4 Best Performing Arts Venues in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Although increasingly focused on commercial and large-scale musicals, this former circus theater (that still houses the annual World Christmas Circus) also schedules acclaimed Eastern European ballet and opera companies. International stars can be seen, too: Tom Waits, Idina Menzel, Dionne Warwick, and David Sedaris have all performed here.

For many years, this riverside theater has been the city's most vibrant venue for cabaret and comedy, mostly in Dutch but not always.

This center for innovative and experimental theater has five venues where it puts on plays, often with an eye toward international audiences.

Former industrial shipyards have been reinvented as, quite possibly, the city's largest broedplaats, or "breeding ground" for the arts, where regular theater performances and festivals take place. And with a ferry departing from behind Centraal Station, getting here could not be easier.