice?!? I can smell the beer swilling, nacho munching puck-heads from here!
He’s still at it though! Apparently his favourite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs (I hate them already… don’t they know it should be Leaves not Leafs!) are playing against the New Jersey Devils while we are in New York. Now ordinarily, I’d say ‘Newark isn’t in New York, hon.’ and hope he’d drop it. But apparently the trains are really good so it’s not that long to get out there and oh well, I am dragging him to Flushing to see Amaluna, so we are going. Seats this time determined by ‘getting as close to the boards’ as possible.
Also, he says the Leafs (*twitch twitch*) are playing quite well at the moment, so there is a good chance they will win this game, but we can’t gloat about it if they do or we will never make it out of New Jersey alive! Fuck me dead! Maybe I better get myself a HockeyRoos jersey or something.
Awww, shit. Apparently there’s more… the Boston Celtics are playing the Chicago Bulls while we are in Boston. Now, I am pretty sure that is basketball and if it gets me out of a baseball games that goes for god knows how many hours, then I am in. 🙂 Celtics are sitting 8th in their division (at the moment, this of course could change) and the Bulls are just outside that… so fighting to get into the play offs. This one I can get behind – at least I know the damn rules! 🙂 Unfortunately though, with two such well known teams, tickets are at absolute sandy lube, arse rape prices (up to $620pp)… so it’s up in the nose bleed section of the bleachers for us.
According to the all knowing Interwebs, the view will be something like this, (but a little more central), so not as bad as I thought and will definitely fun to just be there. Seeing we will be sitting in an entire house of Celtics fans, I think I’ll root for the Chicago Bulls. 😛
Fingers crossed, that is it for the Operation Opera Retaliation. :/