The Performing Arts

The Seattle Symphony performs downtown in Benaroya Hall, but the main venues for the performing arts in Seattle are primarily clustered at Seattle Center, the special-events complex built for the 1962 World's Fair. Here, in the shadow of the Space Needle, are Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Bagley Wright Theatre, Intiman Playhouse, Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Center Coliseum, and Memorial Stadium.

Opera & Classical Music

The Seattle Opera (tel. 800/426-1619 or 206/389-7676; www.seattleopera.org), which performs at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, is considered one of the finest opera companies in the country and is the Wagnerian opera company in the U.S. Wagner's four-opera The Ring of the Nibelungen is a breathtaking spectacle that draw crowds from around the country. Wagner's magnum opus will once again be staged in 2009, although tickets are always very hard to come by. In addition to such classical operas as Carmen and Parsifal, the regular season usually includes a more contemporary production. Ticket prices range from around $25 to more than $133.

The 90-musician Seattle Symphony (tel. 866/833-4747 or 206/215-4747; www.seattlesymphony.org), which performs at the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall, offers an exceedingly diverse season that runs from September to July. There is a little something for every type of classical-music fan, including evenings of classical, light classical, and pop music, plus afternoon concerts, children's concerts, guest artists, and more. Ticket prices range from $17 to $95.

Theater

Mainstream Theaters -- The Seattle Repertory Theatre (tel. 877/900-9285 or 206/443-2222; www.seattlerep.org), which performs at the Bagley Wright and Leo K. theaters, both at Seattle Center, 155 Mercer St., is Seattle's top professional theater and stages the most consistently entertaining productions in the city. The Rep's season runs from September to May, with 9 or 10 plays staged in the two theaters. Productions range from classics to world premieres. Tickets go for $15 to $59. When available, rush tickets are distributed half an hour before show time for $20.

With a season that runs from March to December, the Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center, 201 Mercer St. (tel. 206/269-1900; www.intiman.org), keeps Seattle theater-goers happy during those months that the Seattle Rep's lights are dark. Ticket prices range from $34 to $50.

A Contemporary Theatre (ACT), Kreielsheimer Place, 700 Union St. (tel. 206/292-7676; www.acttheatre.org), performing in the historic Eagles Building theater adjacent to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, offers slightly more adventurous productions than the other major theater companies in Seattle, though it's not nearly as avant-garde as some of the smaller companies. ACT also puts on Seattle's annual staging of A Christmas Carol. The season runs from March to December. Ticket prices usually range from $15 to $55.

Although the Seattle Shakespeare Company, Center House Theatre, Seattle Center (tel. 206/733-8222; www.seattleshakes.org), is neither very large nor very well known even in Seattle, it has been staging productions of the bard's plays for almost 20 years. The season, which runs from October to June, includes three plays by Shakespeare plus a couple of other productions. Tickets run $16 to $36.

Tickets, Please -- For half-price, day-of-show tickets (and 1-day advance tickets for matinees) to a wide variety of performances, stop by Ticket/Ticket (tel. 206/324-2744; www.ticketwindowonline.com), which has four sales booths in the Seattle area: one in Pike Place Market, one in downtown's Pacific Place mall, one on Capitol Hill, and one in Bellevue. The Pike Place Market location, in the Pike Place Market information booth at First Avenue and Pike Street, and the Pacific Place location are both open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm. The Capitol Hill booth is in the Broadway Market, 401 Broadway E., open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 7pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. The Bellevue booth is in the Meydenbauer Center, 11100 NE Sixth St. (at 112th Ave.), and is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm. They charge a small service fee, depending on the ticket price.

Fringe Theater -- Not only does Seattle have a healthy mainstream performing-arts community, but it also has the sort of fringe theater once associated only with such cities as New York, Los Angeles, London, and Edinburgh. The city's more avant-garde performance companies frequently grab their share of the limelight with daring, outrageous, and thought-provoking productions.

