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NIGHTLIFE IN SEATTLE

It's true that Seattleites spend much of their free time enjoying the city's natural surroundings, but that doesn't mean they overlook the more cultured evening pursuits. In fact, the winter weather that keeps people indoors, combined with a longtime desire to be the cultural mecca of the Northwest, has fueled a surprisingly active and diverse nightlife scene. Music lovers will find a plethora of classical, jazz, and rock offerings. The Seattle Opera is ranked one of the top companies in the country, and its stagings of Wagner's Ring series have achieved near-legendary status. The Seattle Symphony also receives frequent accolades. Likewise, the Seattle Repertory Theatre has won Tony awards for its productions, and a thriving fringe theatre scene keeps the city's lovers of avant-garde theatre contentedly discoursing in cafes about the latest hysterical or thought-provoking performances.

Much of Seattle's evening entertainment scene is clustered in the Seattle Center and Pioneer Square areas. The former hosts theatre, opera and classical-music performances; the latter is a bar-and-nightclub district. Other concentrations of nightclubs can be found in Belltown, where crowds of the young and hip flock to the neighbourhood's many trendy clubs, and in Capitol Hill, with its ultracool gay scene. Ballard, formerly a Scandinavian enclave in North Seattle, attracts a primarily middle-class, not-too-hip, not-too-old crowd, including lots of college students and techies. It's not the hipster Belltown scene, it's not the PBR-swilling blues scene of Pioneer Square, and it's not the sleek gay scene of Capitol Hill. It's just a comfortable neighbourhood nightlife scene.

While winter is a time to enjoy the performing arts, summer brings an array of outdoor festivals. These take place during daylight hours as much as they do after dark; information on all these festivals and performance series is in this guide.

To find out what's going on when you're in town, pick up a free copy of Seattle Weekly (www.seattleweekly.com), Seattle's arts-and-entertainment newspaper. You'll find it in bookstores, convenience stores, grocery stores, newsstands, and newspaper boxes around downtown and other neighbourhoods. On Friday the Seattle Times includes a section called "Ticket," a guide to the week's arts-and-entertainment offerings.

The Club & Music Scene

If you have the urge to do a bit of clubbing and barhopping, there's no better place to start than Pioneer Square. Good times are guaranteed, whether you want to hear a live band, hang out in a good old-fashioned bar, or dance. Keep in mind that this neighbourhood tends to attract a very rowdy crowd (lots of frat boys) and can be pretty rough late at night.

Belltown, north of Pike Place Market, is another good place to club-hop. Clubs here are way more style-conscious than those in Pioneer Square and tend to attract 20- and 30-something trendsetters.

Seattle's other main nightlife district is the former Scandinavian neighbourhood of Ballard, where you'll find more than half a dozen nightlife establishments, including taverns, bars and live-music clubs.

Capitol Hill, a few blocks uphill from downtown Seattle, is the city's main gay nightlife neighbourhood, with much of the action centred around the corner of East Madison Street and 15th Avenue East.

Pioneer Square--The Pioneer Square area is Seattle's main live-music neighbourhood, and the clubs have banded together on Friday and Saturday nights to make things easy for music fans. The Pioneer Square Club Stamp plan lets you pay one admission to get into nine clubs. The charge is $12 ($10 from 8-9pm). Participating clubs currently include Doc Maynard's, the Central Saloon, Fenix Underground, the Last Supper Club, the New Orleans Creole Restaurant, Tiki Bob's, Howl at the Moon, Juan O'Reilly's, and the J & M Cafe. Most of these clubs are short on style and hit-or-miss when it comes to music (which makes the joint cover a great way to find out where the good music is on any given night).

Easy Listening--Some of the best music to be heard around Seattle isn't played in nightclubs. Many of the city's restaurants feature live music on the slower nights of the week or after the dinner business quiets down. The music played in such restaurants tends to be less obtrusive and more low-key than in nightclubs, and is often instrumental or acoustic.

Some of Seattle's popular places to catch live music include Café Campagne, 1600 Post Alley (tel. 206/728-2233), Wasabi Bistro, 2311 Second Ave. (tel. 206/441-6044), The Pink Door, 1919 Post Alley (tel. 206/443-3241), Le Pichet, 1933 First Ave. (tel. 206/256-1499), and Serafina, 2043 Eastlake Ave. E. (tel. 206/323-0807).

Bowled Over in Seattle--A hip bowling alley? Why not? Up on Capitol Hill, you can do a little bowling, shoot some pool, and take in the hipster scene at Garage, 1130/1134 Broadway (tel. 206/322-2296; www.garagebilliards.com). When the weather gets warm, the garage doors roll up to let in the fresh air. Definitely not your small-town bowling alley.

The Gay & Lesbian Scene

Capitol Hill is Seattle's main gay neighborhood; consequently, it has the city's greatest concentration of gay and lesbian bars and clubs. Look for the readily available Seattle Gay News (tel. 206/324-4297; www.sgn.org), in which many of the city's gay bars and nightclubs advertise.

