Detroit has better historic venues than cities twice its size, and the comedy scene has produced more famous names than the city gets credit for. Here's where to spend your theater budget.
The Bronze Ceiling
Fisher Theatre is the starting argument. The building was designed in 1928 as the lobby of the Fisher Building - look up at the bronze ceiling on your way in, that's not decoration, that's a worldview - and the theater itself was retrofitted into an interior atrium. There's a tropical fish tank in the lobby. The theater seats 2,000 and hosts Broadway touring productions with full production values. Get orchestra center for the big touring shows; the views are clean everywhere in the house.
The Opera House
Detroit Opera House is the other major touring and repertory venue: Italian Renaissance interior, 2,700 seats, home to Michigan Opera Theatre for most of the year and a full calendar of touring productions alongside it. The building was rescued and restored in the 1990s when downtown Detroit needed rescuing, and the restoration is immaculate. The Grand Tier level has a lounge open during intermission - the sight lines from that level are excellent.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Woodward deserves a sentence that isn't qualified: they're actually excellent, not just good-for-Detroit excellent. The Orchestra Hall is intimate enough that you feel the room, and the programming has been adventurous in ways the national press hasn't fully caught up to yet.
The Laugh Rooms
Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak is the place where Seinfeld did early sets - 300 seats, real two-drink minimum, national headliners every weekend. The room is right for comedy. Second City Detroit runs Thursday through Sunday with improv and sketch; the weekend late shows are the loosest and most fun. Check Evil Tickets for touring headliners landing at Fisher or the Opera House.
