3 Best Performing Arts in New York City, New York

Completed in 1881 and occupying an entire city block, this Gothic-style brick building is now an arts center but was originally the headquarters, drill hall, and social club for the Seventh Regiment, a National Guard unit called the "Silk Stocking" regiment because its members were mainly drawn from wealthy Gilded Age families. The reception rooms on the first floor and Company Rooms on the second floor were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, and other fashionable designers of the time. A major renovation included restoring the historic wood-paneled Tiffany and White rooms. These days the armory is used for trade shows, huge art installations, plays, and concerts, which take full advantage of the 55,000-square-foot drill hall. Intimate artist conversations, recitals, and experimental performances are held in the smaller, first- and second-floor spaces.

Rebranded as 92NY and formerly known as the 92nd Street Y, this Upper East Side cultural institution is undergoing a $200 million plan to redevelop its campus, expand its programming, and revamp and enhance performance spaces. Well-known soloists, jazz musicians, show-tune stylists, and chamber music groups perform in 92Y's freshly renovated 905-seat Kaufmann Concert Hall and in the new Arnhold Center, a dance and performance complex with an adjoining dance studio. But the programming is hardly limited to music and dance—its calendar brims with popular lectures and readings series featuring big-name film and TV stars, authors, poets, playwrights, political pundits, and media bigwigs (many events are livestreamed and archived online). The Harkness Dance Festival, film programs, arts and crafts workshops, and family-friendly events are also worth checking out.

Insight into the creative process is what the Works & Process program at the Guggenheim is all about. Often drawing on dance and theater works in progress, the live performances are complemented by illuminating discussions with their choreographers, playwrights, and directors. There are popular holiday concerts, too. Works & Process also presents at Gibney Center, Lincoln Center, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.