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.

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. 

The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is the fair-weather sister of the Public Theater. When not producing Shakespeare in the East Village, the Public offers the best of the Bard outdoors during Shakespeare in the Park (May–August). Free tickets (two per person) are distributed at both theaters at 1pm on the day of the performance. It's usually good to begin waiting around 9am, although the line can start forming as early as 6am when big-name stars are on the bill. You can also enter an online lottery for tickets.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Opened in 1924 as the 46th Street Theatre, the space was renamed in 1990 to honor the legendary composer Richard Rodgers (Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music). This Nederlander-owned theater (1,319 seats) has hosted several beloved musicals including Anything Goes, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Movin' Out. Extra fun for little Broadway buffs: Check out the Richard Rodgers Gallery, featuring memorabilia from the composer’s career.

This homey 60-seat black box (up some seriously steep stairs) is a mere block and a half from the subway, and only 15 minutes on the L train from Union Square. The space has become one of the best curated spots in the city; it supports up-and-coming stage talent like William Burke and avant-garde veterans such as Target Margin Theater and Cynthia Hopkins, as well as a variety of performance art and multimedia performances.

The Miller Theatre single-handedly made contemporary music sexy in New York City. The credit belongs to former executive director George Steel, who proved that presenting challenging fare in a casual, unaffected setting could attract young audiences and retain them. The tradition continues with new director Melissa Smey.

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.

During the summer months, this park hosts theater, dance and music performances in its outdoor amphitheater.

The Lyceum is Broadway's oldest continually operating legitimate space. Built by producer-manager David Frohman in 1903, it was purchased in 1940 by a conglomerate of producers which included George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (co-authors of You Can't Take It with You and other comedies). In 1950, the Shuberts took ownership of the Lyceum, and still operate it. Alan Bates played the lovely 922-seat playhouse in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1957), and four years later, he returned in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker (1961). More recently, the venue was home to I Am My Own Wife and Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty.

This scrappy 70-seat space—an erstwhile garage—popped into the theatrical scene in 2002 squished into a vanishingly tiny spot on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. Its founders, Robert Honeywell and Michael Gardner, have maintained a rattling schedule of tartly themed summer festivals (such as the Moral Values Festival), pieces by low-budget, high-concept avant-gardists like the Debate Society and Ian W. Hill, and works helmed by Honeywell and Gardner themselves.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

This converted midtown church has been producing theatre since the mid-1970s in its two Off Broadway houses. The downstairs space, with around 250 seats, was the original home of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. In the 299-seat upstairs theater, the musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change ran for 11 years, before closing in 2008.