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From its small villages to its big cities, New Mexico offers a plethora of performing arts in venues ranging from grand to grassroots. Whether you prefer dancing to a jazz band in the Albuquerque Museum outdoor sculpture garden or seeing an off-Broadway show at Alto’s stunning Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts, the variety of choices all bring down the house.
When the sun sets and the stars come out at the Santa Fe Opera, it’s hard to tell which is more enchanting: the high-desert setting or the world-famous performers and stage. An open-ended backstage allows patrons to gaze toward the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.
Melodramas prevail at the Opera House in the historic gold mining town of Pinos Altos in southern New Mexico.
The Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, with 3-foot-thick adobe walls dating to the 1860s, is the backdrop for Music in Corrales, a series encompassing productions from chamber music to a beloved local jug band. Community theater unfolds at the Albuquerque Little Theatre in a building designed by famed Southwestern architect John Gaw Meem. The structure along historic Route 66 was the first in Albuquerque built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Old movie houses also enjoy second lives as performance venues. Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center, once a film and vaudeville house, was renovated to reflect its pseudo-Moorish, Spanish Renaissance origins. In Albuquerque, the landmark KiMo Theatre along old Route 66 through downtown is a restored gem of Pueblo Deco style from the 1920s. The KiMo boasts decorative motifs from New Mexico’s indigenous cultures, including terra cotta shields and glowing red eyes peering from a line of cow skulls.
Fountain Theatre in Old Mesilla, built in 1905 and considered the oldest operating movie house in New Mexico, specializes in art and independent films.
Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico campus hosts Broadway, Shakespearean, and dance productions. Also in Albuquerque, the National Hispanic Cultural Center’s Roy E. Disney Theater for the Performing Arts hosts Latino and other music and dance performances, including the New Mexico Symphony.
Spencer Theater in Alto — designed by Antoine Predock and built by Dow Jones heiress Jackie Spencer and her husband — features the largest collection of Dale Chihuly glass sculptures in the Southwest.
The northern communities of Angel Fire, Taos, Raton, and Las Vegas offer a variety of settings for the concerts of Music from Angel Fire, a chamber festival in August.
Outdoor venues take advantage of New Mexico’s sunshine and lingering warm seasons. Summer evenings in Albuquerque hop with concerts at Rio Grande Zoo, Rio Grande Botanic Garden, Albuquerque Museum, and the Summerfest series in Civic Plaza downtown. Also outdoors, Journal Pavilion south of Albuquerque draws A-list rock and country music stars, as do many of casino amphitheaters.
The multipurpose Macey Center at Socorro, Pan American Center at Las Cruces, and Rio Rancho’s Santa Ana Star Center have seen everyone from mariachi stars to the Rolling Stones. Smaller productions find audiences at Albuquerque’s Outpost Performance Space, Vortex Theater, or the Adobe Theater. Santa Fe offers venues such as the Santa Fe Playhouse near the capitol.
New Mexico attracts some of the world’s most creative talents. See a show wherever you are in the Land of Enchantment!
