Performing arts in Detroit facts for kids
The performing arts in Detroit are super exciting! They include everything from amazing orchestra concerts and live music shows to thrilling theater plays. Detroit has over a dozen cool places where you can enjoy these performances. Many of these stages and old movie palaces are found along Woodward Avenue, which is a main street in the city. You'll find them in areas like Downtown, Midtown, and New Center. Some other venues are also in different neighborhoods. Lots of Detroit's historic theaters have been brought back to life and look amazing!
Contents
Detroit's Rich Theater History
Detroit has a really long and interesting history with theater. Many of its performance places date all the way back to the 1920s!
The Famous Fox Theatre
The Detroit Fox Theatre, built in 1928, was the first theater ever made with sound equipment built right in for movies. Imagine that! It was designed by C. Howard Crane for William Fox. This beautiful theater was fully fixed up in 1988. It's the biggest Fox Theatre in the country, with 5,045 seats.
Music and Musicals in Detroit
Detroit has been a hub for operatic shows, symphonic music, musicals, and pop acts since the early 1900s. Did you know that parts of the music for the famous musical West Side Story were written on a piano in a library at Cranbrook? That's a school in Bloomfield Hills, a suburb of Detroit.
The Nederlander Organization is a big name in theater. David T. Nederlander started his career in Detroit by taking over the Detroit Opera House. His son, James M. Nederlander, also from Detroit, helped create over 100 famous plays! These include West Side Story, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof. Today, the Nederlander Organization runs Detroit's Fisher Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, and many other theaters on the famous Broadway theatre circuit. Groups like the Mosaic Youth Theatre also help support Detroit's theater scene.
Bringing Old Theaters Back to Life
In the late 1980s, many of Detroit's grand old movie screens and live performance stages started to get fixed up. The Fox Theatre, the Detroit Opera House (which used to have other names like the Grand Circus Theatre), and The Fillmore Detroit (once called the State Theater) are great examples of these amazing restorations. The Fillmore Detroit even hosts the yearly Detroit Music Awards every April!
Other places were made more modern and bigger. For example, Orchestra Hall, where the world-famous Detroit Symphony Orchestra plays, was improved. Next to the Detroit Opera House is the beautiful 1,700-seat Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, built in 1928. The Detroit Institute of Arts also has a renovated 1,150-seat Detroit Film Theatre.
Some smaller historic places were saved by actually moving the whole building! The Gem Theatre and Century Theatre were moved from their original spots to a new address across from the Music Hall Center. This happened so that Comerica Park, a baseball stadium, could be built. Detroit's 1,571-seat Redford Theatre, built in 1928, has cool Japanese designs and is home to the Motor City Theatre Organ Society.
Detroit's Theater Scene Today
With places like Wayne State University’s Hilberry Theatre in Midtown, which is the only graduate repertory theater in the country, Detroit has seen a big comeback in theater shows. In the 2000s, you could find touring musicals and local plays happening almost every night! These theaters have made Detroit's nightlife much more exciting, and new restaurants and hotels have opened to serve the area.
Along with its sports venues and casinos, the Detroit Theater District has helped bring new life to residential areas. These include places around Grand Circus Park and nearby areas like Foxtown, Greektown, the Cultural Center, and the New Center area, which is home to the 2,089-seat Fisher Theatre.
Some historic theaters in the city have been changed for other uses, while others are waiting to be redeveloped. The Beaux Arts style National Theatre (1911), designed by Albert Kahn and Ernest Wilby, is one of these. It has a cool Moorish entrance and is the oldest surviving theater from Detroit's first theater district. The United Artists Theatre Building, designed by C. Howard Crane, is planned to become a residential building.
Detroit's performance centers and theaters spread out from the Grand Circus Park Historic District and go along Woodward Avenue towards the Fisher Theatre in the New Center area. The Detroit Opera House is located at Broadway and Grand Circus. The "east necklace" of downtown connects Grand Circus and the stadium area to Greektown. This area includes the Harmonie Park District, which is famous for Detroit's music from the 1930s to today. Near the Opera House, you'll find other places like the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts and the Gem Theatre and Century Club.
