163 Best Performing Arts in USA

A large neon sign marks the exterior of this 1,400-plus-seat art-deco movie palace whose exotic interior transports you back to 1922, when the theater first opened. High-profile festivals present films here, along with classic revivals and foreign flicks. There are a few cult-themed drag shows every month. Lines for the Castro's popular sing-along movie musicals often trail down the block.

More than 2,000 Native dancers gather in Juneau every even-numbered year in June to celebrate their heritage and the continued vitality of Alaska Native cultures. First held in 1982, this four-day cultural festival brings together tribal groups from all over the state, and includes a parade through the streets of Juneau for which participants don traditional, often very elaborate, handmade regalia. There's also a juried art show, Native fashion show, toddler regalia review, food contests, and a Native artist market. All events are open to the public, but the dance performances require a purchased ticket.

In early autumn, the calls of bull elk fill the forest as the animals make their way down the mountains for mating season. Estes Park celebrates with elk bugle contests, live music, and elk educational seminars.

Adjacent to the twinkling zoo, the Desert Botanical Garden lights up every night during Las Noches de las Luminarias, when thousands of luminarias (paper bags with lights inside) line the garden's pathways. Stroll, listen to live music, and enjoy the beauty of the desert. Tickets sell out quickly, so be sure to make a reservation for this annual event in December.

The nation's oldest continual free summer music festival hosts Sunday-afternoon performances of symphony, opera, jazz, pop music, and dance. The amphitheater is in a beautiful eucalyptus grove, perfect for picnicking before the show. World-music favorites such as Ojos de Brujas, Seu Jorge, and Shuggie Otis get the massive crowds dancing. Shows generally start at 2 pm, but arrive hours earlier if you want to see the performances up close—and dress for cool weather, as the fog often rolls in.

This complex, comprising the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, and the Old Globe Theatre, offers some of the finest theatrical productions in Southern California. Theater classics such as The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, both of which went on to Broadway, premiered on these famed stages. The Old Globe presents the family-friendly How the Grinch Stole Christmas around the holidays, as well as a renowned summer Shakespeare Festival with three to four plays in repertory.

With its soaring vaulted ceilings and marble foyer, this elegant 3,146-seat venue, built in 1932, rivals the old-world theaters of Europe. Part of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, which also includes Davies Symphony Hall and Herbst Theatre, this is the home of the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet.

Feeling casual and eclectic? Hit Tucson's 4th Avenue Street Fair, usually held in May and December, where you can buy handcrafted wares and hear local bands while munching on every kind of festival food imaginable.

The magic of this free, weeklong music festival is its inclusivity: every performer, regardless of his or her level of professionalism, is given 15 minutes on stage, with the exception of the featured guest artists, who play two one-hour sets. Held each April, Folk Fest draws singers, banjo masters, and fiddlers from all over the state and beyond. Past guest artists have included folk singer Nanci Griffith and western swing band Hot Club of Cowtown. Almost as fun as the festival itself is the after-hours bar scene that blossoms around it. Most local bars host performances and jam sessions; on the weekend the music continues into the wee hours.

Giant vegetables are big attractions at Palmer's Alaska State Fair. Shop for Alaskan-made gifts and crafts, and whoop it up with midway rides, livestock and 4-H shows, bake-offs, home-preserved produce contests, food, and live music. The fair runs for 12 to 14 days, starting in late August and ending on Labor Day.

Presented by the American Indian Film Institute, this event has been based in San Francisco since 1977. Each November the festival takes over various venues, including the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

The September festival honors the film and television actor with a parade, art show, and an impressive rodeo and incorporates a Route 66 element with car shows and live music.

This company stages an opera season in both Tucson and Phoenix. The Phoenix season runs from October to March at Symphony Hall and the Orpheum Theatre.

Come for classic fair fun, including a petting zoo, farm animals, and a rockin' concert stage every October.

Based in Tucson, the Arizona Theatre Company also performs at the Herberger Theater Center. Productions, held from September through June, range from classic dramas to musicals and new works by emerging playwrights.

You can buy advance tickets, many at half price, to theater, music, and dance events at Arts Tix.

With two stages and year-round performances, Atwater Village has aligned with three L.A. theater companies: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Circle X Theatre Co., and Echo Theater Company, and presents fresh works from new local playwrights.

This historic theater, which just celebrated its 88th birthday, features a combination of classic movies, second-run hits, local documentaries, and art-house favorites.

The state's professional ballet company presents a full season of classical and contemporary works (including pieces commissioned for the company) in Tucson and Phoenix. The season runs from October through May.

This fabulous car auction attracts thousands every January.

This Tony Award–winning group is the American Conservatory Theater's major rival for leadership among the region's resident professional companies. It performs an adventurous mix of classics and new plays from fall to spring in its theater complex, near BART's Downtown Berkeley Station. Parking is difficult, so arrive early if you're coming by car.

The Berkeley Symphony Orchestra rose to prominence under Kent Nagano's baton and continues to prosper with Joana Carneiro at the helm. The emphasis is on 20th-century composers. The orchestra plays a few concerts each year, in the University of California–Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and elsewhere in Berkeley. The acoustics in Zellerbach Hall are poor; sit in the front or middle orchestra for the best sound.

Specializing in restored archival film, the Billy Wilder Theater, home of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, presents a number of acclaimed screenings, including both silent and foreign films. The Hammer Museum produces its own events for the theater, including readings, lectures, and conversations with artists. Authors Jonathan Lethem and Roxane Gay, and director David Lynch have all made appearances. Hammer Museum programs are free; screenings by the UCLA Film & Television Archive have charged admission with a ticket.

Based in Denver's trendy Highland neighborhood, this small nonprofit theater produces cutting-edge, original works.

Held at various venues on the University of California–Berkeley campus from September through May, this popular series offers the Bay Area's most varied bill of internationally acclaimed artists in all disciplines.

The center presents mainstream theatrical productions such as Grease and The Odd Couple, as well as concerts, art shows, and dance performances.

More than a century old, this rodeo is the largest in California and one of the best professional rodeos in the country. Hundreds of top-ranked wranglers compete for prizes in events that include bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, and bull riding.