Cheap theater: Where to enjoy affordable shows in NYC

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

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.

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. 

After losing the lease on his Soho space in 2010, after nearly three decades there, Robert Lyons moved his New Ohio Theatre to the landmarked Archive building in the West Village for several years. The complex is now adinisters by Out of the Box Theatrics.

Visitors may think they know this venerable theater from TV’s Showtime at the Apollo. But you've got to see it to truly experience The Apollo. 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 more contemporary acts like the Roots and Lykke Li. 

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.

Formerly located in a funky Williamsburg garabge, this laboratory for rule-breaking live performance moved to the West Village in 2016 and then moved a few buildings over in 2018. The space is shared by a collective of groups including Mallory Catlett, Annie Dorsen, Jim Findlay, Findlay//Sandsmark, Daniel Fish, Immediate Medium, Aaron Landsman, Okwui Okpokwasili and Radiohole.

Formerly known as the Best Buy Theater and the PlayStation Theater, this large, corporate club begs for character but finds redemption in its creature comforts. The sound and sight lines are both good, and there’s even edible food. Those who wish to look into a musician’s eyes can stand in the ample front section; foot-weary fans can sit in the cinema-like section in back. It’s a comfortable place to see a well-known band that hasn’t (yet) reached stadium-filling fame.

Walk into this revolution-red theater—with its narrow First Floor Theater, its spectacularly barnlike next-door Ellen Stewart Theatre and the groovy attic Club Theater—and you are transported back in time to the New York scene's ’60s heyday. The mama herself, the late Ellen Stewart, first opened La MaMa's doors in 1961; it has since produced major figures like Tadeusz Kantor, Andrei Serban and Ping Chong, along with younger multicultural, dance-theater and avant-garde artists.

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.

Best known as an avant-garde theater space, the Kitchen also offers experimental dance by inventive, often provocative artists.

Nearly 30 years after it started hosting experimental performances in a loft on the Bowery, this plucky organization has opened its gorgeous new space a few blocks away on the Lower East Side. A lounge, mainstage theater and studio all support the work of emerging artists, including the annual Hot! festival of work with LGBT themes.

New York Live Arts was formed in 2011 by a merger of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop. Its mission is to support and showcase dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting and educating.

Called the New York Improv when it opened in 1963, this Hell's Kitchen 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. Expect to hear from a variety of NYC comics during the regular stand-up showcase, each one performing short sets. Before the show, be prepared that you may have to wait in line on a steep, narrow staircase before you're let in. Also, there's a two-drink minimum.

Opened in November 2009, this 17,000 square-foot venue serves as the performance space for the 52nd Street Project, a nonprofit theater company that invites industry pros to mentor Hells Kitchen kids.

Lincoln Center Theater's newest space is a 131-seat venue that will showcase new plays by rising talent under the LCT3 umbrella. The Tow is also the centerpiece of a 23,000-square-foot rooftop complex, designed by noted architect Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, located on top of the Vivian Beaumont. The two-story structure (costing $41 million) also houses rehearsal and office space and includes an outdoor terrace overlooking the Lincoln Center Plaza.

This chic, state-of-the-art venue, which comprises an Off Broadway space and two smaller theaters, is home to a lot of worthy programming, such as the annual Brits Off Broadway festival, which imports some of the U.K.’s best work for brief summer runs. The venue boasts three separate playing spaces. Theater A, on the ground floor, seats 196 people; upstairs are the 98-seat Theater B and a 70-seat black-box space, Theater C.

Founded in 1992, LAByrinth Theare Company has built itself into one of New York's essential resources for the development and production of new plays. After several years in residence at the Public Theater, the troupe relocated in 2011 to this 90-seat space on Bank Street, formerly known as the Cherry Pit.

Before Lincoln Center changed the cultural geography of New York, this was the home of the New York City Ballet (originally known as the Ballet Society). City Center’s lavish decor is golden, as are the companies that pass through. You can count on superb performances all year long, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the invaluable Encores! musical-theater series. In September, the Fall for Dance Festival features performances by an assortment of companies.

This gorgeous, high-ceilinged sanctuary for downtown dance is at its most sublime when the music is live. The work of choreographers who take on the four-sided performance space ranges from pure movement to technological experimentation. Executive director Judy Hussie-Taylor has also introduced an especially gratifying series, Platforms 2010, which features guest curators.

Formerly a tobacco depot, St. Ann’s Warehouse—the adventurous theatergoer’s alternative to BAM—puts on an exciting slate of envelope-pushing theater and music performances. Not long ago, a thrilling production of Oklahoma! made the leap from St. Ann’s to Broadway, so watch this space for more rising stars.

Broadway's biggest venue with approximately 1,938 seats, the Lyric was created in 1996-98 by combining the adjacent Apollo and Lyric Theatres (themselves built in 1903 and 1920, respectively). Originally named the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, the Lyric was previously known as Foxwoods Theatre and before that, the Hilton. Among its noteworthy resident shows have been Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Young Frankenstein, On the Town and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Its spacious, winding, gilded lobby is one of the most beautiful on the Great White Way. The theater has two main entrance spaces; for its current production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is using the one on 43rd Street.

George Faison, who won a 1974 Tony Award for choreographing The Wiz, is the animating force behind this Central Harlem space, which focuses on issues of concern to the African-American community. The venue, which seats 100, is distinguished by an unusual diagonal aisle.

Though cramped, smal and relatively old, this 200-seat Hell’s Kitchen venue still sometimes packs ‘em in, mostly thanks to its hosting of the last few Forbidden Broadway incarnations. The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre has staked its claim as well, having spent a big chunk of change to renovate the space and make this converted firehouse its mainstage.

This dance center offers classes in ballet, modern dance, contemporary, jazz, theater, hip-hop, house, tap, salsa, flamenco, African, tai chi, sword fighting and yoga.