Cheap theater: Where to enjoy affordable shows in NYC

The adventurous theatergoer’s alternative to BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse offers an eclectic lineup of theater and music; recent shows have included high-level work by the Wooster Group and National Theatre of Scotland. In 2015 it moved to the impressive Tobacco Warehouse, built in the 1870s as an inspection center for tobacco and newly renovated for theatrical use.

Imported to the U.S. from Sweden in 1876, this venue is the coziest in all of NYC. Employing handmade marionettes and beautiful sets, the resident company mounts citified versions of well-known stories.

RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Visitors may think they know this venerable theater from TV’s Showtime at the Apollo. But as the saying goes, the small screen adds ten pounds: The city’s home of R&B and soul is actually quite cozy. Known for launching the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo, among others at its legendary Amateur Night competition, the Apollo continues to mix veteran talents like Dianne Reeves with younger artists such as the Roots and Lykke Li. 

The civic-minded Oskar Eustis is artistic director of this local institution dedicated to the work of new American playwrights but also known for its Shakespeare productions (Shakespeare in the Park). The building, an Astor Place landmark, has five stages, plays host to the annual Under the Radar festival, nurtures productions in its Lab series and is also home to the Joe’s Pub music venue.

Formerly a movie multiplex, this center—one of the last bastions of commercial Off Broadway in New York—impresses with its shiny, space-age interior and five stages, were it presents such campy revues as The Gazillion Bubble Show.

Formerly the Virginia Theatre (and before that the Guild Theatre), this 1,228-seat space was renamed after the late, great African-American playwright in 2005. The current occupant is the long-running Jersey Boys, but in previous decades, the site was home to Eugene O’Neill’s mammoth Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy (1952) and the musical City of Angeles (1989).

Called the New York Improv when it opened in 1963, this club showcased legends such as Bill Cosby, Andy Kaufman and Robin Williams during its first stint. After being closed for years, former collaborators opened this basement joint a few blocks from the original, and they showcase TV faces and other regulars from the club circuit. 

After losing the lease on his Soho space in 2010, after nearly three decades there, Robert Lyons moved to the landmarked Archive building in teh West Village. The new space, home to the summer Ice Factory Festival and much more, remains an indispensable theatrical crucible.

Known as the Theatre de Lys until 1981, this historic 299-seater has hosted many landmark premieres in its day, including the legendary 1954 production of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera. The Lortel is now the home of MCC Theater most of the year, with family-friendly productions mounted each summer by TheatreworksUSA.

Steps on Broadway offers classes in many styles with some of the finest teachers in New York.

This full-scale, multilevel theater produces the most professional—and inventive—children’s theater in NYC. The lineup often features European imports, and spans all genres, from opera to step dancing to puppetry.

After a recent refurbishment, this downtown stalwart is now one of the most comfortable experimental spaces, what with its cozy lobby café (1 Dominick) and relatively impressive multimedia capacity. The upstairs space—long, wide and low—has played host to recent smashes like Taylor Mac’s epic The Lily’s Revenge, while the downstairs 70-seat black box sees new works by everyone from Karinne Keithley to Tina Satter. HERE’s strength lies in its come-one-come-all attitude, its absurdly generous grant and commissioning programs, and a genuine warmth that is largely thanks to the venue’s doyenne and founder, Kristin Marting, and the community of artists who call HERE a second home.

The grandest of the Lincoln Center buildings, the Met is a spectacular place to experience opera and ballet. The space hosts the Metropolitan Opera from September to May, with major visiting companies appearing in summer. The majestic theater also showcases works from a range of international dance companies, from the Paris Opéra Ballet to the Kirov Ballet. In spring, the Met is home to American Ballet Theatre, which presents full-length classic story ballets, works by contemporary choreographers and special performances and workshops for children. RECOMMENDED: 101 best things do in NYC

Camp is still in session at Abrons. However, there are COVID safety protocols. Masks must be worn at all times and everyone age 12 and older must show proof of vaccination. Campers will enjoy weekly water activities, weekly field trips, and will receive daily instruction in dance, music, theater, and visual arts.

Interviews and auditions are required at this venerable studio, which was opened in 1969 by Terry Schreiber and counts Edward Norton among its conservatory graduates. Newbies can choose from beginner classes like Meisner Technique I ($695 for 12 sessions), On-Camera I ($425 for six sessions) and Beginning Technique ($550 for eight sessions). The studio also mounts full-fledged productions, too, in case you want to see its students and alumni in action.

This 30-year-old community arts center, deep in the heart of the East Village, is known for its long history of raucous poetry slams, jam sessions and anything-goes open mikes.

This theater looks like what it once was: a 19th-century school auditorium. Painted a lovely Russian blue and still echoing slightly with teenagers past, the 99-seat Connelly has a pretty proscenium and pressed-tin ceiling—a surprising jewel box well off the beaten track. Productions that have made a stir there include Anne Washburn’s ghost-infested Apparition and Lucy Thurber’s Monstrosity, which made full use of the balcony and the seemingly limitless space.

The perfect size for a playhouse (with 804 seats), the John Golden was home to the naughty puppet musical Avenue Q for several years. Generally, though, it's a good place to see serious drama, such as Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? and John Logan's Mark Rothko bioplay, Red. In 1956, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot had its American premiere at the Golden.

This 1,709-seat jewel box on West 44th Street (just next door to popular watering hole Angus McIndoe's) was where The Producers revitalized American musical comedy in 2001. It is suprisingly intimate for one of the larger houses.

Built in 1924 to be a deluxe movie theater, this is one of the roomier venues on the Great White Way, with 1,761 seats. It's also one of only five playhouses that faces Broadway. A favorite locale for big, fat musicals (The Color Purple, Shrek), the Broadway features some of the most prominent signage around. The Ed Sullivan Theater—where David Letterman tapes his show—is located just down the street. The original façade (like the interior) was built in the Italian Renaissance style.

More than 300 important contemporary plays have premiered here, among them dramas such as Driving Miss Daisy and The Heidi Chronicles and musicals such as Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and Sunday in the Park with George. Recent seasons have included works by Craig Lucas and an acclaimed musical version of the cult film Grey Gardens.

This eco-conscious 90-seat rental and production space is a standout, with its stunning wood-and-concrete construction (oozing with green technologies), sweet art gallery and even—when do you rhapsodize about this downtown?—a wonderful bathroom. Since openig in 2007, it has hosted several notable works, including Samuel D. Hunter's A Bright New Boise and the musical 33 to Nothing.

Nestled in the East Village's historic, neoclassical Colonnade Row, the Astor Place Theater opened in 1968 and, for a while, was one of the city's go-to spots for experimental theater. Since 1991, however, it has been home to the indigo aliens of Blue Man Group, who give no sign of leaving anytime soon.

Founded in 1996, this cozy, well-appointed black-box venue has presented avant-garde experimentation and politically provocative satires. After 20 years on White Street, the Flea relocated in 2017 to a new complex a few block south in Tribeca. Artistic director Niegel Smith and producing director Carol Ostrow oversee three new playing spaces: the Sam, mamed for theater agent Sam Cohn, which seats 120; the Peter, named for the late playwright A.R. Gurney, which seats 72; and the Siggy, named for actor and Flea cofounder Sigourney Weaver, which seats 44. The company is also home to the Bats, a youthful training company that performs in many of its productions. 

Founded in 2012, this arts center is led by artistic director Alec Duffy (Three Pianos, Shadows). The space's mission is to serve as a cultural hub in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, presenting cutting-edge theater, music and dance performances, expanding access to the arts, bridging audiences and educating youth.