1679 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

The city's esteemed modern dance company presents edgy, intriguing works at venues throughout the city. Under the artistic direction of Christopher K. Morgan, Malashock has performances and classes for all ages.

A former dinner theater facility, the Maltz is now a 554-seat main-stage concert hall that is home to one of Florida's leading regional theater troupes. Major shows, including Broadway favorites like The Producers and Annie, run from October to April, and tickets range from $52 to $68.

Mandel Hall is one of the largest performing arts and events venues on the University of Chicago campus—the Victorian performance space can accommodate nearly 1,000 audience members. Over the years, it's hosted big names, from the likes of Igor Stravinsky to Joni Mitchell. Today, it's home to the university's symphony orchestra and annual international folk festival. 

Wonderful performances grace this intimate community theater in lush Manoa Valley.

The biggest bash in this neck of the woods is in February or March (depending on when Lent occurs). About a dozen parades take to the streets over a couple of weeks, culminating on "Fat Tuesday," and a festive atmosphere fills the city.

An elegant, whitewashed building on a quiet residential street, this "Church of the Arts" has been hosting the Marigny Opera Ballet since 2014. Besides highly coveted private events and weddings, the House also hosts classical music productions, plays, and local music performances.

The home of the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet is an opulent, glass-enclosed structure reflecting the skies and the Space Needle nearby. The facility houses two auditoriums and a four-story main lobby area where several artworks are on display. Look for Sarah Sze's An Equal and Opposite Reaction, an enormous sculpture of found objects, hanging over the stairs at the north end of the Kreielsheimer Promenade.

Both dramas and comedies dominate the stage at the Mark Taper Forum, next door to the Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown. A showcase for new and experimental plays, quite a few shows that premiered here have gone on to Broadway and off-Broadway theaters (a number of Pulitzer Prize–winning plays have also been developed here).

This venue hosts mainly headlining rock 'n' roll entertainers.

Martha's Vineyard Playhouse operates year-round, producing professional productions showcasing diverse work and developing new plays through staged readings, workshops, and world premieres on the intimate Patricia Neal stage. Music, poetry, art, and drama classes are offered for adults and children in this historic theater in downtown Vineyard Haven. Each summer season, the theater stages vibrant Shakespeare productions and original plays for children in the outdoor Tisbury Amphitheater. 

built in 1915 by renowned architect Thomas W. Lamb (who also designed Madison Square Garden), stands in the heart of the city's burgeoning arts district. The refurbished theater welcomes big-name country singers, doo-wop groups, comedians, and classical musicians to its stage. On Monday night, art-house films are shown, and throughout the year, there are theatrical offerings for kids.

A winning smile (and winning America's Got Talent) turned out to be a formidable combination for a magician who settled on the Strip after the TV talent show fast-tracked his fame in 2014. Franco's charm and likable attitude compensates for a streamlined production, on a mostly bare stage augmented by video screens. But he gives the classics a youthful attitude, and the show builds to a big finale in two bits of trickery that both involve the wider audience.

Founded in 1974, this nonprofit performing arts group offers theatrical productions, as well as dance and drama classes for children and teens. Recent shows have included Alice in Wonderland, Into the Woods, Nutcracker Sweets, Songs for a New World, and Disney's Frozen, Jr.

Based at the Historic Iao Theater, this nonprofit outfit stages several shows each season. Performances alternate between benefit concerts, plays, poetry slams, comedy nights, and more. The audience is mostly locals, but visitors are always welcome. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended.

Unlike most island luau shows, Mauka Warriors at Hawaii Country Club goes beyond hula and fire-knife dances to tell the stories of King Kamehameha I, who aimed to unite the Hawaiian Islands, and also the warriors who populated islands throughout Polynesia. Tickets (three days a week) include a Polynesian buffet, various activities, and fascinating interactive performances. Transportation is available ($30 per person) from Honolulu and Waikiki.

The Max M. Fisher Music center hosts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The Max goes well beyond classical music to offer world music concerts, a regular jazz series, family programming, poetry slams, and more.

The oldest choral and orchestral festival in the country is presented in a series of concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Guest soloists are featured.

An alternative-arts venue for the innovative and up-and-coming, Mayo Street Arts often features intimate concerts, contemporary exhibitions, and offbeat puppet shows in a repurposed church.

Founded by legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles, this snug theater showcases an array of independent documentary films, as well as panel discussions. There are also film education programs for local youth.

This tri-level theater hosts productions—a mix of Broadway plays, concerts, classical revues, and comedy shows—from late fall through spring.

This intimate, 400-seat proscenium theater is not only the performance space for UT's excellent orchestra, dance, drama, and lyric opera productions. It also brings a wide range of professional musicians to the stage, including chamber music and solo recitals. In addition to classical music, you can catch a show during the annual Summer Stock series, when headlining performers and Broadway musicals—such as Wicked and Annie—come to town. The theater is located in the same building as Bass Concert Hall.

McKinney Avenue Contemporary (often called the MAC) offers space to alternative artists of all disciplines, and the versatile space offers room for video and live performances. Kitchen Dog Theater performs here.

National and international companies perform October through May at the University of Washington's Meany Hall. The emphasis is on modern and jazz dance and generally innovative, diverse performance art.

Well worth your while in summer is this theatrical tribute to the Old West, its history, and its personalities. It's been in operation for five decades and is held nightly early June through early September at the 2,852-seat, open-air Burning Hills Amphitheater. Doors open at 6:45; the show starts at 7:30. Book tickets in advance through the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, or stop by the Ticket Junction or Medora Musical Welcome Center on the day of the show.

You can watch professional sheepdogs in action at the annual Meeker Classic Sheepdog Trials, a prestigious five-day international competition and one of the town's biggest draws. Sheepdogs and their handlers perform sheepherding maneuvers on a closed course while competing for a $27,000 prize. The event takes place at Ute Park the weekend after Labor Day.

The Memphis in May International Festival salutes the cuisine, crafts, and other cultural offerings of a different country each year over four consecutive weekends. This festival—Memphis's largest—galvanizes the city each year.

The campy musical full of song parodies about \"the change\" has been a female-bonding experience on the Strip since 2006. The audience commiserates, sings along, and sometimes even ends up onstage with the four women in the cast as they bond while cavorting through a day at Bloomingdales. 

A destination for both old-school and cutting-edge musical performances, this concert hall around the corner from Lincoln Center is a lovely, acoustically advanced, 450-seater that presents chamber pieces. It's also known for jazz, world, new music, and especially its Ecstatic Music Festival (dates vary year to year), when an eclectic group of indie classical artists more than live up to their billing.