Check the listings in Seattle Weekly or the Friday Seattle Times "Ticket" entertainment guide to see what's going on during your visit. The following venues are some of Seattle's more reliable places for way-off-Broadway productions, performance art, and spoken-word performances:

• Book-It Repertory Theater, Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St. (tel. 206/216-0833; www.book-it.org). This theater troupe specializes in adapting literary works for the stage and works by local playwrights. Most performances are held at Seattle Center.
• Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St. (tel. 206/233-9873; www.rebarseattle.com). Although this is primarily a nightclub popular with the Seattle gay crowd, it is also a performance-art center that stages unusual productions; some pretty outrageous stuff makes it to the stage here.
• Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse, 7312 W. Green Lake Dr. N. (tel. 206/524-1300; www.seattlepublictheater.org). Seattle Public Theater stages a range of comedies and dramas at the old Green Lake bathhouse. The location right on the lake makes this a great place to catch some live theater.
• Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave. (tel. 206/324-5801; www.schmeater.org). Lots of weird and sometimes wonderful comedy, including ever-popular live stagings of episodes from The Twilight Zone and an annual summertime outdoor performance at the amphitheater in Volunteer Park.

Dance

Although it has a well-regarded ballet company and a theater dedicated to contemporary dance and performance art, Seattle is not nearly as devoted to dance as it is to theater and classical music. That said, hardly a week goes by without some sort of dance performance being staged somewhere in the city. Touring companies of all types, the University of Washington Dance Department faculty and student performances, the UW World Series, and the Northwest New Works Festival all bring plenty of creative movement to the stages of Seattle. Check Seattle Weekly or the Seattle Times for a performance calendar.

The Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer St. (tel. 206/441-2424; www.pnb.org), is Seattle's premier dance company. During the season, which runs from September to June, the company presents a range of classics, new works, and (the company's specialty) pieces choreographed by George Balanchine. Their performance of The Nutcracker, with sets designed by children's book author Maurice Sendak, is the highlight every season. The Pacific Northwest Ballet performs at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center. Tickets range from $20 to $150.

Adventurous choreography is the domain of On the Boards, The Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance, 100 W. Roy St. (tel. 206/217-9888; www.ontheboards.org), which, although it stages a wide variety of performance art, is best known as Seattle's premier modern-dance venue. In addition to dance performances by Northwest artists, there are a variety of productions each year by internationally known performance artists. Most tickets are $18 to $24.

Major Performance Halls

With ticket prices for shows and concerts so high these days, it pays to be choosy about what you see, but sometimes the venue is just as important. Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Symphony's downtown home, has such excellent acoustics that a performance here is worth attending simply for the sake of hearing how a good symphony hall should sound. Seattle also has two restored historic theaters that are as much a part of a performance as what happens onstage.

Benaroya Hall (tel. 206/215-4747; www.seattlesymphony.org), on Third Avenue between Union and University streets in downtown Seattle, is the home of the Seattle Symphony. This state-of-the-art performance hall houses two concert halls -- the main hall and a smaller recital hall. It's home to the Watjen concert organ, a magnificent pipe organ, as well as a cafe, a symphony store, and a pair of Dale Chihuly chandeliers. Amenities aside, the main hall's excellent acoustics are the big attraction.

The 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave. (tel. 888/584-4849 or 206/625-1900; www.5thavenuetheatre.org), which opened its doors in 1926 as a vaudeville house, is a loose re-creation of the imperial throne room in Beijing's Forbidden City. Don't miss an opportunity to attend a performance here. Broadway shows are the theater's mainstay; ticket prices usually range from $25 to $77.

The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St. (tel. 206/467-5510; www.theparamount.com), one of Seattle's few historic theaters, shines with all the brilliance it had when it first opened in 1928. The theater hosts everything from rock concerts to Broadway musicals. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Affiliated with the Paramount Theatre, the Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave. (tel. 206/467-5510; www.themoore.com), in Belltown, gets lots of national rock acts that aren't likely to draw quite as many people as bands that play at the Paramount. Dating back to 1907, this is the oldest theater in Seattle.

