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The high-tech boom created an enthusiastic and philanthropic audience for Seattle's arts community, which continues to grow. The gorgeous Benaroya Hall is a national benchmark for acoustic design. Its main tenant is the Seattle Symphony. At the Seattle Center, the ethereal Marion Oliver McCaw Hall combines Northwest hues and hanging screens in colorful light shows accompanying performances by the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Although the city's music scene has lost some of its shine after Portland became the go-to city for indie rock, music is still a main form of entertainment here. This very literate city also supports a full calendar of readings, lectures, and writing workshops.
The Seattle International Film Festival gets a lot of attention, but the city also hosts numerous smaller festivals throughout the year. The most popular include STIFF (Seattle's True Independent Film Festival; www.trueindependent.org) in June; the Children's Film Festival (www.childrensfilmfestivalseattle.nwfilmforum.org/), held at the Northwest Film Forum in January; and the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (www.threedollarbillcinema.org) in October.
Even if you don't plan on seeing anything here, this Asian fantasia is worth a peek—it's one of the most beautiful venues in the world. The 5th Avenue Theatre opened in 1926 as a silent-movie house and vaudeville stage, complete with a giant pipe organ and ushers who dressed as cowboys and pirates. Today it has its own theater company, which stages lavish productions October through May. At other times it hosts concerts, lectures, and films.
The acoustics are good from every one of the main hall's 2,500 seats. Great news if you want to check out the Seattle Symphony, which is based here, or any of the numerous world-class speakers, musicians, and other performers who appear throughout the year. Benaryoa Hall's four-story lobby features a curved glass facade that makes intermissions almost as impressive as performances.
Beloved by locals for its humorous, ground-breaking, and unique choices, Seattle Public Theater brings just a handful of shows each year to an intimate stage. This tiny company puts on performances worth scheduling a day around.
The symphony performs from September through July in the stunning Benaroya Hall. The group has been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards and is well-regarded nationally and internationally.
This 1963 cinema, restored by the late Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, seamlessly blends the luxury of the theater with high technology. Behind a standard-size movie screen sits an enormous, 30-foot by 90-foot restored curved panel used to screen old three-strip films like How the West Was Won, as well as 70-millimeter presentations of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The sight lines throughout are amazing. Rear-window captioning, assisted listening devices, audio narration, wheelchair access, and other amenities ensure that everyone has an outstanding experience. Beyond blockbuster screenings, the space hosts festivals, events, and arthouse cinema.
