Performance space in Detroit: Staff Pick

Multi-use performance space featuring quality experimental and locally produced theater.

Eclectic modern and multi-discipline dance troupe's home theater.

"Metro Detroit's destination for the ultimate entertainment experience. The Fillmore is located in the heart of the Detroit Theatre District. Built in 1925, it is a major work of one of the nation's most illustrious architects, C. Howard Crane. The opulent Renaissance classical style continues to make it one of the most desirable venues in the area. Indeed, the Fillmore is one of the few theatres in the district to have enjoyed continuous operation." – from the Fillmore's Web site

"Tickets for Fox Theatre events may be purchased at the Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena box offices and Hockeytown Authentics in Troy (without service charges) and all Ticketmaster locations, including Marshall Field's. The Fox has the entire live entertainment industry and ticket buyers talking about their old memories, as well as making new ones .... Reveling in the marvel of finding again a treasure once lost, audiences of all ages flock to The Fox in record numbers to be part of the Fox Phenomenon!" — From Olympia Entertainment's Web site.

"A refurbished building that dates to 1923, the Furniture Factory is a resource for arts, both performing and visual. It is a gathering place where ideas can be exchanged in an entertaining environment."

Designed by leading Detroit architect George D. Mason in 1927, the 450-seat Gem Theatre boasts a lavish, intricately painted ceiling, ornate proscenium panels, rich carpet, and 1920s lighting. The theatre was built by the Twentieth Century Club, a group of cultural and civic-minded women of social prominence, to adjoin the Century Club building, a Mission-style meeting facility constructed in 1903. Prior to the Depression, the “Little Theatre” served as Detroit’s first foreign film house, and survived several name changes before closing as an adult movie house, the “Gem,” in 1978. Detroit developer Charles Forbes purchased the building in the 1980s, and by 1991, had returned the Gem Theatre to its Spanish Revival-style brilliance. In 1997, the Gem Theatre was faced with extinction in view of the City of Detroit’s plan to construct new stadiums for the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions. Upon reaching an agreement with the city, the Forbes family began preparations to relocate the Gem/Century building and preserve this historic structure for a second time. On November 10, 1997, the Gem Theatre and Century Club facility finished its five-block journey, breaking the Guinness Book world record as the heaviest building ever moved on wheels. The Century Club, restored in 1999, now houses a 200-seat cabaret-style theatre, as well as a fine-dining restaurant and banquet facility. Don’t miss the world-class musical and comedic productions in this intimate, elegant venue.

Lunch is deli-style with homemade soups and sandwiches. Dinner is seven courses, family style, by reservation only. Complete with interactive dinner theater.

Damn near acoustically perfect venue in the heart of UM campus.

Outstanding professional troupe stages a variety of productions every season.

"Raise the curtain on a brand new concert experience at The Max! On October 11, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra unveiled the Max M. Fisher Music Center, a new performing arts complex for Detroit featuring a host of new amenities and new performance opportunities. More music, more diversity. The world's greatest classical music and artists, plus jazz, pops, family concerts and more – it's all waiting for you at The Max.

Take a big breath of fresh air. Join us for our 2003-2004 Inaugural Season. It's time to Make Music at The Max." -From the Detroit Symphony Orchestra website

FOR LISTINGS INFO, SEE The Max M. Fisher Music Center.

Designed by noted architect C. Howard Crane, Orchestra Hall took just four months and twenty-three days to complete. The DSO’s first concert at the hall was on October 23, 1919. Gabrilowitsch opened the program with Weber’s overture to the opera Oberon, and continued with Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat for two pianos and orchestra, Bach’s Concerto in C Major for three pianos and orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor.

In 1970, following a series of marches and sidewalk benefit performances, musicians and friends of the DSO succeeded in saving Orchestra Hall from the wrecking ball. A year later it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1989, after a painstaking, nineteen-year restoration, the DSO moved back to its historic home. Today the hall is considered to be one of the nation’s finest acoustic structures.

Additional renovations were made to Orchestra Hall in 2003 when it became part of the Max M. Fisher Music Center, a complex comprised of Orchestra Hall, the Music Box recital hall, the Robert A. and Maggie Allesee Rehearsal Hall, the Jacob Bernard Pincus Music Education Center and a 4-story atrium lobby. All spaces are available for rent and performances of all kinds -- including jazz and poetry slams -- frequently take place in both the Music Box and Allesee Hall.

Closed indefinitely. WFT hosts the ambitious Monday & Tuesday "Kinotek Film Series."