2 Best Performing Arts in Ditmas Park and Midwood, New York City

Dormant since 1977, this grand and opulent 1929 movie palace reopened as a 3,000-seat performing-arts venue in 2015, with an exciting schedule of music, theater, dance, and other live performances. One of the Loew’s Wonder Theatres from the beginning of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the renovated space is quite true to the original. The ornate, French Renaissance–style building’s original art deco chandeliers have been restored; the colors on the 70-foot arched ceiling were replicated; and even the original carpeting was re-created.

Part of the Brooklyn College campus, this community-based arts center offers a variety of performances at affordable prices—their roster of international dance companies is particularly impressive. Most Brooklyn Center events occur at the 2,400-plus-seat Walt Whitman Theatre, but the new Claire Tow Theatre is set to open as a more intimate performance space in early 2018.