Seattle - Washington State - page 132

companies of all types, the University of Washington Dance Department faculty
and student performances, the UW World Dance Series (see below for details),
and the Northwest New Works Festival (see below) all bring plenty of creative
movement to the stages of Seattle. When you're in town, check Seattle Weekly or
the Seattle Times for a calendar of upcoming performances.
The Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Center Opera House, 301 Mercer St.
( & 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 wide
range of classics, new works, and (the company's specialty) pieces choreographed
by George Balanchine (tickets $16-$125). This company's performance of The
Nutcracker, with outstanding dancing and sets and costumes by children's book
author Maurice Sendak, is the highlight of every season. The Pacific Northwest
Ballet performs in the new Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center.
Much more adventurous choreography is the domain of On the Boards,
Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance, 100 W. Roy St. ( & 206/217-
9888; www.ontheboards.org), which, although it stages a wide variety of per-
formance art, is best known as Seattle's premier modern-dance venue (tickets
$18-$22). In addition to dance performances by Northwest artists, there are a
variety of productions each year by internationally known performance artists.
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 where you see it is just as important.
Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Symphony's downtown home, has such excellent
acoustics that a performance here is worth attending just 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 ( & 206/215-4747 ), 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. The concert hall is home to the magnificent Watjen
pipe organ. There's also a Starbucks, 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. ( & 206/625-1900 for informa-
tion, or 206/292-ARTS for tickets; www.5thavenuetheatre.org), which first
opened its doors in 1926 as a vaudeville house, is a loose re-creation of the impe-
rial throne room in Beijing's Forbidden City. In 1980, the theater underwent a
complete renovation that restored this Seattle jewel to its original splendor, and
today the astounding interior is as good a reason as any to see a show here. Don't
miss an opportunity to attend a performance. Broadway shows are the theater's
mainstay (tickets $15-$60).
The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St. ( & 206/682-1414; www.theparamount.
com), one of Seattle's few historic theaters, has been restored to its original beauty
and today shines with all the brilliance it did when it first opened. New lighting and
sound systems have brought the theater up to contemporary standards. The theater
stages everything from rock concerts to Broadway musicals. Tickets are available
through Ticketmaster.
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