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If you can help me, then explain; if you can’t, then keep your mouth shut!
- Siegfried, unknowingly, to Wotan, his grandfather
We start with a calendar with report times, Tuesdays through Sundays.
Ushers report to the Opera House 1.5 hr before the start of a performance. Ushers are asked to say goodbye to patrons at their assigned post for up to 10 minutes after final curtain.
PLEASE NOTE: The Cycle 2 Götterdämmerung on Sunday, June 24, takes place during the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade, which occupies the Civic Center, and much of Market Street and MUNI. Traffic, parking, and taxi-service will be affected. Even walking to the Opera House may be challenging.
A Q&A from the ushers’ & House Manager's perspective.
A Q&A from the ushers’ & House Manager's perspective.
A big thank-you to Theresa, for collecting and collating questions from ushers about Ring volunteering.
It turns out that there are 9 Valkyries and basically 9 questions.
Q. What are the run times and intermission times for each opera?
Approximate running times for the four parts of the Ring are:
Das Rheingold - in one act: 2 hours 35 minutes, with no intermission
Die Walküre - 4 hours 30 minutes, including 2 intermissions [Act 1, 65 min. - Act 2, 95 min. - Act 3, 75 min.]
Siegfried - 4 hours 50 minutes, including 2 intermissions [Act 1, 85 min. - Act 2, 80 min. - Act 3, 85 min.]
Götterdämmerung - 5 hours 10 minutes, including 2 intermissions [Act 1, 125 min. - Act 2, 70 min. - Act 3, 80 min.]
Intermissions will probably be 20 minutes with the second one 15 or 20 minutes.
End-times (approximate) for the parts of the three public Cycles starting June 12, 19, and 26:
Das Rheingold - 10:10pm (Tuesdays, June 12, 19, and 26)
Die Walküre - 11:35pm (Wednesdays, June 13, 20, and 27)
Siegfried - 11:25pm (Fridays, June 15, 22, and 29)
Götterdämmerung - 6:15pm (Sundays, June 17 and 24, July 1)
Q: Will ushers be able to take a break if there is a very long act?
Das Rheingold is in one act over 2 hours long.
Götterdämmerung has a first act over 2 hours long.
Yes, ushers can take breaks during the long acts.
Q: Where can ushers find food/snack/drinks during the show? Will ushers receive discounted pricing?
Snacks and water will be provided to all ushers for Friday and Sunday performances. The snack bars on the Lower Level and Dress Circle have available coffee, bottled water, and sandwiches at reduced prices for volunteer ushers. If you need a full meal you should plan on bringing something to supplement.
Q: Is there any special dress code for ushers?
Dress Code is the standard one.
Q: If the house is sold out, will ushers have a place to sit during the performance?
Ushers will be able to sit on the side stairs in Dress Circle and Balcony, or at the OperaVision monitors.
Q: What are the Opera Gift Shop hours?
The gift shop on the South Mezzanine level will be open 90 minutes before performances, during intermissions, and for 20 minutes afterward. There will also be a mini-shop in the Main Lobby and possibly in the Dress Circle lobby.
Q: What are the options for public transportation at the end of a performance and how late do they operate?
BART: at Civic Center station.
Please note: The last East Bay/Northbound BART train departs Civic Center at 12:20am and the last Southbound SFO Airport train departs 1:08am.
Limited trans-Bay late-night bus service is available from Market and 7th Streets via AC Transit 800 line. Visit the All Nighter site for schedules and more information.
MUNI: at Civic Center or Van Ness stations.
Nearest bus routes are #5 Fulton, #21 Hayes, #47 Van Ness or #49 Van Ness-Mission.
The #90 is an OWL route that runs about every 25 minutes all night, starting around 12:45pm. The other routes operate [sic] until about 12:30am.
Construction on Van Ness Avenue may impact travel time and bus lines 47, 49 and 90.
The Chariot shuttle to the Civic Center BART and MUNI station will be running after performances (but not on Pride Sunday, June 24).
Q: What are the locations and operating hours of nearby parking garages?
You can see the Opera’s page on parking HERE, with recommendations.
The 1455 Market Street Garage is not available on Friday, June 15.
The Civic Center and UC Hastings garages will be closed on Pride Sunday, June 24.
The Opera is also touting an app called SpotHero to reserve Ring parking. Visit HERE or call (415) 865-9511 for more information. Parking through SpotHero is not available for Siegfried on June 15.
Q: Are there any outreach/community events available to help ushers learn about The Ring?
SF Opera has an updated page of Ring-related events that run through July. Click HERE to see it! There’s information about a slew of presentations: be puzzled no longer (unlike the Valkyries, photographed here by Cory Weaver during SF Opera’s 2011 presentation of Die Walküre).
Jamye(Posted 5/3; rev. 5/12, 5/15, 6/2)
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