28 Best Performing Arts in Chicago, Illinois

Telling imaginative, almost magical stories is Redmoon Theater's specialty. The company's “spectacles” take a number of forms but can best be described as madcap theater with a twist—imagine a mix of live music, puppetry, pageantry, and visual art. Some are staged outdoors, others inside a converted Pilsen warehouse called Spectacle Hall.

Formed in 1872, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago is one of the country's oldest oratorio societies. Don't miss the annual Handel's Messiah if you're here in December. Otherwise, the group performs choral classics throughout the year at area churches.

Designed by notable architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, the 4,300-seat, Romanesque Revival–style Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University opened in 1899 as an opera house and later became a National Historic Landmark. Known for its perfect acoustics and excellent sight lines, the ornate theater features marble mosaics, dramatic gilded ceiling arches, and intricate murals. (Also of note: This was one of the first public buildings to have electric lighting and air-conditioning.)

New and classical material is staged at various locations throughout the city by Bailiwick Chicago.

Bella Voce—"beautiful voices," indeed. Formerly known as His Majestie's Clerkes, the 20-person a cappella group performs a variety of sacred and secular music, including everything from early music to works by living composers. Concerts are often held in churches, providing a powerful acoustical and visual accompaniment to the music.

Formerly known as Drury Lane, the 550-seat theater in Water Tower Place was taken over in 2010 by the Broadway in Chicago group, which modernized the space and reopened it as the Broadway Playhouse. Its inaugural season included a new production of hometown scribe Studs Terkel's Working.

Thrill-seekers and families flock to the Chicago Air & Water Show, a lakefront spectacle featuring aerial acrobatics and daredevil water acts. See the U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform precision flying maneuvers at the two-day event in mid-August.

One of Chicago's most popular festivals, The Chicago Blues Festival in Millennium Park, is a very popular three-day, four-stage event in June. It attracts  blues greats not only from from Chicago but from around the country. It should not be missed.

A performance by the Chicago Children's Choir is the closest thing we can imagine to hearing angels sing. Its members—ages eight to 18—are culled from a broad spectrum of racial, ethnic, and economic groups. Most concerts are scheduled during the holiday season and in May.

The Chicago Jazz Festival holds sway for four days during Labor Day weekend in Millenium and Grant Parks.

Actors, artists, and musicians share the stage in Collaboraction's experimental free-for-alls. In recent seasons, the company has refocused its mission on social justice, with original performances taking on issues specific to Chicago communities.

For IMAX and OMNIMAX theaters, go to Navy Pier or the Museum of Science and Industry.

Fine-tuned performances, such as the glittering production of The Nutcracker, make this Chicago's premier classical-dance company. The Joffrey has performed at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University for nearly two decades but plans to become roommates with the Lyric Opera starting in 2020.

The holiday season officially starts with the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, a weekend-long event at the end of November with tons of family-friendly activities including musical performances, ice-carving contests, and stage shows. The fanfare culminates in a parade and the illumination of more than 1 million lights along Michigan Avenue.

Mandel Hall is one of the largest performing arts and events venues on the University of Chicago campus---the Victorian performance space can accommodate nearly 1,000 audience members. Mandel Hall is also home to the University's symphony orchestra and annual international folk festival. 

For a change of scenery, you can watch current and classic films in neighborhood parks courtesy of the Chicago Park District's Movies in the Parks program; flicks run on various evenings June through September.

Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago showcases dynamic interpretations of contemporary and traditional African and African American dance. Artistic director Amaniyea Payne travels to Africa to learn traditional dances and adapts them for the stage. Performances take place at various venues across the city.

This suburban company, formerly known as Light Opera Works, updated its name in 2017 to reflect its occasional forays into American musicals, but it still favors the satirical tones of Gilbert and Sullivan along with frothy Viennese, French, and other light operettas. Performances take place in Evanston, just north of the city and easily accessible by train or El.

Street fairs are held every week in summer. Northalsted Market Days, in August, is the city's largest street festival. It's held in the heart of the gay community of Lakeview and has blocks and blocks of vendors as well as some wild entertainment such as zany drag queens and radical cheerleaders.

The small but mighty Oriana Singers are an outstanding a cappella sextet with an eclectic early classical and jazz repertoire. The close-knit traveling group performs from September to June, periodically in conjunction with the Joffrey Ballet and other Chicago-area groups.

The Royal George is actually a complex of three theaters: a spacious main stage, a smaller studio theater, and a cabaret space. Popular plays and long-running musical comedies are the draw here.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade turns the city on its head: the Chicago River is dyed green, shamrocks decorate the street, and the center stripe of Dearborn Street is painted the color of the Irish from Wacker Drive to Van Buren Street. This is your chance to get your fill of bagpipes and green beer. It's more than four hours long, so you probably won't see the whole thing. 

This storefront theater, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is an intimate, black-box venue for a diverse array of performances by local theater ensembles.

Taste of Chicago dishes out pizza, cheesecake, and other Chicago specialties to 3.5 million people after the Fourth of July holiday.

Head to the stately Newberry Library for performances by the Newberry Consort, an early-music chamber group, and other ensembles in Ruggles Hall.

Founded long before Riverdance, the Trinity Irish Dance Company promotes traditional and progressive Irish dancing. Shows take place at various venues in the city and suburbs. In addition to the world-champion professional group, you can also catch performances by younger dancers enrolled in the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance.

At the weeklong World Music Festival in September, international artists play traditional and contemporary music at venues across the city.