10 Best Theatres in Boston

The Boston Opera House, located at the heart of the Theater District downtown, is an iconic beacon of opulence and elegance. As one of the finest works of the famous architect Thomas W. Lamb, this resplendent theater has been awing visitors for almost a century with its ornate gilded dome, dazzling crystal chandeliers, and murals in baroque style.

The sensory treat is completed with a wide range of options in the theater’s programs. As Broadway’s primary venue in Boston, Boston Opera House hosts a variety of their musicals periodically throughout the year. It is also the permanent home of Boston Ballet, and their annual production of The Nutcracker has been a local holiday tradition for decades.

The 3600-seat Wang Theatre is one of the rarest in Boston when it comes to size. During the height of its time in the 1960s, this venue on Tremont Street hosted frequent performances from famous touring companies all around the world, such as the Metropolitan Opera and Bolshoi Ballet.

The theater’s lobby, designed after a Louis XIV palace, is one of the most striking Boston landmarks dating back to the Roaring Twenties. It is hard to miss the extravagance in its lavishly carved ceiling panels, gold-plated reliefs, and majestic marble pillars framing the archways. If you’ve seen the movie American Hustle, you might even recognize this architectural splendor – it is the setting used in the casino scenes and live music performances.

Colonial Theatre’s period character is not just in the name. In 1900, it celebrated its grand opening on Boylston Street with a sold-out production of Ben-Hur, a sensational hit featuring live horses on stage in a full-gallop chariot race. Over a century later, the venue has become the oldest continually operating theater in Boston. Its old-time charm is amongst the most magnificent in town, attracting culture lovers and history enthusiasts alike.

It is home to a variety of performances including Broadway dramas, live music, and comedy. It is also the premiering stage for many shows before they make their official Broadway debut. A few of these include Anything Goes, Porgy and Bess, and Oklahoma!.

The Shubert Theatre, a French Renaissance building reminiscent of the Petit Trianon at Versailles, was originally designed for Shakespeare’s plays. Its opening play in 1910, The Taming of the Shrew, was a resounding success that made the venue’s name widely known throughout town. When it was later adapted into a theater, the Tremont Street auditorium’s intimate and ornate interior made it a popular stage for small touring companies and pre-Broadway tryouts. Many Broadway classics have been performed here before their official premieres, such as The King and I, South Pacific, and Camelot.

Nowadays, the theater hosts a diverse range of arts and entertainment programs. In addition to musicals and operas, you can also enjoy dances, comedies, and celebrity talks.

The Orpheum Theatre is hidden away down the inconspicuous alley of Hamilton Place. Dating back to 1852, this little gem is one of the oldest theaters in the United States. Formerly known as the Boston Music Hall, it served as the original home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra until its conversion to a vaudeville theater in 1900.

To this day, the venue keeps a primary focus on live music concerts, with an occasional mix of other types of performing arts shows. Many renowned music bands have held concerts and recorded live albums here, including The Police, U2, Aerosmith, and the Allman Brothers.

The Huntington Theatre in Fenway was originally designed as the first civic playhouse in the United States. It has been converted into a movie house and back into a theater many times in its history, and things only settled down after the founding of its namesake tenant, the Huntington Theatre Company.

The renowned theater group is the receiver of a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre and has produced over 200 plays, 18 of which went on to Broadway. If you want to catch a show before everyone else sees it in New York, consider checking it out here.

The Wilbur Theatre features a no-frills architectural design that sets itself apart from its elaborately decorated neighbors in the Theater District. Fashioned out of brick, the Federal Revival style building is a unique symbol that pays tribute to Boston’s own historic neighborhood, Beacon Hill.

The theater’s uniqueness also shows in its repertoire. Once a destination for Broadway tours and pre-Broadway tryouts, the Wilbur Theatre now focuses primarily on comedies and musical acts. You can find stand-ups and concerts here almost every day of the week, from artists both in-house and on tour. It is also the filming location for many comic specials produced by mainstream media, such as Netflix and Comedy Central.

The Cutler Majestic Theatre has gone through a few major changes throughout its lifetime. Built as a Beaux Arts-style theater in 1903, it was converted to a movie house in the 1950s, and the accompanying renovation replaced most of its original decor. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it was reverted to a venue for the performing arts, following a restoration that brought back its original brilliance attenuated by stained glass windows and carved columns.

Today, the Tremont Street theater is home to Opera Boston and hosts shows ranging from classic operas to modern comedies. As part of Emerson College, it is a great place to catch local events from groups such as New England Conservatory and Emerson Stage.

The Paramount Theatre is hard to miss – take a stroll along Washington Street after nightfall, and you’ll be dazzled by the 7,000-bulb marquee lighting up the entire block. Fully restored in 2010, this theater boasts rich Art Deco glory both in its exterior sign and interior decor. Be ready to step back in time when you enter the auditorium, which is surrounded by bold murals and embellishments of gold, blue, and green.

Originally a cinema palace, Paramount Theatre was one of the first in Boston to show motion pictures with sound. After the conversion to a theater, it is now a popular stage for performing artists both local and around the world.

The Charles Playhouse was originally built in 1839 as the Fifth Universalist Church. It was then converted to become Boston’s first synagogue in 1864, a speakeasy during the Prohibition, a nightclub after WWII, and a jazz hall afterward. It wasn’t until 1958 that the venue was renamed the Charles Playhouse and quickly became a pioneering regional theater in America.

A variety of plays have taken the spotlight here, from Shakespeare classics to regional premieres featuring rising stars. Today, the Charles Playhouse is best known for its production of the Blue Man Group show, the critically acclaimed performance that has been running on this stage since 1995.