1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

Held annually between mid-June and early July, this international festival attracts big-name celebrities who visit Maui for cinema and soirées under the stars around Wailea and at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului. The not-to-be-missed outdoor Celestial Cinema in Wailea turns golf greens into a spectacular theater under the stars.

On the oceanfront North Side Luau Grounds, you can indulge in the best of island cuisine—a traditional feast of kalua (earth oven–baked) pig roasted in an imu (oven), island fish, lomi lomi salmon, and sashimi—while enjoying entertainment by renowned local performers. The luau, originally premiering in 1960 for Newsweek magazine and going strong ever since, includes an amazing fire-knife dance, spirited chanting, and traditional hula. Keiki (children) can learn the hukilau (a traditional song and dance), and you can relax right on the beach, under the stars. If you choose one luau during your visit to the Big Island, this should be the one, and it's surprisingly affordable. You can elect to see only the show for a reasonable fee.

Founded in 1915, Maverick Concerts is the country's oldest continuously running summer chamber-music series. Every summer since has seen a confluence of world-class musicians drawn by superlative acoustics in a gorgeous 1916 "chapel" renowned by audiophiles for its acoustics. Gone are the days when concerts were free, but you can still bring your own chair and enjoy the pay-what-you-can prices. The season runs from late June to early September.

The mother of all Hawaii festivals, the world-class Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo celebrates all things hula for one fantastic week every April with competitions, activities, a parade, and more. The esteemed event honors the legacy of King David Kalakaua (1836–1891), the man responsible for reviving fading Hawaiian cultural traditions including hula. The three-day hula competition is staged at the Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium during the first week following Easter Sunday. Hula halau (studios) worldwide come to perform both kahiko (ancient) and auana (modern) dance styles, solo and in groups. Tickets are not expensive, but they are hard to get. You should reserve accommodations and rental cars up to a year in advance. Ticket requests must be mailed and postmarked after December 1 of the preceding year.

Exclusive premieres and retro screenings, often with celebrity guest speakers, and an ever-changing calendar of both classic and obscure films lure patrons to this boutique movie theater, where six films are usually shown on the two screens each day. There's also a restaurant and a bar in which to hang before or after the show, a small bookstore for browsing, and a retro candy counter with exotic albeit expensive treats.

The largest hall in Lincoln Center, the almost 3,800-seat Met is notable for its dramatic arched entrance, as well as its lobby's immense Swarovski crystal chandeliers and Marc Chagall paintings. The titan of American opera companies and an institution since its founding in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera brings the world's leading singers to its vast stage. All performances, including those sung in English, are subtitled on small screens on the back of the seat in front of you. A frequent resident of the Met (and sometimes, of the David H. Koch Theater) is the American Ballet Theatre ( www.abt.org), renowned for its gorgeous full-program renditions of 19th-century classics (Swan Lake,Giselle,The Sleeping Beauty) with choreography re-envisioned by 20th-century or contemporary masters.  A limited number of same-day $25 rush orchestra seats are available through the Met Opera's new app. These tickets go on sale for weeknight performances at noon, for matinees four hours before curtain, and for Saturday evening at 2 pm. There's also an annual free outdoor HD Festival, with screenings of recorded operas on an immense screen covering the facade, and thousands of chairs in the plaza area. Backstage tours of the Met ($35), when available, are held during the performance season, and require advance online reservation.

The biggest musical acts in the world, from Bad Bunny to Madonna, and stadium stand-ups, like Gabriel Iglesias and Sebastian Maniscalco, come through this world-class 15,000-seat venue when visiting Austin. This impressive multipurpose arena replaced the nearly 50-year-old Frank Erwin Center in 2022 and is now the new home of the Texas Longhorns basketball teams. Home games are electric at this state-of-the-art facility, as are the diverse range of special acts hosted throughout the year, from WWE and monster truck jams to professional bull rider events.

This nonprofit organization books dozens of local, regional, and national musical acts in the Park City area, using many different venues around town, including the ski resorts and Main Street. No matter what show you go to, you're likely to see every age group represented and enjoying the music. Most performances are free.

