This 38-year-old theater complex strives to be not just the hub of Washington's cultural and entertainment scene, but a performing-arts theater for the nation. The center lies between the Potomac River and a crisscross of major roadways, which makes it sound like it's easily accessible when, in fact, the center remains just a bit west of the city's main action. The Kennedy Center stages top-rated performances by the best ballet, opera, jazz, modern dance, musical, and theater companies in the world. Ticket prices vary from $15 for a family concert to $300 for a night at the opera, although most fall in the $30 to $75 range. The Kennedy Center is committed to being a theater for the people, and toward that end, it continues to stage its free concert series, known as "Millennium Stage," which features daily performances by area musicians and sometimes national artists each evening at 6pm in the center's Grand Foyer. (You can check out broadcasts of the nightly performances on the Internet at www.kennedy-center.org/millennium.) The Friday "Weekend" section of the Washington Post lists the free performances scheduled for the coming week. The Kennedy Center is actually made up of six different national theaters: the Opera House, the Concert Hall, the Terrace Theater, the Eisenhower Theater, the Theater Lab, and the Family Theater. The Kennedy Center's 2008-09 season includes a wintertime festival, called Arabesque, which salutes the Arts of the Arab World, and covers all 22 Arab states. For more information, check out the Kennedy Center's online information at www.kennedy-center.org. Highlights of the Kennedy Center's 2008-09 season include the following:

• Washington National Opera (www.dc-opera.org) performances of Verdi's La Traviata, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, and Wagner's Siegfried, under the artistic direction of Placido Domingo
• National Symphony Orchestra concerts, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, presented in the Concert Hall from September to June
• Performances by the New York City Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and the Kirov Ballet
• Broadway musicals Ragtime and Spring Awakening
• Kennedy Center Jazz series performances by assorted masters, such as saxophonist Javon Jackson and pianist Les McCann
• Family Theater productions, like the National Symphony Orchestra's Teddy Bear Concerts, and
• Continuing performances of the comedy whodunit Shear Madness, now in its 22nd year at the Kennedy Center

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Washington, D.C. 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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