The Best Theatre, Dance and Comedy to See in Austin This Spring
Put a spring in your step and welcome the season with soaring performances
Spring has arrived! As the trees bloom, so do some of our favorite celebrations of theater, dance, comedy, and much more across the city’s stages. Find your favorite performing arts events coming to Austin from March through May.
Austin Dance Festival
March 23-24 at various times. Rollins Studio Theatre, Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive. $25.
You don’t have to put your own dancing shoes on to get into the groove of the Austin Dance Festival. For two days, catch showcases from dancers around the country, from Brooklyn to Detroit to Austin, perform in genres from modern to contemporary to experimental. On Saturday, take in two professional showcases, and on Sunday, see youth dance companies take to the stage. There are also master classes like “Movement Invention and Design” available if you want to test out your twinkletoes.
The Prom
April 3-May 12 at various times. ZACH Theatre, 201 S. Lamar. $68-$83.
A small-town girl in Indiana wants to bring her girlfriend to prom, and four ex-Broadway stars who are past their prime decide to help her and show everyone that love is love. Theater kids of all ages will love this original musical that won seven Tony Awards. Don’t miss PRIDE Night on April 4 and pay-what-you-will performances through April 7.
Fusebox Festival
April 7-14 at various times, locations, and prices.
It’s the 10th anniversary of this festival dedicated to original, experimental, and off-the-wall performance art deep in the heart of Texas. Follow your interests from film to vibrant visual art to music and much more over eight days of unconventional performances from around the globe. Performances include Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson, a one-man comedy show that explores Johansson’s decision to portray a Japanese character in Ghost in the Shell; an Art Bus Cruise that takes you on a ride to local artwork; and the Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, a meditation on health and aging as a Black woman by a UT professor.
Moontower Just for Laughs Comedy Festival
April 10-21 at various times and locations. $150-$275.
Your badge (depending on your price range) gets you into 11 days of performances from comedians including Rachel Bloom, Cat Cohen, Margaret Cho, Nicole Byer, Mike Birbiglia, Jeff Hiller, Amy Sedaris, Kathy Griffin, Julio Torres, and many more hilarious performers. Plus, catch a live recording of the podcast Celebrity Memoir Book Club and a special screening of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with Succession’s Alan Ruck.
Bianca Del Rio
April 23 at 8 p.m. The paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave. $43.50-$279.
The original comedy queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race graces the Paramount’s stage with her trademark act of biting standup comedy and the sharpest insults in the biz. Heckle this “clown in a gown” and you take your own life in your hands.
Girl From the North Country
April 23-28 at various times. Bass Concert Hall, 2350 Robert Dedman Dr. $30-$135.
This original musical was one of the unlucky ones that premiered on Broadway in March 2020 and was promptly shuttered thanks to Covid, but it reopened in 2021 and won the Tony Award for best orchestration, with 20 soaring songs written by the one and only Bob Dylan. Visit the shores of Lake Superior during the Great Depression, where the lives of people down on their luck intersect at a guest house filled with song, including “Forever Young” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Every Brilliant Thing
April 26-May 19 at various times. Austin Playhouse, 405 W. 22nd St. $17-$34.
In this heartwarming one-man show, a young boy starts making a list of all the wonderful things in life to cheer up his hospitalized mother. This show told with audience participation will remind you to hone in on the small, everyday blessings of life that make it all worthwhile.
Carmen
May 2-5 at various times. Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive. $15-$239.
Spend a night at the opera under Carmen’s riveting spell. Let the arias of composer Georges Bizet, written in 1875 and performed by the Austin Opera, sweep you toward sweet tragedy in Sevilla, Spain.
An Evening with David Sedaris
May 3 at 7 p.m. The Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave. $45-$75.
The humor writer of 18 books (including his most recent, Happy-Go-Lucky) and dozens of New Yorker articles swings by Austin to regale audiences with quirky tales from his life that always prove that truth is stranger (and much funnier) than fiction.
Ballet Austin’s The Sleeping Beauty
May 10-12 at various times. Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive. $28-$125.
See the classic fairy tale with an infusion of fresh magic at this ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s beloved scare performed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra.
For more performances and art events this spring, be sure to check out our online calendar.