19 Best Performing Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah

This immense, stately venue across from Temple Square is famed for its soaring glass lobby and Dale Chihuly sculpture and is home of the Utah Symphony and other distinguished events like the Wasatch Speaker Series featuring names such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Rob Reiner, and Annie Leibovitz.

This respected professional ballet company performs both classic and original works at the Capitol Theatre. Its inner-workings were featured in the multiseason reality show Breaking Pointe.

This grand 1913 theater with a stunningly ornate exterior was built originally for vaudeville and has been masterfully restored. It presents works by Ballet West and the Utah Opera in addition to hosting the JazzSLC series and Broadway touring companies.

The resident company of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center stages modest productions built on fine original scripts and timely social and cultural themes.

Movie buffs and casual fans will find much to love about Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. Each January, the crowds and the paparazzi tend to congregate in Park City, but savvy (and budget-conscious) moviegoers catch top picks in six venues in Salt Lake City: the Tower Theatre, Broadway Center Cinemas 3 and 6, the Grand Theater, Salt Lake City Main Library, and Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. Ticket registration begins in September, but procrastinators can check for unsold day-of-show tickets at the Trolley Square box office.

Over the fourth weekend in June, Salt Lake City's premier art event takes place over two full blocks downtown surrounding both Library and Washington Squares. Browse original art at the Marketplace, create your own masterpiece at the Art Yard, treat your taste buds to a food truck–sponsored feast, and get down to live music on multiple stages.

The premier orchestra in the state, the Utah Symphony performs in the acoustically acclaimed Abravanel Hall and calls the Deer Valley Music Festival its summer home.

Enjoy craft beer and tasty pub fare while you watch the new releases and indie films at this intimate cinema in the Granary District.

Salt Lake Film Society shows newly released, independent, and foreign films at this hugely popular downtown venue.

Mingle with local artists and view their work at various art galleries throughout the city—but especially downtown and in Central City—on the third Friday of the month (or the first Friday of December). Participating galleries change monthly, so it's best to visit the website for each month's current roster. Artists and art lovers chat over wine and snacks at each stop.

Musicals and plays, with a focus on sketch comedy, parody, and improv, are the bill of fare from this company that moved from downtown Salt Lake to Draper Historic Theatre in 2021.

This professional company, in residence at the University of Utah, stages classic and contemporary musicals and plays to consistently positive critical acclaim.

This acclaimed company presents modern-dance performances at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center

This is Salt Lake City's premier modern dance troupe, recognized for its innovation and commitment to community education.

Comprising the Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre, the Jeanne Wagner Theatre, and the Studio Theatre, the Center is home to the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and the Repertory Dance Theatre and also provides performance space for many of the city's smaller theater companies, including Plan-B and Pygmalion Productions.

Recognized for its development of new regionally and locally written plays, this year-round company, which is based in a handsome old building, presents thought-provoking plays while promoting arts education for Utahns in kindergarten up through the university level.

Since 1978, this company has performed new and classical works at the Capitol Theatre and throughout the state.