42 Best Performing Arts in New Orleans, Louisiana

A $27-million post-Katrina renovation returned the lights to this fabulous stage and restored the sculpture-filled Armstrong Park grounds. With a 21st-century sound system, a digital cinema screen, enhanced lighting, a new orchestra shell, and cutting-edge ballet flooring, the 2,100-seat theater once again plays hostess to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Orleans Opera Association, the New Orleans Ballet Association, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Broadway shows, and much more.

Gratifying concerts of all types—solo, choral, orchestral, and chamber—fill the vaulted interior of Trinity Episcopal Church most Sunday evenings. Organized by local organist Albinas Prizgintas, the series features both local and regional artists, though the occasional star passes through. Admission is free, and a relaxed, enjoyable evening is assured. And if you're fortunate enough to be in town the right weekend in late March or early April, don't miss "Bach Around the Clock," a 29-hour performance marathon that features everything from the eponymous composer's fugues and variations to classic rock hits arranged for organ.

This community theater also houses an acting school, providing young local actors with an audience. Productions include musical dramatizations of musicians' biographies, as well as straight drama in small but careful productions. Some casts include local celebrities.

Theater buffs routinely make the hour's drive from downtown New Orleans to this unique theater that sits on the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the small Cajun town of Lockport, Louisiana. Theater director Perry Martin is a hometown hero here, having spent years working on Broadway and in Los Angeles, directing and producing more than 80 theatrical productions, many of them award winning. Returning home, he has brought an incredible artistic vision and world-class talent to this charming and unlikely location. Productions celebrate life in the South and in Cajun Louisiana.

This organization brings superior performers from all over the world to Tulane University's Dixon Hall. Concerts take place approximately once a month, and tickets usually cost $30 to $35.

This community-based dance school and ballet company stages a few public performances each year, including festive balls and an annual winter concert.

A wonderful fount of culture, if a bit out-of-the-way, the society stages musicals, ballets, recitals, kids' theater, and operas at multiple out-of-town locations including Metairie, Slidell, and Meridian.

Since 1916, Le Petit Théâtre has entertained the French Quarter with plays, musicals, and variety shows. The oldest continuously running community theater in the United States occupies a historic building in the Quarter. The community-based group were originally housed in one of the Pontalba apartments on Jackson Square, but they quickly outgrew that space and moved to this building in 1922. The flagstone patio with its fountain is postcard-perfect. Renovations have resulted in many improvements to the theater itself, and also made room for Tableau, a restaurant featuring contemporary Creole fare by local restaurateur Dickie Brennan. The theater presents children's entertainment in addition to its usual calendar of classics, musicals, and dramas, often with local themes. Events in the Tennessee Williams Festival take place here in March.

The always good, sometimes excellent LPO now holds court at the Orpheum Theater while continuing to perform at Tulane and Loyola university auditoriums and at local churches. There's also a concert series in parks around town during the spring months.

The city's prestigious dance organization has returned to the lavishly renovated Mahalia Jackson Theater with a full schedule. Performances also take place at other venues, including Freda Lupin Memorial Hall at NOCCA.

Cinephiles can get their fix during this juried festival in October, which brings an influx of indie and film culture to town and commandeers screens at venues throughout the city. The Film Society, which presents the annual festival, also hosts screenings year-round, a French film fest, themed film series, and a gala.

Returning to the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts and the Placido Domingo Stage, the October–April opera season generally showcases three operas, as well as a small handful of special events. Opera on Tap is an innovative series bringing performances to area pubs.

Tulane's Shakespeare Festival, at the university's Dixon Concert Hall, interprets the Bard's work in a series of three to four imaginative, high-quality productions each season.

This intimate theater is the perfect setting for alternative productions, and it attracts not only intelligent works by local companies but also touring artists from over the country, including the occasional Broadway hit.

A visit to the city's last single-screen movie house, hidden in an Uptown residential area, is a reminder of the days when neighborhood movie theaters offered entertainment as well as air-conditioned relief from the summer heat. The Prytania shows first-run crowd-pleasers and the occasional independent feature. The Grindhouse Cafe sells coffee and snacks out front.

The excellent Loyola music department hosts regular performances at its Roussel Performance Hall, including guest appearances by internationally known performers and the occasional opera. The Montage Fine and Performing Arts Series spotlights students in everything from jazz to ballet.