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Photo: Joffrey Ballet, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The Civic Opera House is also home to the Joffrey Ballet, one of the premier ballet companies in the United States. They are best known for their annual performance of The Nutcracker for the Christmas season.
The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual presentation of The Nutcracker.
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Extraordinary productions of major operas, in the impressive Civic Opera House, overlooking the river; local legend has it that the back-story behind business magnate Samuel Insull's decision to build it was the inspiration for the opera scenes in Citizen Kane. Although highly acclaimed today, there was a minor controversy among purists when they began to project English titles above the stage for non-English operas.
The 4th Floor Visitor Gallery is temporarily closed.
Sullivan/Holabird & Roche, 1898-1902
Louis Sullivan designed the northernmost (18) of the three buildings here, and the team of Holabird & Roche added the next two (24 & 30). The roots of Mies-style modernism are easily apparent in the immaculate proportions here, although Sullivan's piers overflow like water-pipes with ornament at the top, and Holabird & Roche's two make an interesting contrast with the master.
1007 ft. Built by Adrian Smith in 1989, the granite-clad AT&T Corporate Center is one of the city's more distinctive skyscrapers for its massive size, spiked roof pinnacles, and a style evocative of both Gothic and Japanese architectural styles. It's not well-known, but it is the eighth tallest building in the U.S.
A Broadway in Chicago outlet, this opulent theater was built in 1926 for the vaudeville circuit and is now glossed up for high-profile productions with 2,300 seats per show. The Producers and the mighty Oprah's The Color Purple both enjoyed long runs here.
Once the tallest building in the world, the Sears Tower (officially renamed the Willis Tower) now has to settle for second-highest in the Americas alone, behind New York City's One World Trade Center (and even those are after a semantic battle with Toronto and the CN Tower). The Hancock Observatory (see Near North) has a nicer view of the city, but the Sears Tower offers an incredible view of its own from "The Ledge", which lets visitors walk out in a transparent balcony suspended 1,353 feet above the street. To avoid the crowds, visit after 4PM.