San Francisco June 2012, opera and comedy

Comedy in San Francisco

A good friend has a favorite comedy group that we have been wanting to see together and this time all the stars aligned! E- and I went with Louis and his friends Sue and John to see 3 for all, an improv group, at Fort Mason.  We had a quick dinner at The Plant Cafe where everything is organic and non-red meat.  Reasonably priced and tasty-I would eat here again, though I won't specifically make a trip.

The comedy was definitely worthwhile and they have quite a fan base that shows up early to get the front seats and sell out venues quickly. They take suggestions from the audience to create short scenes in the first half and then a movie title that has never existed for the second half. During the short scenes one of the guys had a lovely song about tuna, to which the other fellow demanded he perform the mackerel song. Our movie was A Small Pudding and turned out to be a British turn of the century drama/romance. The three men each had to play 3-4 characters each-the four sisters, the father, son and aunt, the butler, school friends, and a dead mother. It is amazing to watch as they change parts rapidly, making up the story line as they go along!

Nixon in China by the San Francisco Opera

There are some live performances that are not staged very often, so when there is a chance, we jump on them.  Nixon in China is one of those performances.  I am usually the opera goer, but E- likes the modern stuff.  We saw the IU Bloomington version about 15 years ago and he bought the soundtrack.  So when I saw that the SF opera company was putting it on, I knew we had to go.

We had never been to the War Memorial Opera House and it is definitely worth a trip.  Gorgeous classic pillars, a great view off the balcony, plushy red seats and ornate fixtures.  The performance itself was also quiet good-staging was interesting (why does everyone always clap for the airplane?!?), costumes were spot on and the singing passed my (admittedly uneducated) standards.  We did sneak out after the second act because the third is pretty much guaranteed to put you to sleep-it is set in the bedrooms!  Even though I am glad I went, I am not about to sign up for a season pass.  It is a bit of a drive because you will always be in traffic.  The parking is bad and public transportation, though possible, is inconvenient.  The tickets are way more expensive than San Jose Opera and the crowd is a little dressier.

We did stay overnight in a fun spot.  A restaurant called Sauce, bought the upstairs, turned them into rooms and calls it Sleep Over Sauce.  The price is good for the area.  You can have a private or shared bath.  The feeling is relaxed and customized (we slept in the Haight room). And I have heard the food is good.  Sadly we did not get to try any good food because traffic was so bad we didn't have enough time.

I did see my favorite version of hotel shampoo and soap though!  The refillable container-yeah!  I do love to take home the little bottles of shampoo and bodywash.  But they are always a little wrong, the bottles are hard to use, and of course the waste of plastic is just a bad idea.

Best hotel soap-high quality in a refillable container.  Brand Name:  Simple Human

Fun customized soaps, but hard to open tops.

Worst hotel toiletries ever-hard to open and impossible to read

Nice idea-the brand name refers to the fact that 99% of their packaging contains 60% post-consumer content.  And the soap leaves out the part you never use, the middle!

Best for travel because you know the difference between shampoo and conditioner by shape!