Opera houses and ballet stages
Opera and Ballet
The last art form that still builds palaces for itself. Learn the standing-room mechanism and the palace costs less than a cinema ticket.
Opera is expensive to make and priced accordingly, but nearly every great house keeps a deliberate back door: standing places, day seats, restricted-view boxes and last-minute returns that cost a tenth of the stalls. Vienna sells hundreds of standing places every night, Milan releases its gallery two hours before curtain, London and New York run rush schemes. The people using them are usually the ones who know the work best.
The dress code is mostly a myth, with two honest exceptions: premieres and the December season opening in Milan. Otherwise a clean shirt is enough anywhere in this guide, and the standing rail is jeans territory in every house.
Other kinds
The rest of the guide
Museums
Collections and permanent exhibitions
41 venuesGalleries
Contemporary art, kunsthalles and project spaces
10 venuesConcert Halls
Classical, philharmonic and recital rooms
12 venuesTheatres
Drama, musicals and the fringe
9 venuesLive Rooms and Clubs
Jazz cellars, live houses and dance floors
15 venuesArenas and Big Shows
Stadiums, arenas and amphitheatres
2 venuesCulture Landmarks
Buildings, campuses and sites that are the exhibition
13 venues