War Memorial Opera House

Purchased tickets through Ticketmaster to go watch The Nutcracker Ballet here in San Francisco. There was parking located near the theatre so luckily we found parking fairly easily.

The building has stairs and elevators that go to throughout all levels of it. We were seating in the higher balcony seating area and many workers were available to help show us to our seat. Although we were high above, we saw almost everything perfectly.

The show was amazing but next time I may pay more to have a better seat as some of the items through the ballet were too small to see.

In early June, my friend & I caught the American premier of "Innocence," a contemporary opera with a school shooting & a wedding at the center of its storyline. Composed by the late Kaija Saariaho, this opera is obviously devastating & not for the faint of heart. We sat at the front section of the dress circle. Our perspective, higher up & with a wide view of the entire stage, was perfect to take in the unique staging -- a constantly-spinning cube of rooms where different scenes took place. Sung in multiple language (English, Finnish, French, Romanian, etc), the English translation appears on a digital board above the stage. Short talks & Q&A were given before & after the show.

San Francisco is an impressive playground for the arts; War Memorial Opera House puts on diverse productions & is one of the most beautifully elegant venues. Short walk to the shops & restaurants in Hayes Valley; convenient to grab pre- or post-show bites & drinks. Closest parking lots are at 360 Grove or 355 McAllister.

Beautiful building to see the opera. Amazing architecture. We had great sight lines and the Opera House was amazing. Rest rooms will be a little tough of you are handicapped, and the access is not up to current code. Just incredible to look at the detail of the building and how well they have kept it up.

Lots of opera and music shows. I've been here for La Traviata, Tosca, Rheingold and more recently the nutcracker ballet. The inside has older seats and can be stuffy and hot. The performances can be hit or miss. Some are excellent others mediocre.

The nutcracker was excellent and reasonably priced this year. There are too many people who are looking at their phone, texting or showing up a half an hour late. These distractions can ruin the experience.

Beautiful venue!

Came here to see the "mere mortals" performance - and wow the acoustics and show was nothing short of perfection.

Would love to come back for another performance.

One of the nicer opera houses in the Bay Area. Spectators were well-dressed. Full house on a weekend. Wonderful architecture. Talented performers. Use Uber/Lyft if you don't want to deal with the parking situation in San Francisco.

I had discount tickets to the ballet. The elevator was stuck on the 3rd floor, so i decided to take the stairs. Five flights of stairs later, i finally got to the balcony level. Whew! Got my steps in.
I didn't get anything to eat or drink, but they actually serve dinner on the lowest level.

You'd better be on time. Even a minute late and they will make you watch standing from the back for the first half of the show, anywhere between 1 and 2 hours.
Also, our seats had an awkward viewing angle of the subtitles which was pretty annoying

I went to see an opera. It's the first time since Covid. Theater is still as pretty as ever. The opera was sung in German. English translations were in the middle of the stage above the curtains. I found this very distracting. My eyes had to move up and down. Prior to Covid, translations were on the side walls which is much easier on the eye by going sideways instead of up and down. I found an interesting musical instrument. It's the same instrument that is in the movie Miss6 Congeniality. There is a full service restaurant and bar on the lower level. It's a little pricey but it's convenient if you want a pre-opera dinner.

This is a lovely old building, around 91 years old at the time of this review. It certainly doesn't feel 91 years old once you are inside.

There are plenty of restrooms and bars, on every floor, and this should be appreciated by all.

Sight lines inside the theater portion are not bad at all and the acoustics are good.

We came for the San Francisco Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker so they obviously do more than just opera here. In fact, based on their calendar of events, opera performances may be the minority of what they do here.

The lobby is absolutely beautiful and it's definitely worth visiting the building a little earlier than your performance to explore this architectural gem. The website is pretty decent and is worth checking out for some tips on getting around and what to see.