This ballet and opera theater, Emperor Paul I's gift to his son Mikhail, staged its first show in 1833. The elegantly designed interior holds just a bit more than 1,000 seats, so shows feel relatively intimate; tickets are also cheaper than at the Mariinsky, but the quality is the same. The theater is now a premier stage for both ballet and opera in St. Petersburg, with such famed productions as Swan Lake, Boris Godunov, and Evgeny Onegin mounted here.