Wortham Theater Center

The Wortham opened in 1987 as the shared home of Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet, and it's built for spectacle. The 2,200-seat Brown Theater handles the large-scale opera and ballet productions, while the 1,100-seat Cullen Theater takes the smaller, more intimate shows. Picking between them mostly comes down to what's on - the Brown for the big nights, the Cullen when you want to be close.

Houston Grand Opera is one of the largest opera companies in the country, so a night here is the city's classical performing arts at full volume - and the Ballet on the other side of the season is no smaller a draw. The building sits in the downtown theater district, right next to the Hobby Center, which makes the whole block a tight, walkable arts corridor - rare for an American downtown, and an easy place to turn one show into a full evening out.

If you're picking seats, the Brown's lower levels put you in the thick of the spectacle, but the upper tiers carry sound beautifully in a room built for unamplified voices. This is a dress-up, arrive-early, soak-it-in kind of evening - get there with time for a drink in the lobby before the lights go down. Browse upcoming Wortham events on Evil Tickets and plan your night in the theater district.