1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

Concerts and more take place throughout the summer at this historic auditorium. Performers have included B. B. King, Melissa Etheridge, Lucinda Williams, the Indigo Girls, and Lyle Lovett. Former vice president Al Gore and the Reverend Jesse Jackson are among those who have spoken here.

A large part of this seven-day fair, held at the end of July, centers on animals: livestock exhibits, horse shows, goat-milking contests. Other attractions include demolition derbies, tractor pulls, line dancing, magic shows, and carnival rides.

The Cosmopolitan's 40,000-square-foot venue is elegantly trimmed but a versatile bare box in its layout. The floor can offer seating or general-admission standing room, wrapped by a gallery of limited fixed seating, five rows deep, and an in-between area that can be either bleacher seating or more standing room. It usually hosts smaller-capacity concerts for 2,000 or more, with comedians Chelsea Handler and Daniel Tosh among the 2025 attractions.

A new and long-awaited fixture in Baltimore's theater scene, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents works from the Bard as well as other playwrights like Chekov and Oscar Wilde. The theater is located in the former Mercantile Deposit and Trust Company bank building.

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.

This block-long landmark building houses several performance spaces. The most magnificent is the top-floor Preston Bradley Hall, with its Tiffany glass dome and ornately detailed white marble walls.

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

This company shrugs off esoteric notions of opera, preferring to make productions that are accessible to aficionados and novices alike. From innovative versions of traditional favorites to important lesser-known works, the emphasis is on both theatrical and musical aspects. Fear not—performances are sung in English or in Italian with English supertitles projected above the stage.

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater devotes its considerable talents to keeping the Bard's flame alive, and also showcases new international dramas and musicals. It has three theaters of varying sizes in its Navy Pier complex, so there's almost always something on.

The venerable Chicago Symphony Orchestra made generational waves when it chose a successor to longtime music director Riccardo Muti; the Finnish conductor and cellist Klaus Mäkelä, just 28 years old at the time of his appointment in April 2024, is the youngest leader in the CSO's 133-year history. The orchestra's impressive roster includes regular concerts as well as special themed series dedicated to classical, chamber, and children's concerts. The season runs from September through June. Tickets are sometimes scarce, but they do become available.

Since 1921, visitors to the Chicago Theatre, which began as a Balaban and Katz movie palace, have marveled at its stunning baroque interior. The 3,600-seat auditorium features crystal chandeliers, bronze light fixtures, and murals on the wall and ceiling. These days the marquee draws tend to be big-name music and comedy acts.

The state's theater company for young audiences and families holds performances during the school year at Tempe Center for the Arts.

After an interim home at The LINQ, the men of Chippendales have moved to the South Strip, to Planet Hollywood. The larger stage llows even more staging for a show that always had fancier production values than any G-string revue traveling on the nightclub circuit. Choreography and lighting add further sophistication to the bow-tied hunks who have always kept it respectable enough to let Mom tag along with the bachelorette party. There are usually two shows on weekend nights.

From fall to late spring, this 200-voice choir, founded in 1965 by Norman Scribner, performs a musical array, ranging from classical to tango to Broadway hits, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington National Cathedral, and other venues. Three Christmas concerts are also scheduled each December, and there's a popular choral tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. during the winter season. 

Old-world holiday traditions blend with modern rituals to turn downtown Leavenworth into a glittering holiday wonderland, complete with carriage rides, carols, arts and crafts, tree lighting, children's activities, and performances by the Marlin Handbell Ringers, who help keep alive an 18th-century English tradition by jingling more than 100 bells.

Throughout the month of December, Canal Street sparkles with seasonal decorations, and historic homes across the city put on their holiday best. St. Louis Cathedral opens its doors for concerts almost every day, and thousands of carolers gather in Jackson Square to raise their voices by candlelight. You'll find specials at hotels, as well as holiday réveillon menus at restaurants. Celebration in the Oaks lights up City Park, and bonfires are set on the Mississippi River's levee from New Orleans into Cajun Country—a Cajun tradition illuminating the way for Papa Noel.

After debuting as the Majestic in 1906, this 1,800-seat theater became a major stop on the vaudeville circuit. Today, after a series of name changes (the current naming-rights holder is a Canadian bank), the plush, red-and-gold venue hosts Broadway in Chicago performances such as Jersey Boys, The Book of Mormon, and other traveling shows.

One of the tougher marathon courses around, the Flying Pig actually is a beginner-friendly affair—more participants are first-timers than at other marathons, and the festivities also include a half-marathon, 10K, and 5K, four-person relay teams, and kids races. Bands and spectators are legion around the course, and the Pig has become one of the town's signature events, held the first weekend in May.

This show at the Cincinnati Convention Center exhibits fine furnishings and products and services related to building and remodeling, gardening, and outdoor living.

shows independent American and foreign films and hosts lectures by and about filmmakers and actors. A café on the premises serves organic vegetarian soups, salads, Greek spinach pies, hot knishes, and baked goods.

The ballet holds performances at the Balboa Theatre, as well as other area venues such as California Center for the Arts, Escondido and Epstein Family Amphitheater at UCSD.

City Lit Theater Company produces notable staged readings and full productions of famous literary works—by the likes of T.S. Eliot, August Wilson, and Mark Twain—as well as original material with a literary bent.

Designed quite literally to be for the city, this performing arts venue supports the work of Austin-based directors, designers, and performers committed to stage performance. In addition to offering a seasonal lineup of productions that range from Shakespeare to musicals to edgy comedies, the theatre also fosters theatrical educational through community outreach.

At the CSC's cozy 199-seat theater, you can see work by Shakespeare as well as excellent revivals—such as dramas by Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill and Sondheim musicals—often with a modern spin, reigning theatrical stars, and new scores.

In the second week of June, CMA Fest hosts big-name country music stars at Nissan Stadium, Ascend Amphitheater, Riverfront Park, and Bridgestone Arena. Over the long weekend, Lower Broadway also hosts many free concerts.

While The Cobra is open on non-show nights, too, this East Nashville bar/venue is especially known for its live music. If your tastes venture outside country and Americana, you'll be pleased with the variety of music represented in the nightly lineups, which often include local and national rock acts. The Cobra is also a lively spot for a drink or a quick bite, so stop in early to enjoy the divey atmosphere.

In Sierra Vista, this two-day festival in early February showcases Western culture, history, and folklore through poetry readings, storytelling, and musical performances. Most of the programs are held at Buena High School Performing Arts Center.