Movies

Summertime in the Fremont neighbourhood brings Fremont Saturday Nite Outdoor Movies (tel. 206/781-4230; fremontoutdoormovies.com), a series that features modern classics, B movies (sometimes with live overdubbing by a local improv comedy company), and indie shorts. Films are screened on Saturday nights in the parking lot at North 35th Street and Phinney Avenue North. The parking lot opens at 7:30pm; there is a $5 suggested donation.

Want to sip a martini while you watch the latest indie film hit? Find out what's playing at Belltown's Big Picture Seattle, 2505 First Ave. (tel. 206/256-0566 or 206/256-0572; www.thebigpicture.net). This little basement theatre below El Gaucho steakhouse is the coolest little theatre in the city and a favourite of fans of indie films.

Only in Seattle

While Seattle has plenty to offer in the way of performing arts, some of the city's best after-dark offerings have nothing to do with the music. There's no better way to start the evening (that is, if the day has been sunny or only partly cloudy) than to catch the sunset from the waterfront. The Bell Street Pier and Myrtle Edwards Park are two of the best and least commercial vantages for taking in nature's evening light show. Keep in mind that sunset can come as late as 10pm in the middle of summer.

Want the best view of the city lights? Hold off on your elevator ride to the top of the Space Needle until after dark. Alternatively, you can hop a ferry and sail off into the night. What could be more romantic? Well, I suppose a carriage ride could be as romantic. Carriages can be found parked and waiting for customers, couples and families alike, on the waterfront.

Want to learn to dance? Up on Capitol Hill the sidewalk along Broadway is inlaid with brass dance steps. Spend an evening strolling the strip and you and your partner can teach yourselves classic dance steps in between noshing on a piroshki and savouring a chocolate torte.

The Performing Arts

While the Seattle Symphony performs in downtown's Benaroya Hall, the main venues for the performing arts in Seattle are primarily clustered at Seattle Center, the special events complex that was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Here, in the shadow of the Space Needle, you'll find Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Bagley Wright Theater, Intiman Playhouse, Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Center Coliseum, Memorial Stadium and Experience Music Project's Sky Church performance hall.

Cirque du Soleil may be the coolest circus in the world, but man (and woman) cannot live on cotton candy alone. Circus acts aimed at the upper crust should be accompanied by gourmet cuisine. At least that's the concept behind Teatro ZinZanni, 2301 Sixth Ave. (tel. 206/802-0015; www.zinzanni.com), a European-style cabaret of the highest order. Staged in a classic spiegeltent (mirror tent) imported from Belgium, this evening of comedy, dance, theatre, and fine food (catered by Seattle's celeb chef Tom Douglas) offers clowns, acrobats, illusionists, and cabaret singers. In fact, there's more entertainment packed into a night at Teatro ZinZanni than anywhere else in Seattle. Don't miss it. Tickets are $89 Sunday through Friday and $109 on Saturday. Reserve well in advance! Visiting Seattle without seeing this show would be like going to Las Vegas without seeing Cirque du Soleil.

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. It is the Wagnerian opera company in the United States. The stagings of Wagner's four-opera The Ring of the Nibelungen are breathtaking spectacles that draw crowds from around the country. However, because the cycle was just staged in 2005, it will be a few years before Wagner's magnum opus is performed again. In addition to such classical operas as Carmen and Parsifal, the regular season usually includes a more contemporary production. Ticket prices range from $41 to $144.

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 amazingly diverse season that runs from September to July. With several different series, there is a little something for every type of classical-music fan, including evenings of classical, light classical, and pops music, plus afternoon concerts, children's concerts, guest artists and more. Ticket prices range from $15 to $85.

The Northwest Chamber Orchestra (tel. 206/343-0445; www.nwco.org), a perennial favourite with Seattle music fans, is a showcase for Northwest performers. The season runs from September to May; performances are held primarily at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. Ticket prices range from $20 to $35.

Theatre
Full-price advance-purchase tickets to the Seattle Symphony and to many performing-arts events are handled by Ticketmaster (tel. 206/292-ARTS; www.ticketmaster.com). For half-price, day-of-show tickets (and 1-day advance tickets for matinees) to a wide variety of performances all over the city, stop by Ticket/Ticket (tel. 206/324-2744), which has three sales booths in the Seattle area: one in Pike Place Market, 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, is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm. The Capitol Hill booth is in the Broadway Market, 401 Broadway E., and is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 7pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. The Bellevue booth is in the Meydenbauer Center, NE Sixth Street and 112th Avenue, and is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm. Ticket/Ticket charges a small service fee, the amount of which depends on the ticket price.

Mainstream Theatres--The Seattle Repertory Theatre (tel. 877/900-9285 or 206/443-2222; www.seattlerep.org), which performs at the Bagley Wright and Leo K. theatres at Seattle Center, 155 Mercer St., is Seattle's top professional theatre and stages the most consistently entertaining productions in the city. The Rep's season runs from September to June, with six plays performed in the main theatre and two in the more intimate Leo K. Theatre. Productions range from classics to world premieres. Tickets go for $15 to $46. When available, rush tickets are distributed half an hour before showtime for $20.

