1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

This nine-day festival takes place in late February and features independent films from all over the world.

Miners built the opera house in 1913 as a venue primarily for vaudeville acts. Today the landmark opera house presents a variety of shows year-round, including live theater, concerts, and comedy acts. Over the years it has hosted performances by such popular artists as Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, and Jewel.

Former San Francisco Ballet director Michael Smuin founded this company, whose works are renowned for their gorgeous fluidity. The company regularly integrates popular music—everything from Gershwin to the Beatles and Elton John—into performances, most of which take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

A 514-seat venue hosting top-tier performances from jazz musicians to international ballet dancers can be found in the Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts. The white, templelike building looms majestically amid mountain vistas just north of Ruidoso and is one of the state's cultural icons. Tickets run $20 to $55, and free tours are given Tuesday and Thursday beginning at 10. Local children sometimes act in special free summer performances; outdoor summer music concerts are also offered.

Home of a giant outdoor pipe organ donated to the city, the beautiful Spanish baroque pavilion hosts concerts by a rotating lineup of guest organists on most Sunday afternoons and on Monday evenings in summer. Local military bands, gospel groups, and barbershop quartets also perform here. All shows are free.

This biannual three-day festival celebrates the life and works of author and Salinas native John Steinbeck, whose Pulitzer and Nobel prize–winning novels were often set in the areas of Monterey County he knew and loved so well. Films, tours, talks, and visual- and performing-arts activities take place in both Monterey and Salinas.

This storefront theater, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is an intimate, black-box venue for a diverse array of performances by local theater ensembles.

Moviegoing here is a first-class experience. The seating is comfy and spaced out, and you can reserve your seat in advance online, so you don't need to arrive an hour early to snag one. The standard concession items are available, along with food options that are borderline gourmet. Beer and wine—which you can take into the theater!—are also served. Film screenings run the gamut from mainstream blockbusters to offbeat indies.

This former church hosts top acts of all genres in a midsize setting. Seating is limited; the main floor is standing-room only.

New England’s largest sports and entertainment arena, the TD Garden hosts concerts by big-name artists (Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, and Kendrick Lamar to name a few) and special events (WWE, Disney On Ice, Harlem Globetrotters). The Garden is also home to NHL’s Boston Bruins and NBA’s Boston Celtics.

This semiprofessional group performs a variety of shows year-round in various venues. Productions include popular musicals, burlesque dancers, Shakespeare-in-the-park performances, and original, experimental shows.

The 700-year-old Japanese theatrical forms Noh (musical drama) and Kyogen (traditional Japanese comedy) are incorporated into experimental works here.

This website sells tickets to local festivals, events, plays, concerts, and more.

Ticketmaster sells tickets for the Fox Theatre, the Tabernacle, Philips Arena, and other major venues.

Ticketmaster sells tickets to many performances, as well as to select museum exhibitions. Service charges vary according to the event, and most tickets are nonrefundable.

You can buy tickets for nearly every event in the Valley through Ticketmaster.

Top seller for live local events.

The ticket juggernaut has outlets in local stores (check online for locations), or you can order by phone, but note that Ticketmaster phone charges allow neither refunds nor exchanges.

You can charge tickets for everything from jazz concerts to Giants games by phone or online.

The restored 1930s art-deco movie house, the namesake of the Tower District of theaters, clubs, restaurants, and cafés, presents theater, ballet, concerts, and other cultural events.

Founded long before Riverdance, the Trinity Irish Dance Company promotes traditional and progressive Irish dancing. Shows take place at various venues in the city and suburbs. In addition to the world-champion professional group, you can also catch performances by younger dancers enrolled in the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance.

Big-name concerts are held at this historic arena with room for 13,000-plus fans.

Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center is home court for Buckeye basketball and home ice for hockey. Concerts and touring productions as diverse as the Three Tenors, Simon and Garfunkel, and Sesame Street Live also use the space.

Philly's primary arena for big rock concerts on par with Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé, the Wells Fargo is also home to the city's 76ers (NBA) and Flyers (NHL). Regular calendar events also include monster truck shows, professional wrestling, and circus shows.

Billed as "San Francisco's Live Radio Show to the World," the program invites an audience to its weekly broadcasts, many from the San Francisco Ferry Building or the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley. The eclectic guest list includes personalities such as Craig Newmark, Rita Moreno, Jamaica Kincaid, and Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman (the Mythbusters guys).

For three days in late August, Kanab hosts cowboy poets, musicians, and character actors from Old West TV series of yesteryear. A parade, tours to Western movie sites, a dutch-oven dinner, a quilt show, performances by Native American dancers, and a film festival draw visitors from all over.