What a treat! I came to the Edmonton Opera for their 50th Anniversary and Opening night of Giacomo…read morePuccini's Madama Butterfly last Saturday. It was a package I had won through Yelp courtesy of Chateau LaCombe Hotel and Blue Sky Limos. This was my first time to the opera as an adult aside from field trips as a chitlin. You could certainly sense the excitement and magic in the air as we entered the Jubilee Auditorium all decked out to the nines! The opera itself was 2 hours and 20 minutes with a 20 minute intermission and the time just flew by! And in case you are nervous you won't understand the various languages, do not fret! The Edmonton Opera has a small screen above the stage that runs the translation in English during the performance! The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Edmonton Opera Chorus brought production alive with special help from many special cast members from abroad. Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) was performed by Anne Sophie Duprels from Paris. Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton was performed by Luciano Ganci. As an extra special treat, the Edmonton Opera flew in the original Madama Butterfly and Pinkerton from their debut performance 50 years ago in Edmonton for the Anniversary! Madama Butterfly also just celebrated it's 110th birthday of production this past February! My date and I were treated to cocktail hour before hand and during intermission in the Director's Circle downstairs. Post performance, we attended the cast party on the 1st floor where we got to meet some of the fantastic cast members and my husband even ran into an old music student of his that was in the Opera Chorus! Duchess Bake Shop catered the Cast Party with an amazing array of treats. I truly could not have envisioned a more magical night! Next season (staring in October 2014 and ending in April 2015) the Edmonton Opera is offering subscriptions to all three of their performances called the Great Escape with pricing for the subscription starting at only $96! I also checked out their website and noted they have student pricing available, too! The coming seasons will include Rossini's Barber of Seville (YAY!!!!), Mozart's Magic Flute, and Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor! I think I may have just found my Anniversary present for my husband but Shhh... Don't tell him ;-)

I love the opera... It's an ethereal dream like world where love, tragedy and comedy all collide…read moreunder a spectacular symphonic canopy. Attending the opera just makes you feel grand, it's a way of connecting to the past. I love that feeling of knowing that centuries of people have sat down to watch the same performance I'm about to see. I've been to a good handful of opera's put on by the Edmonton Opera accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra - I always leave with the best feeling; knowing that I have spent a wonderful evening full of magic, mystery and romance. I can't wait until the next one! Que le spectacle commence!

Easy online booking. Greeter checks your name at the door,…read moreand you walk right in. Perfectly nice foyer. Buy a delicious glass of wine at the concession and seat yourself. Comfortable theatre seats. Great viewing. One exit at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom. If you need to leave in the middle of an act ( I really had to go to the bathroom!!!) you will be escorted back to the upstairs theater entrance. No problem. Just a little eye rolling. Washrooms are clean and modern. Staff are terrific.

Been going here for years (started sometime in high school) and it hasn't changed a bit in quality…read moresince I left. Awesome improv on Friday and Saturday night and tickets are a steal for 2 hours of entertainment. Rapid Fire Theatre is the best - love the Whose Line is it Anyways game style that they use. Just went here to see two shows for the Improvaganza Festival (Wednesday - Opening Night and Saturday - Rapid Fire Theatre and The Gentleman's Club). Tickets were $10 and $15 respectively, worth every penny. Go while you still can! Perfect for a date or hang out with friends. Plus they have cheap drinks and candy (twizzler/nibs).

Shout out of gratitude to the awesome Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and their recent three night free…read moreoutdoor series for Edmontonians. This labour day weekend, the Symphony, with their corporate partners, hosted three outdoor performances. The Hubba Hubby and I were excited to take in Disney on Friday night and The McDades on Sunday. The Disney show was incredible - amazing music from some old and new favourites. And there were four vocalists as well - an unexpected treat and wow were they incredible. The woman who sang as Ariel was spot on. And Genie and Zazu were unbelievable. It was such a great experience with something like twelve thousand in attendance for the two performances. And partnering with the McDades Sunday night in Kinsmen park, under the High Level Bridge was another great experience. We were just wowed with the performances - great experiences! Huge thanks to them for sharing their talent.

So I've been to a few performances from ESO and I've got to say I've been impressed. Not only do…read morethey do a good job, but it seems like they are always trying different things. The recent Symphony in the City highlights this. We caught the Fantasia one at the beginning of September and it was delightful despite the weather being cold. The support for our ESO really amazed me with so many volunteers supporting it. Seating was first come first serve for the Symphony In the City and a lot of families get there early! They have a limited concession there for food and drinks and a few food trucks were there as well. Overall it was pretty awesome. And although the weather chased us away at intermission I couldn't help but bask in this ultimate sense of community in Churchill Square.

Both my children take ballet lessons and we love to show them what they can aspire to. We take in…read morethe Nutcracker every season and have been to a few other shows. The whole company is great, and I've always enjoyed the performances, but I've seen the National Ballet perform and I just can't give the AB 5 stars. Pricing is reasonable too; the Jubilee isn't a huge auditorium so the $50 seats are still pretty good. I believe the most expensive seats are around $120. They also take a keen interest before the show and during the intermission to provide entertainment for the kids. Arts and crafts, colouring, and my favorite a costuming area where kids can try on actual stage costumes.

My wife and I went to their dynamic directions. I would have to say that this was by far my best…read moreexperience in ballet. I've been to many productions and nothing ever captured my attention better than Wen Wei Wang's "Futureland." It was amazing ! The music, dance, costumes, lighting everything was perfect. It reminder me of a futuristic army in training or "dauntless" in the book trilogy divergent. It was edgy, dark and captivating. I loved every minute of it. Need to see more! The second act was witty and fun! The third act had some amazing solo dances.

Went with a few friends, none of us thought it was funny or good. It's was really bad and quite…read morefrankly, stupid. Also, having Jesus sing a song about children dying?? Huge thumbs down.

Such great improv, between actors who've been working together for years and who are also great…read morefriends. Some years have themes more attractive to me than others. This year, the scenes are set in the 1920s, very "Boardwalk Empire" of them. My favourite character ever? Jack Victor Sr. from three seasons ago. Although Jack Potts might rival him ... :) I'm proud to support these great actors with my business.

I really don't do Hollywood movies, so what I like about this theater is they do the International…read moreFilm Festival in the fall. Also, They just hosted the Lunchbox Shorts for Edmonton Downtown Dining. We had a great hour of food related films and for 15 bucks that also included a delicious burrito from Rostizado. Nice enough theater and really close to Fionn McCool's so you can go there for a drink later.

I had not been here to see a movie in years. But the movie we wanted to see was playing here and…read moreone other theatre. We went to a nearby restaurant and got the dinner and movie pass deal. It was Sunday night which is Senior's Day and it's great they have deals most days. It wasn't too busy, there were just two people in front of us to buy our tickets and concession had no line. It was nice to be able to select our seats too. The washrooms were clean and there were enough stalls so no line up. The movie poster for our theatre was incorrect, so some people were in the wrong theatre. It was the first evening movie and the theatre was clean and ample leg room. The cup holder was a bit sticky but not bad. Another minor issue was the AC was blowing down throughout the movie and I had my hoodie as I usually get cold in theatres but it was still minor annoyance. Good theatre and would see a movie again here if I was downtown.