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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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

At this retro storefront theater, kids sit cross-legged on mats in front of the stage while grown-ups hunker down on bleachers behind them. All the productions, which are largely adaptations of well-known fairy and folk tales, are written by the theater’s artistic director, Nicolas Coppola.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

Named after the bullish head of the Shubert Organization, Gerald Schoenfeld, this 1,079-seat space (known until 2005 as the Plymouth) features a relatively restrained neoclassical interior, done in the Adam style. Historic productions there include the world premiere of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942 (featuring Talluleh Bankhead), The Odd Couple in 1965 and the musical Jekyll & Hyde in 1997.  

There aren’t many entertainment options along Tenth Avenue, but one is worth the trek: A jewel box of a theater with a heady, well-selected repertory of comedy, cabaret and music shows in an environment that’s focused more on the performance than on the cash register at the bar. The monthly variety show Showgasm is an excellent sampler pack of rising talents.

Built in 1925 and christened the Forrest Theatre after great American thespian Edwin Forrest, this 1,030-seat playhouse has gone through many changes over the decades. It became the Coronet Theatre in 1945. Then in 1959, following a hit revival of Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown, it got its present name. Playwright Neil Simon bought the building in the late ’60s and sold it to Jujamcyn in 1982. In 1999 the O’Neill was home to the acclaimed 50th-anniversary production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Since 2011 it has housed The Book of Mormon.  

This outer-borough theater is a convenient walk from the Staten Island Ferry and occasionally hosts family-friendly performances ranging from children's acts to touring, cartoon character–based musicals.

Built in 1965 to be Lincoln Center's main playhouse, the Beaumont features a sleekly modern (if dated) design by Jo Mielziner and architect Eero Saarinen. In recent years, the area immediately surrounding the Beaumont was redesigned with the addition of outdoor tables and chairs. Downstairs from the 1,041-seat Beaumont is the second stage, the smaller Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Lincoln Center Theater has opened several acclaimed, high-profile successes in this house, including The Light in the Piazza, Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia trilogy and the smash-hit revival of South Pacific.

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.

The Broadway home of Manhattan Theatre Club since 2001, the Friedman is one of the increasing number of venues run by nonprofit organizations (others include the Roundabout Theatre Company and Lincoln Center Theater). This cozy 903-seat space has a relaxing basement lounge and ample aisles, making entrances and exits relatively easy. Originally named the Biltmore, it was rechristened in 2008 for the pioneering publicist Samuel J. Friedman. Since it is run by MTC, you can expect subscriber crowds to be there, checking out new plays and revivals. Historic pre-MTC productions include My Sister Eileen (1940), Barefoot in the Park (1963) and Deathtrap (1982).

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.

The two theaters here—a 147-seater on the main floor and a smaller one downstairs—are rare, rather attractive proscenium spaces in reach of midtown. Once upon a time, Primary Stages called this venue home; after years of appealing shabbiness, it was renovated into finer fettle and was known as the Davenport Theatre for five years before converting into a tango hall and then into its current incarnation.

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.