Kirkland Performance Center

I saw the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra here and it was a really nice space. It was cozy and they had food and drinks available for purchase.

Watched Celtic Nights. Was beautiful! Had goosebumps…
It’s about Ireland music, dance, history and their culture.

I and my husband attempted to attend the Zeppelin concert. The volume of the music was SOOOO loud that we walked out. Even the man running the soundboard had ear plugs in! Who wants to listen to a concert with earplugs in? The whole point is to enjoy the sound as it is not muffled with your plugs. The management did not offer to refund our tickets; did not apologize; instead they rebutted that it was a Led Zeppelin concert and should be loud. One of the staff offered for us to sit in the press box but, the music was again muffled and piped into speakers they were very poor quality. I’ve been to many, many concerts and even used to work for a concert promoter and I’ve never been to a concert that was as loud as this concert. I will not return for any concert at this venue because of the choice of volume. I love Led Zeppelin’s music but, this was a waste of time, money and a big disappointment!

I’ve attended a few events here, most recently a school graduation. There isn’t much parking but you can use the free public parking next to the library (just go past the spaces marked for library use and into the main garage).
The facility itself is small, and there really aren’t any bad seats due to the way they are tiered and the size of the facility — you’re never too far from the stage, and there are no potential obstructions. The seats are also very comfortable. The sound quality is very good too, and everything is very clean.
Definitely a good place to see a show or event.

The box office staff is extremely rude, both in person and on the phone every time I attend. It’s very off putting especially when attending shows with small children.

This is a terrific venue to see shows, plays, performances, etc. Hubby and I saw a comedian here recently, and I was impressed by the seats (not a bad seat in the house. Plus, they are comfortable, too), the layout (nicely tiered, good spacing between rows, you don’t get your knees cut off by people passing you to get to seats further down the rows), cleanliness (it was immaculate), great signage (even for the restrooms), and excellent acoustics. My only quibble: like others have noted, parking can be problematic. We parked in the library lot (despite the many posted signs «For Library Patrons Only». Heck, our ticket info clearly advised us to park at the library). Bot for those with mobility issues, this is not an ideal situation.
As an aside: I saw on the calendar of upcoming events that Marc Cohn will be playing here in the late fall (I think it was October or November, 2014). Hubby and I saw Cohn perform at Benaroya Hall last year and it was a phenomenal show. Oh, how incredible it will be, to see and hear him here, in this more intimate setting, in Kirkland. For those of you who like his music, I strongly recommend getting tickets.

This morning’s hilarious rendition of Snow White was my first time watching a StoryBook Theater play and my first time in the Kirkland Performance Center.
My sister and her two little ones joined me and the four of us laughed our way through a very well-​thought out hour of entertainment, including a Q&A time with the actors afterwards. The children in the audience were adorable with their inquiries and the actors were clever in their answers. Their top notch performances engaged the entire crowd, and there wasn’t a bad seat in the house! Audience members were also allowed time to meet the performers, collect autographs, and take pictures with their favorite characters. The theatre is located in the hub of a shopping district and shares a free parking garage with the library.
I only wish they offered a youth rate for tickets.

Parking/​Price: Give yourself time. There is a tiny lot between this and the library. Don’t count on library parking (because there is also a playground, ball field, AND city pool next door). This, and the price ($ 34 a ticket for family theater) brings me down from 5 stars.
Five Stars: NOT A BAD SEAT IN THE HOUSE! Don’t be afraid. I think my daughter counted only 13 rows of seats, or some small number of rows. We enjoy all the children’s theater in and around Seattle. We try to catch something every couple months. Great for our kids, and great for the community. These have been our most expensive tickets, though :(These seats are perfect for little kids to see over tops of the people in front of them. Also, 5 stars to Lyric Light Opera’s production of Peter Pan playing here! They had flying, great sets, and enthused actors. We’ve seen Peter Pan many times over the years at different playhouses here, and this play was amazing for our kids. They had equally beautiful costumes, and special effects (FLYING) as Seattle Children’s Theater… and I liked their sets better (especially the twined roots of the Lost Boys underground house… my daughters gasped when they saw it).
Peter Pan runs till the end of April 2014, and sadly they sang their hearts out to a half full house (I think it’s the ticket prices). Such a great, timeless story for kids of all ages.

Nice venue but there isn’t any parking. OK — there is parking over by the Library (which I guess you are expected to use) but for my Mom who has trouble walking that far, it’s not very convenient.
The snack-​counter at intermission is adequate. The ushers were nice and curteous.
The restrooms (mens) were on the small side — and they may need to fix the fart fans — because wow!

Very cozy place. Not too big. Not a bad seat in the house.
It is clean and would be no w to see local productions.
Parking is a challenge and have to park offsite and street parking.

Great location for a low-​key Sunday symphony experience… come early for good parking.

I’ve only been here a couple times for film festival movies and, while not exactly built to be a movie theater, it is still a great venue as both the audio and video quality are very good. The building itself is either fairly new or they do a great job of keeping it look like they just opened the doors. I will definitely continue to come here for movies during the festival although the popcorn they serve isn’t the best around, but they do have a few alcoholic beverages available so you could say that balances things out.

I like this place! My husband and I went to the Seattle International Comedy Competition Finals here. The show was wonderful! Staff was friendly. The actually theatre is a little bit dated (on the smaller side, seats are small, rows close together). But all in all, a nice place! Parking can get a little tricky, especially on a Saturday night, so plan ahead!