The state's largest performing arts center north of Seattle occupies a restored vaudeville-era (1927) theater with a 110-foot-tall Moorish tower and a lobby fashioned after a Spanish galleon. It is home to the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and also presents movies, musicals, and headline performers.

You'll find a truly engaging and uncommon repertory of American and international film at the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters 1 and 2, on MoMA's lower level, and at the Celeste Bartos Theater, in the lower level of the Cullman Education and Research Building on the museum campus. Sometimes the films tie in with current art exhibitions. The Contenders series, which starts each fall, is a chance to catch up on the past year's releases that are likely to win awards—or at least stand the test of time. Movie tickets go on sale two weeks prior to each screening, online or in person at the museum; limited same-day tickets are available, too. Museum admission is discounted if you have purchased cinema tickets ($14), though a separate ticket is required.

Beloved for its acoustics, the 895-seat hall built in 1878 presents top-drawer music concerts, from pop to classical, along with dance and theater. The more intimate Music Hall Lounge, around the corner, presents performances by noted musicians, authors, and comedians and serves light food and drinks.

On Fridays from 5 to 8:30 pm from mid-May through the end of August, jazz groups from all over the country perform to packed crowds at the Pavilion Café in the Sculpture Garden. Listeners dip their feet in the fountain, sip sangria, and let the week wash away. Make sure to arrive early to snag a spot.

The Neo-Futurists artist collective is most famous for their long-running, late-night hit The Infinite Wrench, where 30 original plays are performed in 60 minutes. Performances take place at their intimate, black-box space adjacent to Andersonville where audience members often participate in the show.

Begun in 2006 and now widely acclaimed, this nearly monthlong festival presents numerous concerts in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque from mid-July through early August. Recent performers have included Stanley Clarke, the Yellowjackets, Dianne Reeves, and Allen Toussaint.

Top-notch local, national, and international musical talent takes to several stages the last weekend of April and first weekend of May. The repertoire covers much more than just jazz, with big-name rock and pop stars in the mix as well as dozens of lectures, cooking demonstrations, quality arts and crafts booths, and awesome food to boot. Next to Mardi Gras, the two-week Jazz Fest is the city's biggest draw; book your hotel as far in advance as possible.

In a magnificently restored space from 1900, The New Victory Theater presents an international roster of supremely kid-pleasing plays, music, dance, opera, puppetry, and circus performances. Through the organization's workshops and arts activities, children and their parents can also learn more about other parts of theater (writing, for instance) and kinds of performance, such as break dancing. Count on reasonable ticket prices, high-energy and high-class productions, and the opportunity for kids to chat with the artists after many performances.

Pause as you enter this neo-Moorish building, built in 1923 for the Shriners (an offshoot of the Freemasons), and admire the ornate decorative details in the lobby and theater. City Center's 2,200-seat main stage is perfectly suited for dance and special theatrical events. Among its varied performances and showcases, the Tony Award–honored Encores! series, generally held in spring, revisits musicals of the past in a concert format—an event that has led to shows returning to Broadway, with the long-running Chicago among them. During summer, Encores! Off-Center features concert versions of Off-Broadway musicals. Tickets for City Center's annual Fall for Dance festival sell out quickly.

A great way to experience the Newport mansions is at one of the 30 or so classical music concerts presented every July during the Newport Music Festival. Performances by world-class artists are scheduled at the Elms, the Breakers, and other venues. Selected works are chosen from 19th-century chamber music, vocal repertoire, Romantic-era piano literature, opera, and even Broadway and popular music. Every year features free opening and family concerts.

The Newport Folk Festival has been going strong since 1959, when it introduced musicians such as Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio. Held the last full weekend in July, the festival's acts now span folk, blues, country, bluegrass, folk rock, alt-country, indie folk, folk punk, even reggae. Lineups mix veteran performers like Brandi Carlisle, Joni Mitchell, Phil Lesh, and Grace Potter with younger stars like Hozier, Molly Tuttle, and Bonny Light Horseman. The festival is held rain or shine, and seating is general admission on a large, uncovered lawn. Purchase tickets early; they go on sale in February and sell out quickly.

