'You are far enough up that you get the full advantage of all the speakers if it's taped, or if it is live, the sound is coming straight at you and up,' says Gail Kalver, executive director of the Hubbard Street Dance Company, a Harris regular. 'The music is just as important to the piece as the dance.' Best seat/acoustics: U108, three-quarters of the way from the stage, center. we're doing that night,' said Tom Boucher, the theater's technical director.

Architects installed cloth panels on the side walls and curtains in the ceiling catwalks 'so we can tune the room to whatever. Randolph Drive, 31 Seats: 1,525 on three levels The Harris Theater in Millennium Park opened its doors in late 2003. Dance Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E.

Here's a sampling of area venues, which will at least give you an idea of what to look (and listen) for as you scrutinize seating options. Just right? 'It is best to sit as close as possible while keeping the level of your eyes above the stage level,' says John Morris, a Chicago theater architect who designed such places as Steppenwolf and Lookingglass theaters. If listening nirvana is tops on the list, then 'in all instances, the best seats are always on the centerline because in a symmetrical room, your left and right ears will receive similar amount of sound and the result will be a nice and natural balanced stereo effect,' says Dominique Cheenne, director of the acoustics program at Columbia College Chicago. While no one can pick out the best place for everyone, specialists in sound and visuals say some guidelines can help audiences pinpoint optimal seats, whether acoustics is paramount or sightlines to the stage is of utmost importance. But it turns out the very first row of any venue is almost never the best place to sit.Of course, the best seat at a live performance is a subjective judgment.

Like some crazed shaving enthusiasts, they want to get close, closer, closest. Across town, Miss Fanatic Teenager is pushing her way to the very front of a rock house. Blueblood as they make their way to the very first row of the opera. Opening night is finally here, and we now join Mr.

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