As usual, the new season of San Francisco Ballet (SFB) will begin next month with a little over three week’s worth of performances of Helgi Tomasson’s choreography for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet score. This will be followed by the 92nd Season Opening Night Gala on January 22. After that, SFB will settle into its annual season of six programs, three of which will be full-length performances of a single ballet.
This year will mark the twentieth anniversary of Tomasson’s staging of this seasonal tradition. The production will be given 37 performances. As usual, the cast will be augmented by the usual 110 SFB School children, performing as bugs, soldiers, mice, and partygoers. Similarly, the setting will remain San Francisco in 1915 during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The scenery has been designed by Michael Yeargan, Martin Pakledinaz conceived the rich diversity of costumes, and lighting was designed by James F. Ingalls. The full list of performance dates and times is as follows:
- Friday, December 6, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 7, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 10, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, December 11, 6 p.m.
- Thursday, December 12, 6 p.m.
- Friday, December 13, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 14, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Sunday, December 15, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 17, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, December 18, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Friday, December 20, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 21, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Sunday, December 22, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Monday, December 23, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 24, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Thursday, December 26, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Friday, December 27, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 28, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Sunday, December 29, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
All performances will take place in the War Memorial Opera House, which is on the northwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street (across Grove from Davies Symphony Hall). A single Web page has been created for purchasing tickets for all of the above dates and times. There is also a single Web page that provides casting information (which is subject to change) for the leading roles, again for all of the above dates and times. Tickets may also be purchased at the Box Office in the outer lobby of the Opera House or by calling 415-865-2000. The Box Office is open for ticket sales Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
SFB Artistic Director Tamara Rojo (from her Instagram Web page)
Dates for the season performances next year have been set as follows:
- January 24–February 1: Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon is a three-act ballet based on the novel Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost.
- February 13–19: Cool Britannia will survey recent works by British choreographers: Christopher Wheeldon (“Within the Golden Hour”), Wayne McGregor (“Chroma”), and Akram Khan (“Dust”).
- March 1–8: Marius Petipa conceived Raymonda as a three-act ballet named after a young noble lady. The narrative concerns the men that vie for her hand in marriage. However, Artistic Director Tamara Rojo has reworked the plot to model the title character on Florence Nightingale and the role she played during the Crimean War.
- March 20–26: SFB will revive the performance of Frankenstein, a full-evening ballet based on the novel by Mary Shelley and choreographed by Liam Scarlett.
- April 5–19: This program will be a tribute to Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen, performing four of his works: “Solo,” “5 Tango’s,” “Grosse Fuge,” and “Variations for Two Couples.”
- April 8–18: Frederick Ashton’s “Marguerite and Armand,” originally created for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, will return to the SFB repertoire; it will be coupled with a revival of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Broken Wings.”
- April 26–May 4: This will be a second round of performances of Frankenstein.
Tickets may be purchased through the above hyperlinks. Box Office hours are the same as for the Nutcracker performances.
