But Soft! What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?

It is... my ankle? Well, ok I didn't break it, just sprained it. The right one; the ol' "football" injury.

I had tickets to the ballet today ("Romeo and Juliet" - in case you missed my turn of phrase above), so I got gussied up for church, so I could just drop everyone off at home and head out from there.

As I was walking Baby R back into the house, my boot caught in the driveway and rolled my ankle. Tears, muffled swearing, a change of shoes, and a makeshift ice pack later, I left the house.

I had invited my mom to church to get her out into more social situations (an update there is overdue), and then went across town to lunch at the house of one of the girls I attend the shows with. I had to stop for gas, so I waited til I was across state line since it's cheaper. When I got out of the car, I accidentally locked my keys in. No, no, no!

DH had been super sweet and started my car for me this morning since I was running late. With his key. Which is the spare key. I was going to have to call a locksmith. Again. As if we have $100. to throw around!

I knew DH would be super pissed at me. I called him and then went to find a phone book in the QT. I called my friend to let her know I'd be late (if I made it at all). Then DH called me back and told me to check the back door first. It's been sticking and not always locking or unlocking. I said a quick prayer - well more of a desperate plea; you know how those moments are. I tried the handle, and it worked! God bless broken things!

My friend had made a lovely lunch of homemade sweet potato corn chowder and grilled cheese (a fancy version, both of which were AWESOME), and then we headed downtown.

Not being familiar with how the highway linked up from her side of town, and since she hadn't been to the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts yet, I called my dad for suggestions en route. This turned out to be a mistake that took us longer and through a less than desirable part of town. But we finally got there.

If you aren't seated when the show starts, you have to wait for intermission. We got to the parking garage five minutes before show time. Our seats are seventh floor balcony. We hustled as fast as I could with my weak ankle, and barely made it in time, our other friend entering right behind us (she had driven back from Wichita this morning).

The performance was lovely. The sets were gorgeous, the woman who portrayed Juliet was enchanting, and we had a lovely time.

As we left, we stopped on the third level down of the parking garage and said farewell to the friend who had met us there. Then we realized we had no idea which level we had parked on. We had been so worried about getting inside, neither of us had paid attention. I was pretty sure it was that level, so we walked about halfway across, and I hit the panic button on my key fob. The alarm went off. On a different level.

We quickly went upstairs to kevel two. Nope, that wasn't it. So we went back down. Once I had turned the alarm on, I couldn't seem to get within a range that would allow me to shut it off again. We were everyone's worst nightmare. Finally, we got all the way down to the fourth level and found my van.

Certainly a memorable trip. But I so love the ballet; it was definitely worth it!

World Premier of "Tom Sawyer" Ballet

The "Tom Sawyer" ballet world premier at the new Kauffman Center was fantastic! Magnificent sets, lights, costumes - it was very professional. They seem to have stepped it up a notch from when it was at the Lyric Opera House.


The opening scene with whitewashing the fence was a bit long, but other than that I LOVED the first act. It was highly entertaining. The second act I would have eliminated except for the firefly dance and combined it with the third act. And the courtroom scene in the third act was not very good. I spent a good part of the time trying to remember the plot (I think I was mixing up "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"). I wish the whole thing would have been as good as the first act, but overall it was still excellent.

And the Kauffman Center is gorgeous! It reminds me of the Sydney Opera House on the outside, the Guggenheim on the inside and the Sprint Center with the angled windows.

The terrace outside Balcony 7 where our seats were.

Looking down from the terrace.

 
In the auditorium, I love the purple curtain and the red seats. I could do without the orange seats and the weird multi-colored panels on the walls behind the blind-like elements, but it didn't bother me that much when it was full of people. We have seats in the top balcony, but they didn't feel really far away - just really high. But the view was still fantastic.

The view from our seats.

Oh, and they don't sell snacks - only beverages. It wasn't a big deal Sunday since we went in the afternoon, but we used to go on Thursday night, and we would go to dinner first, then not get dessert, so we could split something during intermission at the Lyric. I understand why they would want to limit that kind of thing, though, since it's so clean and beautiful now. We're going to have to be on the ball from now on; late arrivals will not be seated until intermission. However, they do have a screen at the door so you can at least see it on TV. If you get a chance, I highly recommend you visit the Center and catch a performance by the Kansas City Ballet.