Best Theater

At the ancient city of Aspendos in Turkey's Antalya Province, this Roman theatre preserves both its semicircular auditorium and a substantial, multi-story stage building. Constructed during the second-century reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, it remains among the well-preserved examples of Roman the...

Near Antalya in present-day Turkey, the Aspendos Theatre preserves much of the structure of a Roman performance building. An inscription connects its construction with the reign of Marcus Aurelius in the second century AD. Surviving elements include the cavea, or stepped audience seating, and a subs...

Anna Pavlova was a Russian ballerina whose performances and international touring helped bring ballet to audiences beyond its established centers. Her dancing became associated with expressive grace and a delicate stage presence, supported by the technical discipline of classical ballet. She remains...

Derek DelGaudio is an American magician and performance artist known for integrating narrative storytelling into theatrical sleight-of-hand. He gained widespread recognition for his off-Broadway solo production "In & Of Itself," which ran from 2016 to 2018 and was later adapted into a film directed...

Founded in South Africa in 1981 by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jill Joubert, and Jon Weinberg, Handspring Puppet Company works in puppetry and contemporary theatre. Its approach gives animal puppets major dramatic roles, treating their behavior and presence as central to a performance rather than us...

As America's first major prima ballerina, Maria Tallchief broke barriers and brought Native American heritage to the forefront of ballet. Her powerful performances and innovative spirit reshaped the landscape of American dance.

The string-controlled figures in the puppet-show sequence of the 1965 film The Sound of Music are known as the Lonely Goatherd marionettes. American puppeteers Bil Baird and Cora Baird produced and performed the sequence, bringing its theatrical characters to life through movements coordinated with...

Orlando, the Italian form of Roland, is a central Christian paladin in Opera dei Pupi, Sicily's traditional puppet theater. His adventures belong to the Carolingian cycle and draw on works including Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Stories commonly stage conflicts between Frankish knights and Saracen oppo...

The JVC DLA-NX7 is a high-performance home theater projector designed for discerning viewers seeking exceptional image quality. It employs laser light sources and BLU-Escent technology to deliver native 8K/60p input support alongside detailed 4K resolution. This projector’s advanced contrast and bla...

Amsterdam's Concertgebouw opened to the public in 1888 and is the primary concert venue of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The building's identity is closely tied to its Main Hall, whose acoustics have made it an important setting for orchestral performances and appearances by international class...

The Comédie-Française is a French state theater company and national institution founded in 1680 by a decree of King Louis XIV. Often referred to as the House of Molière, it is the oldest active theater company in the world and maintains a resident ensemble of actors known as sociétaires. The compan...

Opened in 1870, Vienna's Musikverein is a concert building closely associated with the Vienna Philharmonic and the city's classical music tradition. Danish architect Theophil Hansen designed it in a historicist style with classical influences, commonly described as Neo-Renaissance. Its best-known sp...

Vienna's Burgtheater is Austria's national theater and an important institution in German-language drama. Its origins date to 1741, when Empress Maria Theresa made a building beside the Hofburg available for theatrical use. Historically known as the K.K. Theater an der Burg, it developed from an imp...

Boston Symphony Hall is a concert venue located in Boston, Massachusetts, that opened to the public in 1900. It serves as the permanent home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra. The building was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White and was the first audit...

Located in Harlem, New York City, the Apollo Theater is a historic music hall with a central place in African American performance history. Originally a burlesque venue, it reopened in 1934 and became an important stage for Black performers and audiences. Its Amateur Night competitions are a definin...

Carnegie Hall is a historic concert venue situated in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, which first opened its doors in 1891. The complex was financed by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and comprises three distinct auditoriums: the Stern Auditorium, Zankel Hall, and Weill Recital Ha...

National Theatre is the United Kingdom's flagship publicly funded theatre on the South Bank, London, founded in 1963 under Laurence Olivier and operating three auditoria in its current building opened in 1976.

Opened in 1910 on Argyll Street in Westminster, the London Palladium is a historic West End theater with a strong connection to variety entertainment. Its stage has accommodated vaudeville-style acts as well as major theatrical productions and concerts. The venue's history also includes televised va...

The All About Eve screenplay was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz for the 1950 drama film, with its story derived from Mary Orr's short story The Wisdom of Eve. It follows aging Broadway actress Margo Channing, her assistant Eve Harrington, and the people whose careers and relationships...

Opened in 1913 on Broadway in New York City, the Palace Theatre became the most prestigious vaudeville venue in the United States, where headlining was considered the pinnacle of a performer's career.

The Theatre of Epidaurus is an ancient Greek theatre located in the Peloponnese region of Greece. Constructed primarily during the Hellenistic period, it’s notable for its remarkably well-preserved design and outstanding acoustic properties—a result of careful engineering and natural terrain. The th...

Royal Court Theatre is a London venue in Sloane Square founded in 1956 as the home of the English Stage Company, renowned for premiering works by John Osborne, Caryl Churchill, and other groundbreaking playwrights.

Dionysus is the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, fertility, ritual madness, and theater. He is the son of Zeus and the mortal princess Semele, making him a unique deity who bridges the gap between the divine and mortal realms. His cult practices involved ecstatic rituals, music, and dance, whi...

Opened in Paris in 1869, originally as the Folies Trévise, the Folies Bergère became closely associated with music-hall entertainment and elaborate stage revues. Its history includes dance and comic acts presented as part of spectacle-driven programs. Costumes and theatrical staging were central to...

Completed in 1908, Barcelona's Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Its Catalan Modernisme architecture, related to Art Nouveau, makes decoration an integral part of the musical setting. Sculptural elements animate the façade, while a large stained-gla...

On Grace's Alley in London's East End, Wilton's Music Hall preserves a rare grand music hall interior within a group of older buildings. John Wilton built the present hall in 1859 behind premises associated with an earlier alehouse. Located in Tower Hamlets, it is recognized as the world's oldest su...

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a historic West End playhouse located in Covent Garden, London. It holds the distinction of being the oldest theatrical site in London still in use, with its origins tracing back to 1663 under the management of Thomas Killigrew. The current structure, designed by Ben...

Ferruccio Soleri is an Italian stage actor and mime born in 1929, best known for his long-running performance as Arlecchino in the commedia dell'arte productions of Milan's Piccolo Teatro. He began playing the role in 1947 under the direction of Giorgio Strehler, whose 1947 production of Goldoni's '...

The Teatro Greco di Siracusa in Sicily is an ancient Greek theater carved into the rocky hillside of the Neapolis archaeological park, dating to the 5th century BCE. With a diameter of approximately 138 meters and 59 rows of seating, it is one of the largest Greek theaters ever built and remains amo...