With a season that runs from April to December, the Intiman Theatre (tel. 206/269-1900; www.intiman.org), which performs at the Intiman Playhouse, Seattle Center, 201 Mercer St., fills in the gap left by those months when the Seattle Rep's lights are dark. Ticket prices range from $27 to $46.

A Contemporary Theater (ACT), Kreielsheimer Place, 700 Union St. (tel. 206/292-7676; www.acttheatre.org), performing in the historic Eagles Building theatre, adjacent to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, offers slightly more adventurous productions than the other major theatre 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 May to December. Ticket prices usually range from $24.50 to $50.

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 more than 15 years now. The season, which runs from October to June, includes four plays and a few extra performances. Tickets run $15 to $30.

Fringe Theatre--Not only does Seattle have a healthy mainstream performing-arts community, but it also has the sort of fringe theatre 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 company specialises in adapting literary works for the stage; it also stages works by local playwrights. Most performances are held at Seattle Center.

Empty Space Theatre, 3509 Fremont Ave. N. (tel. 206/547-7500; www.emptyspace.org). One of Seattle's biggest little theatres, Empty Space stages mostly comedies and is popular with a young crowd.

Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St. (tel. 206/233-9873). Although this is primarily a nightclub popular with the Seattle gay crowd, it is also a performance-art centre that stages unusual productions; some pretty outrageous stuff makes it to the stage here.

Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse on Green Lake, 7312 W. Green Lake Dr. N. (tel. 206/524-1300; www.seattlepublictheater.com). Seattle Public Theater stages wacky performances at the old Green Lake bathhouse. Shows range from original musicals to updated versions of Shakespeare. The location right on the lake makes this a great place to catch some live theatre.

Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave. (tel. 206/324-5801; www.schmeater.org). Lots of weird and sometimes wonderful comedy, including ever-popular live late-night stagings of episodes from The Twilight Zone.

Dance
Although it has a well-regarded ballet company and a theatre dedicated to contemporary dance and performance art, Seattle is not nearly as devoted to dance as it is to theatre 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 calendar of upcoming performances.

The Pacific Northwest Ballet, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 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 wide range of classics, new works, and (the company's specialty) pieces choreographed by George Balanchine. This company's performance of The Nutcracker, with outstanding dancing and sets, plus costumes by children's book author Maurice Sendak, is the highlight of every season. The Pacific Northwest Ballet performs at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center. Ticket prices range from $20 to $137.

Much more adventurous choreography is the domain of On the Boards, 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. Tickets go for $7 to $25.

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 theatres that are as much a part of a performance as what happens onstage.

Benaroya Hall (tel. 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. It's home to the Watjen concert organ, a magnificent pipe organ, as well as 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. (tel. 206/625-1900 for information, 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 imperial throne room in Beijing's Forbidden City. Don't miss an opportunity to attend a performance here. Broadway shows are the theatre's mainstay; ticket prices usually range from $20 to $70.

The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St. (tel. 206/682-1414; www.theparamount.com), one of Seattle's few historic theatres, has been restored to its original beauty and today shines with all the brilliance it did when it first opened in 1928. New lighting and sound systems have brought the theatre up to contemporary standards. It 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. 206/682-1414; 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.

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, dance and world music and theatre. Together these four series keep the Meany Hall stage busy between October and May. Special events are also scheduled. Tickets go for $29 to $60. The box office is at 4001 University Way NE, which is off campus.

Seattle loves the theatre, including fringe works. 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.

Cingular Summer Nights at South Lake Union Park, 860 Terry Ave. N. (tel. 206/281-7788 for information, or 206/628-0888 for tickets; www.summernights.org), presents a summer's worth of big-name acts at a park at the south end of Lake Union. Blues, jazz, rock, and folk acts generally pull in a 30- to 50-something crowd. Ticket prices range from $32 to $56.

At Woodland Park Zoo (tel. 206/615-0076; www.zoo.org), the Zoo Tunes concert series brings in more big-name performers from the world of jazz, easy listening, blues, and rock. Tickets go for $16 to $21; 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 Chateau Ste. Michelle, 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 the winery's amphitheatre, which is surrounded by beautiful estatelike grounds. Chateau Ste. Michelle 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, Gipsy Kings, Steve Winwood, and regional favourites Pink Martini). Ticket prices usually range from $30 to $80, 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 Garrison Keillor, Ottmar Liebert, and Natalie MacMaster. Tickets for most shows are $20 (though expect to pay up around $60 to see A Prairie Home Companion).

The White River Amphitheatre, 40601 Auburn-Enumclaw Rd., Auburn (tel. 360/825-6200; www.whiteriverconcerts.com), is the Seattle area's top amphitheatre and pulls in big-name rock bands. Ticket prices can be anywhere from $24 to around $150. The amphitheatre is located on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, 35 miles southeast of Seattle.


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