Mahaffey Theater

The Mahaffey - officially the Duke Energy Center for the Arts - sits on the St. Petersburg waterfront with European box-style seating and floor-to-ceiling glass looking out over Tampa Bay. It's a 2,031-seat room handling Broadway tours, the Florida Orchestra, comedy, and concerts, and it's part of downtown St. Pete's best stretch of real estate.

This is a venue that rewards arriving early. Beach Drive and the surrounding Waterfront Museum District put the Dali Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the 26-acre St. Pete Pier all within an easy stroll. Park once, walk the water at sunset, then catch your show. There's even Sonata, a restaurant right in the building with the same basin view if you want dinner without leaving. The breeze coming off the bay before the lights drop is its own kind of pre-show.

Dress code is whatever you want, but this is the more polished end of the Tampa Bay nights - a cultured evening that still keeps it relaxed. Browse the Mahaffey calendar on Evil Tickets and plan a waterfront night in downtown St. Pete.