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The Plateau
Operated by the same people who present the Montréal Fringe Festival every summer, the Mainline opened in 2006 to serve the city's burgeoning Anglo theater community and has been going strong ever since.
3997 boul. St-Laurent, Montréal, Québec, H2W 1Y4, Canada
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Downtown
Lavish sets and dazzlingly sensual choreography have helped make Montréal Danse one of Canada's most popular contemporary repertory companies. It has a busy touring schedule, but also regularly performs at Place des Arts, Agora de la Danse, and the Théâtre de Verdure.
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Downtown
The highly regarded École Nationale de Théâtre du Canada—aka National Theatre School of Canada—supplies world stages with a steady stream of well-trained actors and directors. It works and performs in the historic and glorious old theater that has played host to such luminaries as Edith Piaf and Emma Albani. (Québec's first feminist rallies in the early 1900s also took place here.) Graduating classes perform professional-level plays in both French and English. The theater also plays host to an assortment of touring plays, musicals, and concerts.
1182 boul. St-Laurent, Montréal, Québec, H2X 2S5, Canada
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Downtown
This renowned opera company, the largest francophone opera in North America, has a varied schedule of classics, including Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, and Silent Night. Seventy-five minutes before each show, the "pre-Opera" program, done in French with a summary in English, gives attendees a look at the history, music, and artists of the Opéra de Montréal.
260 boul. de Maisonneuve, Montréal, Québec, H2X 1Y9, Canada
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Downtown
The Met may lie in the shadow of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, but its talented conductor and artistic director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, continues to draw the spotlight. He's in high demand across the world; in addition to his role here, he's the musical director at the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City's Metropolitan Opera, and honorary conductor at the Rotterdam Philharmonic. His charismatic approach has brought in the crowds since 2000 and produced highly acclaimed performances. Most shows take place at Place des Arts or Maison Symphonique de Montréal.
486 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H3B 1A6, Canada
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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Downtown | Music
Place des Arts is located in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles and has been hosting performances since 1963. In 2011, the venue underwent a major face-lift and makeover to stunning effect. The glass-walled Maison Symphonique concert hall is the permanent home of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra; with state-of-the-art acoustics and only 75 feet between the end of the stage and the last row, it's an intimate place for concerts. The Salle Wilfrid Pelletier performance space is used by three resident companies: the Opéra de Montréal, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the popular Jean Duceppe theater company. The venue's four other performance spaces host dance, theater, and festival events.The other outdoor stages and other venues that make up the Quartier des Spectacles allow for lots of shows and festivals to be staged in one common area. Even if you don't have tickets to something, you can walk around the Quartier during festival season (pretty much all summer) to take in a variety of shows and concerts for free.
175 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H2X 1Z8, Canada
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Downtown
McGill University's concert hall showcases the best talents from its formidable music faculty, with concerts by the McGill Symphony, Opera McGill, the McGill Baroque Orchestra, and the Montréal Chamber Orchestra, among others.
555 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H3E 1E3, Canada
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Outremont
This beautiful concert hall hosts more than 150 symphonic and operatic performances every year by the music faculty of the Université de Montréal. The repertoire includes both classic and contemporary works.
220 av. Vincent-d'Indy, Montréal, Québec, H2V 2T2, Canada
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Côte-des-Neiges
English-language favorites like Harvey, Inherit the Wind, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat get frequent billing at this Côte-des-Neiges venue, along with locally written works. The center is best known, however, as the home to the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, which presents such musical works as The Jazz Singer and The Pirates of Penzance in Yiddish.
5170 chemin de la Côte-Ste-Catherine, Montréal, Québec, H3W 1M7, Canada
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Downtown
For more than 40 years, Tangente has hosted weekly performances of contemporary and experimental dance between September and May on various Montréal stages (there are currently three venues in the city). It also acts as an archive for contemporary dance and experimental performance art, with more than 2,000 files focusing on major international dance schools and festivals, companies, and choreographers. Tangente encourages national and international exchanges between dance companies and artists.
1435 rue de Bleury, Montréal, Québec, H3A 2H7, Canada
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Westmount
Built in 1912, this exquisite former cinema and vaudeville theater in the heart of St-Henri has proudly preserved its small stage for the maneuvering of scenery, the artists' lodges under the stage, and the orchestra pit in the foreground. It is the only vintage movie theater in Montréal whose exterior façade and interior have remained almost unchanged. Today the Corona serves as a concert venue for artists like Milk & Bone, Bobby Bazini, Tom Odell, and Rumours of Fleetwood Mac.
2490 rue Notre Dame Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H3J 1N5, Canada
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Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
With an objective to introduce younger audiences to theater, the Pelletier, which celebrated its 50th year in 2014, puts on French-language productions in a beautifully restored Italianate hall. It's a 15-minute walk from the métro station.
4353 rue Ste-Catherine Est, Montréal, Québec, H1V 1Y2, Canada
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The Plateau
The oldest professional French theater company in North America, Théâtre du Rideau Vert has been winning over audiences with its contemporary productions since 1948. Many popular francophone actors got their big break here.
4664 rue St-Denis, Montréal, Québec, H2J 2L3, Canada
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Downtown
Named for one of Québec's most beloved actors, this theater makes its home in the smallest and most intimate of the four auditoriums in Place des Arts. It primarily stages major French-language productions.
175 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Québec, H2X 1Z8, Canada
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Outremont
Inaugurated in 1929, this gorgeous art deco theater rapidly became a local favorite and had its heyday in the '70s before it fell into disarray. After reopening its doors in the early '90s, the theater has regained much of its steam with mostly theater and live music acts.
1248 av. Bernard O., Montréal, Québec, H2V 1V6, Canada
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Latin Quarter
This is one of several theaters hosting events that are part of the Just for Laughs Festival, and touring Broadway productions, concerts, musicals, and dance performances can often be seen here.
1594 rue St-Denis, Montréal, Québec, H2X 3K2, Canada
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Latin Quarter
With approximately 100 comfortable seats, this independent alternative theater features comedy and improv shows most nights. On Sunday, there's a free improv workshop that's open to all, with participants later showing off what they learned as that evening's entertainment. The theater also houses a café/bar as well as Le Nouveau International, a nonprofit organization run by a thriving community of artists working year-round to produce theater, comedy, improv, films, a bimonthly magazine, and sketch shows.
264 rue Ste-Catherine Est, Montréal, Québec, H2X 1L4, Canada
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Tickets
Tickets for theatrical and musical performances, plus a host of other cultural events, can be bought through Ticketmaster.
