Enjoy a Night at the Ballet! You will enjoy two (2) First Ring tickets at the Koch Theatre (New York State Theatre) for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at 7:30pm.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of his happiest and most loved comedies. It is called a "Dream" because of the unrealistic events the characters experience in the play — real, yet unreal, such as crossed lovers, meaningless quarrels, forest chases leading to more confusion, and magic spells woven by the infamous Puck. Balanchine had been familiar with Shakespeare’s play from an early age. As a child he had appeared as an elf in a production in St. Petersburg, and he could recite portions of the play by heart in Russian. Balanchine loved Mendelssohn’s overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (composed over a period of 15 years with the overture (Opus 21) first in 1826, and the other sections later in Opus 61). It is this score, Balanchine later said, that inspired his choreography. Mendelssohn had written only about an hour’s worth of music for the play, not enough for an evening-length dance work, so Balanchine added the following pieces, listed in the order of being played: Overture to Athalie, Opus 74; Overture to The Fair Melusine, Opus 32; excerpts from The First Walpurgis Night, Opus 60; Symphony No. 9 for Strings; Overture to Son and Stranger, Opus 89.

A lovely Night at the Ballet!

This package will be featured at our live event on Saturday, November 17, 2018. Online bidding for this item will end on Thursday, November 8, 2018. Please place a reserve bid if you don't want this prize to get away at the live event. Winners will be notified on Monday, November 19, 2018.