Sneaking In

Take a step back in time with me. In reporting on our Hanzhou adventure, I inadvertantly skipped one of our major activities in Shanghai -- a Chinese acrobat show. When I left off the report of our rainy day, we were sprinting out the door to try to make the show on time.

Well, seeing as how it was pouring down rain, it took us 20 minutes to get a cab. And then it took us another 30 minutes to get to the theater, by which time it was 8:00, 30 minutes after the show had started. But I thought we could maybe get in during intermission, so we headed upstairs to the show area, anyway.

To my surprise, there was nobody selling tickets outside the theater, nor was there a booth for ticket sales. Even more surprising, there was nobody checking tickets at the door. So Ben and I just walked right in.

And sat down in two empty seats in the back. The theater was dark and the show was in progress, and nobody said a word (some people actually entered the theater even later than us). I'd never before snuck into a theater without paying, but somehow ended up doing just that.

Ironically enough, I was glad that we hadn't paid (the tickets were I think around $20). The show was okay, but not nearly as good as I was expecting or hoping. It had kind of an unnecessary modern touch (some boy band music and a few performances with funky costumes), and I was shocked at the number of times that the performers messed up on some of the key things (juggling, jumping through hoops, etc.) It wasn't nearly as good as I remember the troupe I saw 11 years ago in Beijing being. But, I guess I can't really complain, 'cause it was free....