Performing-Arts Series

When Seattle's own resident performing-arts companies aren't taking to the dozens of stages around the city, various touring companies from around the world are. If you're a fan of Broadway shows, check the calendars at the Paramount Theatre and the 5th Avenue Theatre, both of which regularly serve as Seattle stops for touring shows.

The UW World Series (tel. 800/859-5342 or 206/543-4880; www.uwworldseries.org), held at Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus, is actually several different series that include chamber music, classical piano, world dance, and world music and theater. Together these four series keep the Meany Hall stage busy between October and May. Special events are also scheduled. Tickets go for $32 to $45. The box office is at 4001 University Way NE, which is off campus.

New and avant-garde performances are the specialty of the Northwest New Works Festival (tel. 206/217-9888; www.ontheboards.org), an annual barrage of contemporary dance and performance art staged each spring by On the Boards.

Summer is a time of outdoor festivals and performance series in Seattle, and if you're in town during the sunny months, you'll have a wide variety of alfresco performances from which to choose. The city's biggest summer music festivals are the Northwest Folklife Festival, over Memorial Day weekend, and Bumbershoot, over Labor Day weekend.

At Woodland Park Zoo (tel. 206/548-2500; www.zoo.org/zootunes), the Zoo Tunes concert series brings in more big-name performers from the world of jazz, easy listening, blues, and rock. Tickets go for $17 to $30; bear in mind that they usually sell out almost as soon as they go on sale in early May.

North of Seattle, in Woodinville, Summer Concerts at the Chateau, 14111 NE 145th St. (tel. 425/415-3300 for information, or 206/628-0888 for tickets; www.ste-michelle.com), is the area's most enjoyable outdoor summer concert series. It's held at Chateau Ste. Michelle's amphitheater, which is surrounded by beautiful estate-like grounds. This is Washington's largest winery, so plenty of wine is available. The lineup is calculated to appeal to the 30- to 50-something crowd (past performers have included Mark Knopfler, James Taylor, B. B. King, and the Gipsy Kings. Ticket prices usually range from $40 to $100, with a few shows each summer priced a bit higher.

At the summertime Concerts at Marymoor, 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Pkwy. NE (tel. 206/628-0888; www.concertsatmarymoor.com), at Marymoor Park, 20 to 30 minutes east of Seattle at the north end of Lake Sammamish, you can expect the likes of Willie Nelson and Prairie Home Companion. Tickets for most shows are between $30 and $70, although prices sometimes go higher.

The White River Amphitheatre, 40601 Auburn-Enumclaw Rd., Auburn (tel. 360/825-6200; www.whiteriverconcerts.com), is the Seattle area's top amphitheater and pulls in big-name rock bands. Ticket prices can be anywhere from $25 to around $125, with the lowest prices being space on the lawn. The amphitheater is on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, 35 miles southeast of Seattle.

Then, of course, there's Seattle's ever popular Shakespeare-in-the-Park festival, which is staged in July and August in several parks around the city. GreenStage (tel. 206/748-1551; www.greenstage.org) usually produces two Shakespeare plays per summer and has free performances three to four times each week.

Tip: City Hall Turns Concert Hall -- A few times a month year-round, Seattle's City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave. (tel. 206/684-7171; www.seattle.gov/arts), stages free lunchtime concerts from noon to 1:30pm.

So Who Needs Cirque du Soleil, Anyway?

Visiting Seattle without seeing this show would be like going to Las Vegas without seeing Cirque du Soleil. According to Teatro ZinZanni, 222 Mercer St. (tel. 206/802-0015; www.zinzanni.com), a European-style cabaret of the highest order, circus acts aimed at the upper crust should be accompanied by gourmet cuisine. Staged in an authentic Belgian spiegeltent (mirror tent), this evening of comedy, dance, theater, and fine food (catered by celeb chef Tom Douglas) features clowns, acrobats, illusionists, and cabaret singers -- more entertainment packed into one night than you'll find anywhere else in Seattle. Tickets are $104 Sunday and Wednesday through Friday, and $120 on Saturday (premium seating $125 Sun and Wed-Fri, and $155 Sat). Reserve far in advance!