I went to a private high school in Mt. View, and was lucky to have an incredible drama department on campus that put on amazing stage productions twice a year. I'm talking musicals that could rival professional Broadway shows. During my freshman and sophomore years, I got to watch Linda Cardellini perform in various plays and musicals at school. She's best known for her roles as Lindsay the main freak on "Freaks and Geeks," Velma in the two "Scooby-Doo" movies, and as Samantha on "ER." But I think my favorite role of hers is Chutney, the daughter with the bad perm who is in cahoots with Enrique the gay pool boy on "Legally Blonde." Anyhow, I felt pretty fortunate to be among such talented thespians on campus, and never thought to see any of the shows outside of school. Even after moving back to the area when I graduated college, I never went to check out any performances at MVCPA, which had been newly built.
So last night, I was really excited to finally attend a show at MVCPA and see the Smuin Ballet perform. The Center is one of the nicest buildings you'll find on Downtown Castro. Our group of 8 had tickets that weren't all together but as close to each other as possible. I was worried that those with single tickets would be lonely. When I asked the woman at the ticket window if we could get some seats next to each other, she directed me to the manager, who was really accommodating. He sat 2 of us in the fourth row on the main floor, stage right. When we went in to find our seats, I was really surprised with how small the auditorium is. Our seats, although not all together, were actually quite close to each other because of how intimate the venue was. The view from the fourth row was really spectacular - I was truly mesmerized by the artists and how clearly I could see their chiseled bodies and facial features. During intermission, we noticed that one person in our group had three empty seats next to him, so 3 of us moved, and our group was seated back-to-back in 3 rows. It worked out perfectly. Although we were a bit further back, the seats were still great and we had more of a centered view.
Our group of yelpers were some of the youngest in the audience; the median age was probably 60. I'm not sure if that's the case at other shows, and if that is typical of shows put on by Smuin. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance, and I was disappointed that the audience wasn't more diverse. I feel like a lot of people are missing out.
After the show, a few of us wanted to get some food, and although Castro St is packed with restaurants, there were probably less than 5 places that were still open after 10pm. That was a major letdown. Though if you have time for dinner before a show, you will definitely have a ton of restaurants to choose from.
The Smuin Ballet's Winter Program, which is what we saw last night, was fantastic, and I'd highly recommend catching one of the remaining 5 shows before they leave. They will be back in May for their Spring Program, so you can still catch them then.
I'll definitely be back to see more shows at MVCPA, especially now that I don't have those top notch high school productions to look forward to. read more