1679 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

Though rebuilt several times, The National Theatre has operated in the same location since 1835. It now hosts touring Broadway shows, from classics like Porgy and Bess and Chicago to contemporary shows like The Tina Turner Musical. Ticket prices vary with each show.

The world's largest Native American fair includes a rodeo, a parade, traditional Navajo music and dances, food booths and fry-bread competitions, a Miss Navajo Nation Pageant, and an intertribal powwow during the first week of September, at Window Rock.

Entertainment at the includes the Distinguished Artists Series, the Masqueraders (the Academy's theatrical club), chamber music recitals, and glee club concerts.

Concerts, many held outside during fair weather, are free.

Once called the Astor Theatre, this circa-1945 former movie palace is now a venue that has hosted concerts by the likes of the Indigo Girls, Beach House, and Rooney.

A cultural hub for the nearby University of Washington since opening in 1921, this striking Renaissance-revival theater is operated by STG Presents, which also runs the Paramount and Moore. The lineup—featuring mostly music and comedy—includes a mix of emerging and well-established acts.

The city's longest-running fine-arts organization (this being Las Vegas, it only dates from 1973) stages four or five productions each year, anchored by an annual December presentation of The Nutcracker (and making an October tradition of its Dracula every other year). Performing at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts Downtown, the dance company also runs classes from its studio in Summerlin.

This 1865 redbrick edifice reopened in 2022 after extensive renovations. The West Coast's longest continuously operating theater building, it presents film, comedy, plays, live music, and spoken-word performances.

In 1997, Disney refurbished the elaborate 1903 art nouveau New Amsterdam Theatre, where Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Astaire, and the Ziegfeld Follies once drew crowds. The Lion King ruled here for the first nine years of its run, followed by Mary Poppins. These days the theater is home to long-running Aladdin.

Dedicated to preserving Alaska's Russian history, this all-female troupe has performed in Sitka since 1969. The 30-minute performances showcase authentic dances from the surrounding regions and Russia.

This three-stage complex focuses on contemporary LGBTQ+-themed works and newer small-production musicals, as well educational plays and classes for young people.

One of the world's acoustic treasures, the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall is ideal for solo and string quartet recitals, yet spacious enough for chamber and full orchestras. The pin-drop intimacy of this all-wood, 1,050-seat hall is in demand year-round for ensembles visiting and local. The New England Philharmonic and Boston Baroque perform here regularly. Dozens of free faculty and student concerts, jazz and classical, are a best-kept secret. The lobby box office is no longer open for purchasing tickets. All tickets must be purchased online.

Broadway-style musicals and children's plays are presented here every summer in New Hampshire's oldest continuously operating theater.

The highly respected New Mexico Philharmonic dips deeply into the full realm of classical repertoire, from the less expected to Handel's Messiah at Christmas. Most performances are at the 2,000-seat Popejoy Hall or the National Hispanic Cultural Center's superb Roy E. Disney Hall; in summer they occasionally suit up for outdoor performances at the ABQ BioPark.

The city's prestigious dance organization performs both contemporary and classical works at the Orpheum Theater. The company also collaborates with other dance organizations and offers community and school programming, as well as classes.

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. Of course, it's New Orleans, so there are also exceptional parties to attend all week. The Film Society, which presents the annual festival, also hosts screenings year-round, a French film fest, themed film series, and a gala.

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.

Winemakers and oenophiles from all over the world converge each year in late-Spring for five days of seminars, fine food, and the opportunity to sample hundreds of wines. Attendees can purchase individual tickets or multi-event packages. The Grand Tasting, where wines from around the world are poured alongside offerings by some of New Orleans' finest chefs, is a must.

At this dynamic theatrical complex you can attend new and familiar plays, musicals, and other live performances on five different off-Broadway stages. New World Stages has served as the home of Tony Award–winning, Guinness Record–setting, and Pulitzer Prize–earning shows, and hosts sharp productions with high-caliber talent. Arrive early for a cocktail in the lobby (which you can bring into the theaters) and to view its art gallery. The complex is fully accessible and modern, with generous legroom in each theater.

Join the crowd for live music on Jackson Square, and help count down to the new year with the drop of a giant luminescent fleur-de-lis on the riverfront near Jax Brewery. A barrage of fireworks lights up the Mississippi as clocks strike midnight.

The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show is one of the city’s top seasonal attractions, especially for families. It runs from the mid-November through mid-January, and you’ll find electric trains, more than 150 miniature replicas of city landmarks (made out of twigs and bark), and magical landscapes—all housed in a conservatory, so winter weather can’t dampen your spirits.

Even if you're not joining the more than 50,000 runners taking a 26.2-mile tour through New York’s five boroughs on the first Sunday in November, you’ll want to experience the electric atmosphere and the very best of New York with the 2 million spectators who come out to watch and cheer.

This space serves as the home stage for the innovative Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. It's also a laboratory for new choreographers and artists in residence, and it hosts events such as panel discussions.

In addition to maintaining what may be the world's largest collection of theater, film, dance, music, and recorded sound, the library presents concerts and mounts periodic exhibitions related to major artists and composers. At the library’s free, year-round Silent Clowns series ( www.silentclowns.com), held Saturday afternoon each month in its auditorium, rarely seen prints of the silent era’s comedy masters are paired with live piano music.

The New York State Theatre Institute, a family-oriented professional theater company, presents plays and musicals from September to May.

The venerable New York Studio School hosts two—always free, almost always on Tuesday and Wednesday—evening lecture series (fall and spring) on contemporary issues in art. Hear from both emerging and established artists and curators, as well as some of the biggest names in art history and criticism. The school building served as the original location of the Whitney Museum.

Works by new and established playwrights anchor this theater's repertoire. Jonathan Larson's Rent got its start here before going to Broadway, and works by Tony Kushner (Homebody/Kabul), Caryl Churchill, Amy Herzog, and Paul Rudnick have also been staged here. Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me also ran here, as did an early version of Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown.

Head to the stately Newberry Library for performances by the Newberry Consort, an early-music chamber group, and other ensembles in Ruggles Hall.

The grandfather of all jazz festivals, founded in 1954, takes place over three days at the end of July and/or beginning of August. The festival showcases both jazz veterans and up-and-coming artists, playing traditional and avant-garde styles. Performers in recent years have included Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Kendrick Scott, Norah Jones, and Diana Krall. The festival is held rain or shine, with open-air lawn seating. Tickets go on sale in February and sell out quickly.

Since 1983, this dinner theater has offered a varied schedule of comedies and musical shows, and tickets include a hearty buffet with homemade meatballs, pasta, turkey, ham, and lots of veggies and sides. The adorably intimate theater puts you practically in the play, and after the show you'll see the performers again as they put on a musical/comedy cabaret show at the bar.