Cool Performing Arts Venues
| Name | Image | Built | Location | Capacity | Organization | Style | Architect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Theatre | .jpg) |
1928 | 2211 Woodward Ave. 42°20′18″N 83°3′9″W / 42.33833°N 83.05250°W |
5,174 | Olympia Entertainment | Neo-Gothic Art Deco facade, Burmese, Chinese |
C. Howard Crane |
| Detroit Masonic Temple Theatre | .jpg) |
1922 | 500 Temple Ave. 42°20′30″N 83°3′37″W / 42.34167°N 83.06028°W |
4,404 | Olympia Entertainment | Neo-Gothic | George D. Mason |
| Bert's Warehouse Theatre | 2739 Russell St. | 3,000 | Bert's Entertainment | Bohemian warehouse | |||
| Detroit Opera House |  |
1922 | 1526 Broadway St. | 2,700 | Michigan Opera Theater, Nederlander |
Italian Renaissance | C. Howard Crane |
| The Fillmore Detroit | .jpg) |
1925 | 2115 Woodward Ave. 42°20′16″N 83°3′7″W / 42.33778°N 83.05194°W |
2,200 | Live Nation | Neo-Renaissance | C. Howard Crane |
| Fisher Theatre |  |
1927 | 3011 West Grand Blvd. 42°22′8.5″N 83°4′36.92″W / 42.369028°N 83.0769222°W |
2,089 | Nederlander | Art Deco | Albert Kahn |
| Orchestra Hall |  |
1919 | 3711 Woodward Ave. 42°20′55″N 83°3′33″W / 42.34861°N 83.05917°W |
2,014 | Detroit Symphony Orchestra | Neo-Renaissance | C. Howard Crane |
| Harpos Concert Theatre | 1939 | 1315 Broadway St. | 1,975 | Wisper & Wetsman | Art moderne | Charles N. Agree | |
| MotorCity Casino Theatre |  |
2007 | 2901 Grand River Ave. | 1,800 | Novelty, Modern | Giffels Inc., NORR Limited | |
| Wilson Theatre |  |
1928 | 350 Madison Ave. 42°20′14″N 83°2′46″W / 42.33722°N 83.04611°W |
1,700 | Kresge Foundation | Art Deco facade, Spanish Renaissance |
William E. Kapp, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls |
| Redford Theatre |  |
1928 | 17354 Lahser Ave. 42°25′2″N 83°15′27″W / 42.41722°N 83.25750°W |
1,571 | Motor City Theater Organ Society | Exotic Revival, Japanese motifs | Ralph F. Shreive with Verner, Wilheim, and Molby |
| Majestic Theatre |  |
1915 | 4140 Woodward Ave. 42°21′11″N 83°03′37″W / 42.35301°N 83.06031°W |
1,260 | Art Deco | C. Howard Crane | |
| Riverfront 4 Movie Theatres |  |
1978 | Renaissance Center 42°19′44.38″N 83°2′22.95″W / 42.3289944°N 83.0397083°W |
1,250 | Modern | John Portman Skidmore, Owings and Merrill |
|
| Greektown Casino Theatre |  |
2009 | 555 East Lafayette St. | 1,200 | Novelty, Modern | Rossetti | |
| MGM Grand Detroit Theatre |  |
2007 | 1777 Third St. | 1,200 | MGM Mirage | Modern | SmithGroupJJR |
| Bonstelle Theatre |  |
1903 | 3424 Woodward Ave. 42°20′46″N 83°3′25″W / 42.34611°N 83.05694°W |
1,173 | Wayne State University | Neoclassical | Albert Kahn, C. Howard Crane |
| Detroit Film Theatre |  |
1927 | 5201 Woodward Ave. 42°21′31″N 83°3′57″W / 42.35861°N 83.06583°W |
1,150 | Detroit Institute of Arts | Neo-Renaissance | Paul Philippe Cret |
| Senate Theater |  |
1926 | 6424 Michigan Ave. 42°19′52.57″N 83°7′22.02″W / 42.3312694°N 83.1227833°W |
900 | Detroit Theater Organ Society | Art Deco | Christian W. Brandt |
| Hilberry Theatre |  |
1916 | 4743 Cass Ave. | 532 | Wayne State University | Neoclassical | Field, Hinchman and Smith |
| City Theatre |  |
2004 | 2301 Woodward Ave. | 500 | Olympia Entertainment | ||
| Gem Theatre |  |
1927 | 333 Madison St. 42°20′15″N 83°2′47″W / 42.33750°N 83.04639°W |
450 | Italian Renaissance | George D. Mason | |
| Century Theatre | 1903 | 333 Madison St. 42°20′15″N 83°2′47″W / 42.33750°N 83.04639°W |
250 | Italian Renaissance | George D. Mason | ||
| Chrysler IMAX Dome Theatre | 2001 | 5020 John R. St. | 230 | Detroit Science Center | Postmodern | BEI Associates, Neumann/Smith, William Kessler Associates | |
| Detroit Repertory Theatre | 1963 | 13103 Woodrow Wilson St. | 194 | Detroit Repertory Theatre | |||
| The Players |  |
1925 | 3321 East Jefferson Ave. | The Players Club | Florentine Renaissance, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco murals. | William E. Kapp, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls | |
| Bohemian National Home |  |
1914 | 3009 Tillman St. | ||||
| Studio Theatre | 112 | Wayne State University | Black box | ||||
| Boll Family YMCA Theatre | 1401 Broadway St. | YMCA, Plowshares Theatre Company |
Modern |
Historic Venues Waiting for a Comeback
| Name | Image | Built | Location | Capacity | Organization | Style | Architect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Theatre (inactive) |
 |
1911 | 118 Monroe St. 42°19′58″N 83°2′45″W / 42.33278°N 83.04583°W |
800 | Phoenix Properties LLC | Baroque-Beaux Arts-Moorish | Albert Kahn |
| United Artists Theatre Building (inactive) |
 |
1928 | 150 Bagley St. | 2,070 | Ilitch Holdings | Spanish Gothic | C. Howard Crane |
| Vanity Ballroom (inactive) |
 |
1929 | 1024 Newport St. | 2,000 | Art Deco | Charles N. Agree | |
| Grande Ballroom (inactive) |
 |
1928 | 8952 Grand River Ave. | 1,500 | Art Deco, Moorish Revival | Charles N. Agree | |
| Alger Theater (inactive) |
 |
1935 | 16541 East Warren Avenue |
1,500 | Friends of the Alger Theater | Art Deco |
See also
- Caesars Windsor
- Grand Riviera Theater
- List of concert halls
- Music of Detroit
- Michigan Building
