Classy Night on the Town

Posted By Lauren

Last night I saw George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Keller Auditorium. The performance was charming. I enjoyed it, although it can never be as good as when I was 8 years old in New York.

I’m not a great fan of the Keller Auditorium. It’s fairly ugly. As my friend and I settled into our seats, she remarked that it reminded her of her highschool auditorium, just on a larger scale. As I looked around I realized that it also had some marks of my highschool auditorium as well, and probably every high school auditorium built within the last 30 years. The light wood paneling, where there is wood, is cheap-looking, nothing nicer than you would expect to find in a small town theater or local parish. Most of the large Keller Auditorium is covered in odd white paneling with angular reliefs, turning the ceiling into a strange geometric landscape. These modern panels must make the auditorium very acoustically sound, but do nothing to awe the audience. When I can only afford the second balcony seats, I expect to see something delightful. And that doesn’t just include the show. I expect the theater to look classy and charismatic. I like dark-wood, red satin and velvet. Older theaters may not have the acoustic power of the Keller Auditorium, but the experience seems more authentic somehow.

Afterwards, my friend and I meandered to Ten 01, made infamous to me in a rant by Kyle. I agree with him, it’s pretty cramped, especially around the bar. Servers and customers alike kept bumping into purses on the floor or stepping on coats hung off chairs. But I appreciated the attempt to make lots of little nooks and crannies, where my friend and I could feel like we had staked out our own portion of the restaurant. As you come through the door of the restaurant, there is a table partitioned off on three and a half sides to your left. It acts like a semi-private dining room, but it looks somewhat like a shower stall. I don’t think I hated the layout as much as Kyle, despite making fun of a few things. I had a great meal there and loved being able to spy up into the glowing open upper balcony from the bar. I do agree that the long tube lights were a bad choice. While he says they look like empty toilet paper tubes, I disagree. I’m thinking half-full paper towl rolls. They have the dimpling and everything.

I should also note that I got some of the best service I have ever had at Ten 01.

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