Unfortunately for me, I often pretend that the east side doesn’t exist, not because I don’t like it there but because I LOATHE traffic and getting there is often a grueling experience.
However, one of the few things that could draw me across the floating bridges is an afternoon of jazz with the great Branford Marsalis and the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. Branford and SRJO also played at symphony hall but the show sold out in seconds so we had to go to Kirkland.
The performance center is quite intimate, reminding me of a smaller, classier high school auditorium. We were sitting on the aisle in the back left corner and the acoustics and sight line were both terrific, we didn’t miss a thing and being on the aisle we were first out for intermission or at the end of the show.
The concessions stand has a decent array of goodies, well-​priced and the staff seem pretty relaxed about you bringing in your own drink. It’s a darling little place to see music, and I didn’t even mind the drive.

First, I want to say that the 3 performances I’ve seen at KPC (over a 10 year period) have been very good.
But the poor rating is for their unending phone calls for their fundraising efforts. Over the past week, I have received multiple calls every day. Whoever is calling does not leave a message. So, I see Kirkland Performance Center on my caller ID, but no message.
Yesterday, I called to find out why I was getting these calls. I was told it was a fundraising effort. I advised that I was not interested in contributing and asked to be taken off the phone list. I was promised that would happen.
Today, more calls! When I called KPC to again be taken off the phone list, I was told that they work off paper lists and can’t easily edit phone numbers out!
I believe that KPC is working off of information received when I purchased tickets from their online box office. So, clearly there is an electronic source that can be edited.
If you want to go to KPC for a performance, be forewarned that buying your tickets online means you wil probably be receiving an unending and apparently unstoppable barrage of phone calls.
Me, I won’t be attending a performance at KPC again. And as to donations, well, I think Seattle Shakespeare Company will know what to do with the money.

Great performance center on the eastside. Awesome verity of shows — concerts, plays, musicals, comedy and more! Very reasonable priced for family and no bad seat in the house!

We were first time visitors to this venue. I had never heard of the centre nor had any information on it other than the scant reviews here and their website itself. Tickets were purchased through their home page and after a gloriously good meal at Trellis, we briskly walked over to the venue to see the Kronos Quartet. It’s barely two blocks away, if that.
Our seats were row J, basically in the centre of the theatre itself and also in the middle the row. The seats are staggered enough to provide excellent sight lines and the seats were comfortable. The leg room was adequate but I’m one of those patrons who like to stretch out during a show so there can always be more leg room for my tastes.
Acoustics were good and the patrons compliant with the requests to turn off anything that beeped. I didn’t hear one alarm or ring the entire show which was a nice change. The ushers were friendly and pleasant when we entered and exited. I don’t know if they were employees or volunteers.
We valet parked at the Heathman so we didn’t experience the difficulty parking that others mentioned. After our visit, I placed myself on their e-​mailing address to keep abreast of any performances that might be of any interest.

OLE! OLE! VIVA ESPANA!!!
Stomp, stomp, stomp, shuffle, shuffle, swirl, waving the red dress, flailling the hair. I’m speechless…
When you get a chance to see top level flamencos from Sevilla, Spain, it will leave you amazed, clapping, singing, and a little bit at a loss for words. Rafael de Utrera with Eric & Encarnacion were outstanding. Rafael’s singing solos and Encarnacion’s rhythmic, pulsing dance, especially, blew me away. She seemed to stomp and gradually move into parts of songs and then explode with a stubbornness and passion that kind of stole the show. This completely exceeded my expectations, and I left wanting to play my guitar as soon as possible. Who knows maybe I’ll be searching pawn shops for a second guitar in the coming months to play a little bit of flamenco. Nice, small intimate venue by the way. Gracias, Kirkland. OLE!

So once or trice a year, but most likely once a year I plan a weekend with my little sister. There’s a 16 year difference so I’m like her big big brother and almost like her dad. «Denise, is that your dad?»
I planned a weekend of nerdiness and some hiking… until I sprained my ankle.
«Beauty and the Beast» the musical was a surprise. I ordered the tickets online about 3 weeks ago, and then I realized I clicked on the wrong weekend! «Non refundable!» Shit! So I called and sweet talked the lady at the box office, but then realized I didn’t have to, because she would have changed it anyway.
She says «I see you got tickets for row A.»
I says «umhum, yes I did. I want the best seats for my little sis.»
She says «Have you ever been to our theater? Those are bad seats.»
I says «Oh, well pick some for me.»
She says «Row G is good.»
I says «Let’s do it.»
She changed my tickets and put them at will call.
Parking is a biotch. Fortunately we had a chauffeur (my other sister). We got our tickets at will call and dodged all the little «Belles» dressed as beauty on our way to our seats. The seats weren’t too bad considering it’s a really small theater. Row G was perfect-​smack in the middle.
The 3 hour show was great! Gaston stole the show, and belle was a hottie. Most of the actors are from local theater houses, except for the main actors which are from the East Coast. Belle is from the Tacoma area.
There’s an intermission half way through, and there’s a «cry» room that doesn’t need any explanation.
The show was great and my little sister loved it, so it was a hit in my book.

All right, so I go to shows often, and hence I think I might have more venue reviews than restaurants in the end. And I like to think I’ve seen most of them in the Seattle area. So I’m surprised, to say the least, I had no idea about this place, and what is even more surprising about it is that it’s been around for 10 years already!
You might think… get to the point, why 5 stars??? And, I will tell you without any sugar coating.
Seats are superbly comfortable! The whole seating area is at such a steep angle that there is no bad seat in the house, not even if you’re seating behind a 7 feet tall man. The acoustics are superb, and the center has such a fresh look and is in such a great shape you might think it was built a day ago.
So it lacks a character and history but if you’re here for a show, you’re here for a show, and you’ll get it the best way possible.
However, parking lot is not very large, but right next door there’s a library which gladly shares its covered parking.
This is a great venue, which maybe missing in character but surely makes up in quality.