by MacKenzie Geidt, Sunset assistant travel editor
Two confessions: 1) I like opera and 2) I'm a cheapskate. So this Friday night, June 20th, my love of opera and frugality merge, and you'll find me wrapped in a blanket on 3rd base of AT&T Park (home of the beloved San Francisco Giants) with a glass of wine and a picnic spread, watching a live simulcast of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. This beautiful combination is the phenomenon known as Opera in the Ballpark! (I'm making a more cultural appeal to get readers to the ballpark this time...)
The price: $0. It's FREE!! (but you can register in advance online and be let in early at 6:30 pm)
The time: 8 pm (doors open at 7 pm unless you pre-register)
The seats: in the stands and on the actual field. Sit at 2nd base if you want.
Photo by Terrence McCarthy
The story (who cares? it's free!): A woman goes insane when she's forced to marry the man she doesn't love. You gotta love operatic madness....if the photo below is any indication of what we're in for, this is gonna be good...
Photo by Robert Cahen
The eats: concession stands will be open (uh oh....do I smell garlic fries?) but you can also bring your own picnic (see their list of what's okay to bring into the park)
The sound: HI DEF live from War Memorial Opera House, projected onto a 3200-square-foot scoreboard
The Diva (in the title role of Lucia, featured above): the French superstar Natalie Dessay (not a case of fat ladies singing...she's a bombshell)
The language: Italian with English supertitles
The crowd: young and fun (don't let your preconceived notions about opera-goers deter you--opera is cool again)
Photo by Terrence McCarthy
The bottom line: be there on Friday night! Worth the trip. You get what you pay for, but in this case, you're getting much much more...
