//
Next door to the main Shea's building is the Smith Theatre, a cabaret-style venue that presents fare that is quirkier and more locally-focused as opposed to major national touring productions. The Smith Theatre hosts a diversity of fare, including stand-up comedy sets and off-Broadway-style material that's often written and performed by Buffalo-area natives.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Located in a striking Art Moderne building in the heart of the Theater District that once housed Buffalo's Greyhound bus station, the Alleyway Theatre presents a full slate of plays and musicals year-round in a comfortable and intimate setting. Popular features of the Alleyway Theatre's annual schedule include "Buffalo Quickies" (a festival of one-act plays by local writers), the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition, and the theater's annual presentation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol each December. The Alleyway is also home to Theatre Plus, a troupe that puts on musicals, plays, dance performances, and other such fare, geared toward and performed by women.
Located in a dazzlingly ornate former movie palace that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Shea's Performing Arts Center has been the cornerstone of downtown Buffalo's Theater District since the late 1970s, when its opening thwarted plans by civic leaders to demolish the grand old building. Today, Shea's is Buffalo's premier venue for lavish Broadway-style musicals such as Dreamgirls, The Lion King, and Wicked, as well as live music and performances such as Sesame Street Live and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Mighty Wurlitzer organ, installed in the theater in 1926 to provide musical accompaniment to silent movies, is also occasionally dusted off for performances of various types.
Located in the Theater District inside of Hostel Buffalo Niagara, BOX Gallery was opened in September 2014 by the hostel's general manager, Jon Piret, in conjunction with local artist Jeffrey Vincent, as a home for temporary exhibitions by local artists. At BOX Gallery you'll find innovative work by neophytes and veterans of the local scene alike, often synthesizing multiple different media. As well, there's a performance space for musicians, dancers, and performance artists.
The eight screens show the typical big-budget Hollywood fare, but in terms of amenities, this is easily Buffalo's swankiest cinema experience: ticketless entry, heated reclining seats, and a full bar (the Market Arcade 8 is the only movie theater in New York State with a liquor license!) are but a few of the additional touches that elevate it a cut above the competition. As anywhere downtown, limited parking is the Achilles heel of this place: if you're not arriving by Metro Rail, best practice is to head for a spot in the M&T Bank parking lot across Washington Street, which is open to non-bank employees beginning at 4PM (10AM on weekends) at a flat rate of $3.
Once a Prohibition-era speakeasy that was Al Capone's favorite Buffalo hangout, the Town Ballroom has been reborn as one of the city's premiere venues for nationally famous pop, rock and hip-hop acts to strut their stuff. The upcoming concerts at the Town Ballroom as of this writing — hip-hop veterans Cypress Hill, Canadian alt-rockers Billy Talent, metalcore favorites Killswitch Engage, and jam band Umphrey's McGee — are indicative of the caliber and range of groups that perform there.
This Theater District mainstay started out as a small jazz club but has branched out into roots, rock, soul, R&B, and world music with an emphasis on mid-level national acts as well as local bands.