The only year-round, professional symphony orchestra on the Oregon Coast performs a popular series of concerts in the 328-seat Newport Performing Arts Center fall through spring, and special events in the summer, including a popular free community concert every July 4.

This cinema shows new and cult-favorite flicks in three theaters, and makes going to the movies more fun with feature presentation–theme menu items and cocktails, served by the waitstaff to your cabaret-style seat. (Staples, like popcorn, are also available on the full menu.) Movies often sell out on weekends, so buy tickets in advance, and make sure you get there half an hour before showtime for each film's offbeat preshow preceding the trailers. Nitehawk has a second location in Prospect Park.

More than $70 million was spent on Cirque du Soleil's theater at Bellagio back in 1998, and its liquid stage is the centerpiece of a one-of-a-kind show. It was money well spent: O remains one of the best-attended shows on the Strip. The title is taken from the French word for water (eau), and water is everywhere—1.5 million gallons of it, 12 million pounds of it, contained by a \"stage\" that, thanks to hydraulic lifts, can change shape and turn into dry land in no time. The intense and nonstop action by the show's acrobats, aerial gymnasts, trapeze artists, synchronized swimmers, divers, and contortionists make for a stylish spectacle that (despite all that technology) still manages to fashion a dreamlike, surrealistic world, with a vague theme about the wellspring of theater and imagination.

The city's most iconic sandwich gets its deserved place in the sun at this popular Carrollton neighborhood food and music festival. A diverse lineup of 40 local chefs and restaurants offer more than 100 varieties of po'boys during a Sunday in November. Bring a friend to share sandwiches if possible, and get to the event as it opens to avoid long lines.

This complex, comprised of the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, and The Old Globe, offers some of the finest theatrical productions in Southern California. Theater classics such as Into the Woods and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and more recent hits like Stir and The XIXTH, premiered on these famed stages and went on to perform on Broadway. The Old Globe presents a renowned summer Shakespeare Festival with three to four plays in repertory. The theaters, done in a California version of Tudor style, sit between the sculpture garden of the San Diego Museum of Art and the California Tower. If you can't catch a show, daytime one-hour behind-the-scenes tours offer a close-up look at the theaters as well as the intricacies of set and costume design.

Many consider this to be the best luau on Maui, and most agree that it's certainly the most traditional. Sitting either at a table or on a lauhala (mat made of leaves), you dine on Hawaiian dishes such as pork laulau (wrapped with taro sprouts in ti leaves), ahi poke (raw yellowfin tuna salad), lomi lomi salmon (traditional diced side dish), and haupia (coconut pudding). At sunset, the historical journey touches on the arrival of the Polynesians, the influence of missionaries and, later, the advent of tourism. Talented performers will charm you with beautiful music, powerful chanting, and a variety of hula styles, from kahiko, the ancient way of communicating with the gods, to auana, the modern hula. You won't see fire dancers here, as they aren't considered traditional. This luau sells out regularly, so make reservations before your trip to Maui.

Chicago's oldest folk-music school has served as folk central in the city since it opened in 1957. The welcoming spot in Lincoln Square hosts outstanding performances by national and local acts in an intimate-feeling, 420-seat concert hall that has excellent acoustics. A major expansion in 2012 added a new, environment-friendly facility across the street, with a 150-seat performance hall and acoustically engineered classrooms.

Opera Philadelphia's season runs from September to May, with a recent emphasis placed on affordably priced shows. The group stages five or six productions a year at the Academy of Music; some operas have international stars. All performances are in the original language with English supertitles above the stage.

The orchestra (formerly Stamford Symphony) performs mainly at The Palace Theatre, but selected musicians also perform at smaller venues in Stamford and nearby towns.

Ashland's signature attraction is this festival of Shakespeare and other plays, which runs mid-April through mid-October. Book tickets and lodging well in advance.