1679 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

The MAC in East Cambridge supports diversity within the performing arts, engaging with the community through jazz, dance, and visiting programs. The two spacious galleries showcase international visual arts, and the theater itself is a showstopper with ornate Victorian details and theater lighting. Galleries are open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm (Thursday until 8 pm).

St. Louis is home to the country's oldest and largest outdoor theater, the Muny, in Forest Park. Broadway shows are the usual fare from June through August.

A knack for self-promotion—and an unimaginable outlay for hair products—made this comedy-magician instantly identifiable by his black-framed glasses and an exploding shock of vertical blonde hair. Murray (Sawchuck) has become a Las Vegas mainstay with a relaxed, slow-burn stage presence and a solid showcase of classic magic heavy on audience banter. When his longtime home at the Tropicana was demolished, Murray moved north for weekend shows inside the L.A. Comedy Club at the Strat.

For one day every June, thousands of locals and visitors celebrate the Museum Mile Festival when museums along 5th Avenue from 82nd Street to 105th Street open their doors for free from 6 pm to 9 pm. There's also dancing and entertainment along the street.

The academy presents orchestral, chamber, and operatic works every summer.

If you love old theaters, old movies, and the occasional ghost sighting (rumor has it the theater is haunted by the spirit of its original manager), don't miss a trip to the Music Box. The theater regularly hosts movie festivals like a 24-hour horror fest around Halloween, as well as rare screenings of films in their original 70mm format. Certain screenings in the vintage 1929 venue get extra atmosphere thanks to a live pipe organ introduction.

Local, national, and internationally known musicians perform as part of the Central Park Concert Series. The outdoor concerts start at 7 pm on Sunday in July and August.

The Music in the Mountains is a free summer concert series every Thursday from June to September and features emerging artists from around Montana and the country.

On summertime Fridays, open-air concerts are presented at noon in Peratrovich Park (also known as Old City Hall Park). Come back on Saturday afternoons for Jazz in the Park from 4 to 6.

Rewind time with one of the Midwest's leading music ensembles. Specializing in baroque and early classical music, it mounts about eight programs a year, mostly at Millennium Park's Harris Theater.

This suburban company, formerly known as Light Opera Works, updated its name in 2017 to reflect its occasional forays into American musicals, but it still favors the satirical tones of Gilbert and Sullivan along with frothy Viennese, French, and other light operettas. Performances take place in Evanston, just north of the city and easily accessible by train or El.

In a remodeled historic stone jail, The Myrna Loy—named after the Montana-born actress—hosts live performances by nationally and internationally recognized musicians and dance troupes. Foreign and independent films are shown in the auditorium and screening room.

The Strip's first permanent Cirque du Soleil show celebrated its 30th anniversary in late 2023, evidence enough that it's still the town's most consistent family show, and the Las Vegas Cirque show that most purely preserves the Montreal company's innovative reinvention of the circus. It has changed every now and then over the years as the producers try to keep it fresh, but not in fundamental ways most people would notice. Mystère has held up to the increased spectacle of its sister shows by keeping the spectators close to the action and the human acrobatics in the spotlight. You're intimately involved with this surreal wonderland and the comic characters who interact with the audience. 

In keeping with its roots as a vaudeville house, the Mystic, which opened in 1911, books varied acts and events, from indie bands and comedians to folk and alternative acts and old-school rockers.

The 85-piece Naples Philharmonic Orchestra performs more than 140 plays, ballets, orchestral, and chamber concerts each year at the Hayes Hall at Artis–Naples from September to June. The Miami City Ballet performs here during its winter season.

Musicals and dramas are performed year-round; winter shows often sell out well in advance.

Nashville Ballet is Tennessee's largest professional ballet company. Classes and community events are often hosted at the whopping 44,000-square-foot facility in Sylvan Park. Like their neighbors, the Nashville Opera, they also hold performances Downtown at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC).

Performing classic shows for children since the 1930s, this theater company touts the title of the country's oldest continually running children’s theater company. They also host drama workshops.

If jazz is your thing, be sure to check the calendar of the Nashville Jazz Workshop, which offers classes, performances, and various special events throughout the year. There are typically a couple of events taking place each day, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit Workshop's mission of keeping jazz alive in Music City.

This is a perfect antidote for when ultra-cool New Nashville starts to take itself too seriously. This place is just unpretentious, good-hearted country music fun. Join 300 of your closest friends for a buffet-style dinner and an hour and a half of some of Nashville’s most seasoned musicians putting on the best country music variety show in town. The band performs country music through the ages, from Hank Williams to Toby Keith, and you better believe there’s fruit cobbler for dessert. Touring country tribute acts sometimes make stops for special performances, so check the music calendar.

Nashville’s Opera company aims to celebrate a lesser-represented genre in Music City and to make it accessible and interesting to all audience members, including opera newbies. Shows are held at The Noah Liff Opera Center black-box theater each opera season. The company also performs Downtown at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC).

Commonly referred to as Nashville Rep or simply The Rep, this regional company performs original and well-known plays and musicals. The company's Ingram New Works Project fosters new works via a season-long fellowship for playwrights. Nashville Rep's performances are usually at TPAC (The Tennessee Performing Arts Center) Downtown, with occasional shows in other venues like the company's home base in the Nashville Public Television building in Wedgewood-Houston.

This beloved Nashville-based theater company specializes in Shakespeare but also performs modern works. Summer Shakespeare shows in Nashville and neighboring Franklin are popular with all ages; preshow entertainment includes live music and a lecture series. Bring a blanket or lawn chair, or find a seat in the bleachers for these free performances. Food and drinks are available from food trucks, or you can pack your own snacks. The company also stages and/or presents winter and spring productions.

The showcases various forms of entertainment, including rock concerts and family shows.

The likable magician had the good fortune to be on the very first, highly watched season of America's Got Talent in 2006, parlaying that national exposure into a durable career on the Strip. Having relocated from Planet Hollywood, Burton puts a fun spin on familiar illusions and is family-friendly for those with older children. Mom and Dad will smile because the tickets are one of the few show bargains left on the Strip.

Celebrating Back literature, dance, visual arts, theater, film, and music, this festival is held in venues throughout the city year-round. Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Tito Puente, and Wynton Marsalis have all appeared at past events.

Free classic, international, and art films—from Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film, Duel, to Béla Tarr's Macbeth, filmed inside a Budapest castle—as well as classic video art, are usually shown in this museum's large auditorium each weekend. Sometimes films complement the exhibitions. For more information, pick up a film calendar at the museum or visit their website. Guests must register in advance.

Under the leadership of music director Gianandrea Noseda, the orchestra performs classic works by repertoire including classical and popular concerts, commissioned work, and genre-mixing collaborations at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap National Park in summer, and on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol (Memorial Day, Labor Day, and July 4) with some of the world's most renowned talent appearing as guest artists.

This concert venue hosts everything from the Richmond Symphony to alt-rock and alt-country bands, with a full schedule of performances throughout the year.