This Friday, Houston Ballet will open its season with "The Merry Widow." Here's the listing on our Calendar:

Houston Ballet

If you go -- and we've had several Houston Balletgoers here! -- don't be shy. Tell us how it went.

Reviews and media impressions can be found at http://blogs.chron.com/aboutlastnight/2007...ry_widow_1.html , http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/ar...ce/5096989.html . A brief detail on the costumes... http://houstonballet.wordpress.com/2007/08...dye-fit-repeat/

Has anyone seen this personally?

Is it worth seeing?

I saw the Sunday matinee performance with Mimi Hassenboehler and Nick Leschke in the lead roles. They were both amazing, I thought. Sharon Teague and Ian Cassidy were Valencienne and her lover. I had never seen Sharon dance a lead role before and her pas in the 2nd act was well performed and well received by the audience. I found the costuming and the staging to be quite beautiful -- especially the act in the ballroom. Very turn-of-the-century Paris. I had never seen a ballet performed in only long gowns before. Found it to be a bit distracting, honestly. I kept wanting to see the legs more and not just the dresses, although the hundreds of yards of glittery, swirling fabric was pretty mesmerizing. Also found myself wondering how hard that must've been on the dancers' lower backs. There was a bit of prop dropping going on (mostly the papers in the first act, first scene). I found myself bracing that no one would slip and fall on a stray one. But the drops were handled well enough. Wish I could've seen the performance where Connor Walsh was promoted to principal, but alas.

All in all, a good performance. I think Houstonians really enjoyed this one. I certainly did -- 200-mile drive to get there notwithstanding!