200 Years of Odessa Opera

You know what's worse than trying to convince your large group of friends to go see the ballet together? It's taking the abuse, finally talking them into it and then getting shot down at the box office. It was already sold out!

I'm sorry, I didn't know Hannah Montana was in this ballet.

The "Dave in a tutu" jokes only lasted for a few more days (that's the best you got?), but it was worth the ribbing just to try and check out Odessa's famed Opera and Ballet Theatre. This grand structure turned 200 this year, which attests to its history as one of the premiere stages in Eastern Europe. Over the centuries, this stage has hosted such talents (and spelling bee killers) as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Caruso, Chaliapin, Sobinov and Salomea Kruszelnicki.

The original opera house burnt down in the mid-19th century, but it was soon rebuilt by master architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who were already famous for their works in Dresden, Budapest, Zagreb and Vienna. The new season has officially kicked off, and while ballet tickets are harder to come by (since operas dominate the schedule), Ukraine takes its opera houses quite seriously so any performance will be amazing.