Coronado Performing Arts Center

Built in 1927 as a vaudeville house and movie palace, the Coronado was fancifully outfitted with Spanish castles, Italian villas, Asian dragons and starry skies. During the Coronado's heyday, everyone from the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope to Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and George Gershwin performed on this stage. After years of decline, the Coronado underwent $18.5 million in renovations, reopening in 2001. The theater now hosts concerts by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and the Rockford Dance Company, as well as touring musicals, such as "Avenue Q" and "Menopause," and entertainers running the gamut from Cheech & Chong to world-music artists.