10 Best Theaters in San Francisco

The Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is a massive concert hall that's part of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. It’s the home of the award-winning San Francisco Symphony, which was founded in 1911.

Fans of classical music will find plenty of entertainment at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Performances tend to last between 90 minutes and 2 hours, though an intermission often takes place in the middle of the show. The concert hall has movable panels to adjust the orchestra size and audience capacity. Along with the 2,743-seat hall, the building has rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms, and a music library.

SFJAZZ Center is a non-profit organization and performance space for jazz in San Francisco. Established in 2013, it’s regarded as the USA’s first standalone venue for jazz performance and education. It’s most famous for producing the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival and SFJAZZ Summer Sessions.

The 35,000-sq-ft venue consists of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium (where up to 700 people can enjoy live performances in a cozy setting), the 100-seat Joe Henderson Lab, and several practice rooms for aspiring jazz musicians. SFJAZZ Center offers a variety of programs, lectures, workshops, and courses for all ages and experience levels.

Balboa Theater dates back to 1926, making it one of the oldest independent movie theaters in the San Francisco Bay Neighborhood. It’s a great place for movie fans to catch not only the latest Hollywood blockbusters but also indie and classic noir movies. It only has 2 screens, offering an intimate movie-viewing experience. You can catch second-run movies at very reasonable prices.

You can find the Balboa Theater on Balboa Street. It’s within a 20-minute walk of various San Francisco landmarks, including Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park, and the USS San Francisco Memorial.

The Castro Theater is a San Francisco movie theater with gorgeous architecture, luxurious surroundings, and a regular schedule of the latest indie movies. Since 1922, it has hosted many world movie festivals and gala tributes to legendary movie stars. On non-event days, the movie theater provides a refined and outstanding movie experience, with the ability to present everything from 4K movies to silent movies.

Some of the many events that take place at The Castro Theater include the San Francisco Movie Noir Festival, SF IndieFest, the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Movie Festival, the San Francisco International Movie Festival, and the Shock It to Me! Classic Horror Movie Festival.

The War Memorial Opera House is a historical performance venue in San Francisco. It's home to both the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet, both of which perform regularly throughout the year. It occupies a 1930s building, built in a beaux-arts/classical revival style.

The opera house can seat 3,126 people, with an additional 200 standing positions. The San Francisco Opera performs both classic and contemporary productions, while the San Francisco Ballet is particularly famous for being one of the best in the world. This was the first professional ballet company in the U.S., so you’ll be sure to enjoy world-class performances at the War Memorial Opera House.

The Orpheum Theater is one of the best places to enjoy Broadway productions in San Francisco. The cathedral-like building dates back to 1926, featuring an ornate Plateresque façade. Inside, you’ll find a massive auditorium that can accommodate 2,197 people.

Some of the many Broadway shows that have taken place at the theater include Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Hamilton, and Bring It On: The Musical. The Orpheum Theater has also hosted hundreds of vaudeville, silent movies, and motion pictures since its opening. You can find this landmark theater on Market Street, about a 5-minute walk from San Francisco City Hall.

The Curran Theater stages a wide range of world-class performances in San Francisco. Established in 1922, the theater has undergone major restoration over the years. Today, it seats up to 1,600 people looking to catch national runs of Broadway shows.

The Curran has staged over 8,000 shows, including 5 years of Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic The Phantom of the Opera. Other prominent productions that have taken place at this theater include Wicked, Les Misérables, Jersey Boys, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The Curran lies in San Francisco’s Theater District, around a 15-minute walk east of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

San Francisco Playhouse is an off-Broadway theater that showcases over 400 shows annually. Located on the 2^nd floor of Kensington Park Hotel, this non-profit venue offers an intimate viewing experience at its 199-seat Mainstage theater.

Several world premieres have taken place at the playhouse, such as Grounded (2012), Ideation (2014), and Seared (2016). The San Francisco Playhouse is just a short walk from Union Square, where you can spend some time checking out the upscale shops or dining at excellent restaurants before or after a show.

The Brava Theater showcases thought-provoking productions by underrepresented artists in the San Francisco Bay Neighborhood. It provides an affordable space for women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of color to express their creativity in performing arts.

The venue has a 360-seat main stage, a 60-seat stage that doubles as a rehearsal studio, a street-level cabaret space, and a lobby that also serves as a visual art gallery. The Brava Theater is also home to several alternate dance and theater companies, including Cuicacalli Dance Company and Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience.

The Magic Theater is part of the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco. It was founded in 1967 and relocated to its current location in 1977. The season usually runs from October to June. Expect provocative plays by both established and upcoming playwrights in North America, such as Sam Shepard, David Mamet, and Luis Alfaro.

Among the many notable productions that have premiered here include Buried Child by Shepard and Bruja by Luis Alfaro. Internationally renowned actors like Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson, and Sean Penn have also performed at the Magic Theater.