Sydney Opera House

rbckim1

Is the 8th or the 9th day of the tour, the best day to get tickets for the Sydney Opera House? Does Tauck has access to discounted tickets? I am barely 5 ft so seeing the stage is always a challenge. I've looked at the seating chart and it appears that all the seats for the Playhouse are on one level. Yes?

rogfam

Will be on the same tour in Jan. and I booked two separate performances at the Opera House for the evenings of Day 8 & 9. Spoke with Tauck and these are the only two nights will there is not dinner with the tour.

The website is http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/homepage.aspx

I called the Opera House directly for the tickets, and the receptionist I spoke with was extremely helpful with specific seat suggestions. Used Skype for the calls.

crackers54

Either day works. Our include ticket was moved to our other night for those of us that had tickets on our 2nd night in Sydney. 2 ladies did a ballet the 1st night. When you do the tour you are offered half price tickets but that is on what is available. The people who bought them said was good for the symphony we saw. I had bought my tickets before leaving home.

paradox

For Jan 29,2015 opera performance, should tickets be purchased once we are in Sydney or ordered now?

rogfam

I suggest purchasing them before you leave for a better seat suggest. Just use their website.

jdurkin

rogfam wrote:

I suggest purchasing them before you leave for a better seat suggest. Just use their website.

And what a wonderful web site it is, too. There is a special, seasonal message from a very famous gentleman in a red coat. Well worth watching, even for big kids.

ORW

Do most men wear jackets for opera performances in February?

jdurkin

Well, knowing how strident some men are about these things, I googled Sydney Opera House Etiquette and found this:

http://australiatraveldestinations.net/australia/sydney-opera-house-etiquette/
and this:
http://www.marimari.com/content/australia/best_of/opera/main.html

I couldn't find anything on the Opera House site about dress & etiquette, per se. I would only suggest that as eluded to in the above articles, it depends very much on what type of performance you are attending and when that is. Dressing for the first night of the opera is a different kettle of fish to The Godfather Live or Eddie Izzard! Mind you, I think white tie and tails might work very well for Eddie! You will be in Sydney, after all, and Sydney is much less formal than you might think. More Vegas, if you like, in that if by some chance you did commit a social faux pas I doubt anyone would notice. I think you have more than enough leeway here to appease even the most militant of jacket deniers.

Cheers,

Jan

AlanS

Gotta keep my shoes on?!?!?!? Oh, darn!

rogfam

ORW wrote:

Do most men wear jackets for opera performances in February?

When I spoke to them I was told everything from sport jacket and tie to flip flops!

CAR

I bought tickets for the ninth evening of the February 2nd tour using the website. Madame Butterfly is the opera at that time. I found the website easy to use with a seating chart provided.

jdurkin

AlanS wrote:

Gotta keep my shoes on?!?!?!? Oh, darn!

Well, I guess you could take some pegs for your neighbours' optional use if you do quietly slip those tootsies free. Just sayin'...... )))))))))

crackers54

ORW wrote:

Do most men wear jackets for opera performances in February?

It is just like any play back home. Some go casual and some really dress up. I went on a week day so many came after work in whatever they wore to work that day.

joycesw

My husband refused to bring a jacket on this trip! He wore a dress shirt and slacks to the opera and was perfectly comfortable and not out of place at all. There was a cruise ship in the harbor that night, and I suspect the men in jackets were from the ship. About availability of tickets...I had the concierge purchase them for us as soon as they became available (La Traviata) months before. When we arrived, he offered to buy them back at double the price! I didn't take him up on it but wished I had purchased another set! Our seats were magnificent, as was the performance. No one else in our group was able to get tickets to the opera, but they did get tickets to the symphony and another smaller performance.

mjfromca

Just got back from Grand AU/NZ. The London Symphony was visiting while we were in Sydney, so tickets were sold out. Some in our group had bought tickets before the tour, but some were able to purchase on the day of the concert, due to last-minute cancellations. The Box Office told me to come downstairs to the Box Office around 6:45 or 7 PM for the 8 PM performance, tell them I wanted tickets, and there would be a special line to wait in. Some in our group got them this way. We got ours via the concierge calling the Box Office and then putting us in touch with them directly by phone as cancellations came in.

The acoustics are amazing, and the concert hall is spectacular. Dress varied from quite nice to casual (I'd say over half the men did not have jackets), but I did not see any shorts or jeans, it was nicer than that. Joycesw is right that a dress shirt and slacks for a man would be just fine, and a dress or just nice slacks and blouse for a woman would be fine too, though if you want to dress up, you can.