Expert recommendations of the top dance, theater, and classical music performances.
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Arts Club Theatre
Includes the 450-seat Granville Island Stage and the smaller 220-seat New Revue Stage on Granville Island; also performances at the 650-seat Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, housed in the historic Stanley Theatre. The Arts Club produces big-budget productions like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but the club’s credo means it features comedies, dramas, and musicals by Canadian playwrights too. Check out the Vancouver TheatreSports League (www.vtsl.com), an improvisational troupe and an always-entertaining place to take a first date. Arts Club tickets $30-60. TheatreSports League tickets $16-18. 1585 Johnston Street; tel. +1 604 687 1644. www.artsclub.com
Orpheum
Drab on the outside, the totally refurbished interior is cloaked in gilt and red velvet, sparkling chandeliers, and a dramatic domed ceiling; since it opened in 1927, the Orpheum has had several lives: vaudeville theater, movie house, and eyesore on the brink of demolition. Thanks to public support, the theater survives; now home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; also hosts choral performances and some rock shows. 884 Granville Street; tel. +1 604 665 3050. www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/theatres
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
A team of architecture students and instructors from Montreal’s McGill University designed this modern, 2,900-capacity theater in 1959; the “Q.E.” is home to the Vancouver Opera and Ballet British Columbia, and also hosts other major productions. 649 Cambie Street; tel. +1 604 665 3050. www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/theatres
Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
“This well-established professional company entered its fifth decade repositioning itself as a vehicle for developing and producing exciting new Canadian works and contemporary plays. Kudos for embracing the future.”—Stuart Derdeyn, arts columnist, The Province. Part of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre complex; hosts the theater’s resident company, along with chamber music recitals and special events; 673 seats. Tickets from $32. Corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir Streets; tel. +1 604 873 3311. www.vancouverplayhouse.com
Firehall Arts Centre
“Even as British Columbia’s largest city grows from a former logging center to a jewel of the Pacific Rim, the sheer scale of Vancouver’s diversity finds expression in the scope and range of performances at the Firehall.”—Dominic Patten, Arts & Life editor, Vancouver Sun. This Gastown theater is housed in a 1906 fire station; 175 seats; local productions, from multimedia dance about Native Americans in Paris, to the video game-playing, beer-guzzling trials of the Banana Boys; a lounge for schmoozing and cocktails. Tickets from $10. 280 E. Cordova Street; tel. +1 604 689 0926. www.firehallartscentre.ca
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
“A former church, the Cultch today is a much loved arts space on the sometimes gritty east side of the city.”—Mike Usinger, music editor, Georgia Straight. Hip urban venue just off Commercial Drive; performers include string quartets, singer-songwriters, local and international bands; casual vibe. Tickets from $20. 1895 Venables Street; tel. +1 604 251 1363. www.vecc.bc.ca
