San Francisco Ballet bursts into 2020

At last the San Francisco Ballet has returned to the stage at the War Memorial Opera House, commencing with their 75th anniversary performance of Nutcracker, North America’s first full-length production, a fact we SFB patrons are mighty proud of. The Nutcracker run has finished, alas, and as we burst into the New Year, my eye is now … Read more

SFB from Nuts to 2017

Okay, so I’ve reviewed San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker before. Like, well, five times. It’s a little humbling when you pen a shiny new review, only to discover that you’ve unwittingly used much of the exact same wording in past reviews. Actually, it’s embarrassing, or would have been, if I hadn’t caught myself before submitting THIS … Read more

10 Don Quixote ballet trivia bits

This article is about the ballet, Don Quixote, in general. Curious to read my review of the San Francisco Ballet’s February 26, 2022 performance at the War Memorial Opera House? Click HERE. Do you know your Don Quixote ballet trivia? So maybe you’ve seen the entire ballet, or plan to. Here are ten bits to entertain and … Read more

San Francisco Ballet and the (sorta) first Nutcracker

Willem Christensen and Gisella Caccialanza, 1944 It hadn’t been intended as a “timeless holiday classic,” that first year, on Christmas Eve day, 1944, when Willem Christensen, artistic director of the fledgling San Francisco Ballet, presented to audiences his complete, two-act Nutcracker production. He’d known he was doing something relatively new. The only other complete Nutcracker ballet outside Russia had been in … Read more

San Francisco Ballet’s Triple Treat: Maelstrom, Caprice, Rite of Spring

It was a night for music lovers, not just ballet lovers, last Saturday at the San Francisco Ballet. Beethoven’s Piano Trio no. 1, Saint Saens’ Symphony no. 2 (injected with the sublime 2nd movement from his Symphony no. 3) and Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring. We are so fortunate, we of the San Francisco … Read more