How much do you dress up for the theater?

I don't dress up for local performances like community theater or high school. I wear nicer clothes for bigger productions.

I like to dress up so I do, except I wear low-heeled or flat shoes. I like for the experience to be a bit elevated. I don't care what everyone else wears. Just enjoy the show and don't talk out loud. I'm more casual at our local theater, except for the Rat Pack tribute and I thought it would be fun to dress according to the vibe.

I usually dress up a bit to go to the theater.

I’ll dress up more for a Saturday night performance than a Sunday matinee or a week night performance. I really go all out for any performances in December.

I always think it’s a treat to go to any type of live performance. For me, dressing a little nicer than I normally do is part of the experience. I don’t judge others for how they choose to dress. I’m just glad they are supporting the arts.

We're a theater family. My mother was a costume designer (hobby) and my sister and I were involved in dance/music/theater all of our lives. We were brought up with the belief that it was a dressy occasion and I brought my kids up the same way. Slacks/khakis and a polo for DH, slacks and a button down for my son, slacks with blouses or dresses for my daughters and I. It doesn't have to be "black tie" dressy, but no jeans, shorts, or t-shirts. It doesn't matter if it's a matinee or night performance, nor does it matter if it's a community theatre or a professional show at the local Fox.  But that appears to be less and less the case for a lot of people around here. I understand that not everyone was brought up that way so I generally don't mind. I have more of a beef with the people who think it's okay to show up late and make noise during the performance. That's just rude and disrespectful to everyone else attending and to the actors putting on the show.

Jen

The first - and only - time I went to a professional theater production was an evening near the holidays for Phantom of the Opera in 1991. I wore a black velvet straight skirt below the knee with a black-beaded red sweater top, and heels - which I despise. Judging by the way most were dressed, I was perhaps a tiny bit under dressed, but acceptable.

Since you are in MN, and I know where you are going, I would say nice pants and top. maybe a thinner top with a cardigan over it, so you can layer and be warm enough not to carry a coat. Also a pair of shoes, flats, because you will have to walk, and who knows what the sidewalks will be like, even a nice pair of flat boots. When we do theater in the cities, even Chanhassen we usually dress fairly nice, in pants. Never dresses, unless it's summer, and then I might do a capri. Have fun!! Jealous!

I went to see Six at the Providence Performing Arts Center last week. I went with my sister and 2 friends. We were all dressed for the theatre (it was an evening performance). I will say that the apparel ran the gambit from us, to those dressed up more than we were, to those who wore jeans, to others in t-shirts.

Just got home from a show and most people were in nice jeans or pants and a sweater or blouse, maybe a jacket. I didn’t see many ties and I didn’t see anything fancy or formal, even on a Saturday night in DC.

We see a lot of shows in a lot of venues (my kid is a pit musician so we see more shows than average) and I would say most shows are pretty casual anymore. Some venues are MUCH more formal - know your venue and you’ll be fine.

This was a very timely thread since i went to see Hamilton on Saturday (it was amazing!). I read this to decide what to wear. Ended up going with dress pants and a nice top

But most importantly, how was the show? 

We moved here last fall too late to get season tickets, but are on the list for this year. We've talked about trying to get seats, but at this point it would be resale tickets and those get really pricey. But IMO, it's a show worth seeing over and over.

Another dress criteria option--do you have to walk any sort of distance from a parking garage? If so, I'd need to wear shoes that I can walk a bit in and I wouldn't wear a skirt if it was cold. And the wind was so cold over the weekend! I did fine all winter, but for some reason, third winter is really making me want to hibernate for a few more weeks.

For school plays, the kids wore what they wanted and I'd probably wear what I wore to volunteer at the school--pants (not jeans) and a nice top. Community theatre would probably be the same.  For a professional show, I'd probably wear similar, but maybe a little dressier.  We saw The Cursed Child last fall in London and I wore a knit dress that I wear for travel. DH wore nice jeans and a button down.  I don't think we looked out of place at all.  It was 6 hours of theatre (a 3 hour matinee and a 3 hour evening show), so I wanted to be comfortable and not in heels walking around London and riding the underground.

I lived in Manhattan for many years. None of the folks I knew got particularly dressed up for seeing a show; however, every person from out of town did. 

May I ask which restaurant you went to? DH and I are going to the matinee on Saturday, and I'm trying to make plans.

I enjoy David Sedaris’ recorded story telling. Did you find his live performance engaging? Unfortunately, he isn’t scheduled to be in my city during his upcoming tour.