The theater is a nice size and acoustics good. My complaint is the ticket fees. I bought a ticket through the theater's website and was charged $7.25 ticket fee and &1.98 processing fee, for an e-ticket. The fees amount to 15% of the ticket price. That's the s**t I've come to expect from Ticketmaster. read more

Went to Robert Cray concert on 4/20. Concert was advertised to start at 8 PM. Got there just before 8, paid $12! for a bourbon and coke and and walked into the main theater only to find someone named Miles Minor playing with a bass player. Not bad, but not really good either. They finished around 8:15 and the guy who runs the place got up on stage to talk talk talk about nothing much for about 5 minutes. Then we all waited until 9 PM for the show to start. Unprofessional. Too bad the management can't run their operation professionally and start their shows on time. read more

Amazing reproduction of the original theater. It looks beautiful inside and the acoustics are really nice.

We came for country singer Martina McBride's concert which was awesome to see from our fourth row seats in the center section on the first level. Martina was in great spirits and voice. The theater is beautiful and the acoustics were fantastic. The theater has a 1,000 seat capacity. Staff were friendly and helpful. Free parking is available on level three in the public garage directly behind the theater. read more

Des Plaines Theatre - Martina McBride - Performing Arts Near Me - Des Plaines, Illinois

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No a bad seat on the main floor. Seats are comfortable enough. Balcony seats are ok, your feel a bit away from the atmosphere. The unfinished plywood flooring on the balcony seating area looks, well, like Des Plaines, a bit rough around the edges. Had a hard time hearing the words of the singers, acoustics good for instruments, not for the human voice, so this should be improved. Good security. Friendly ushers. Food ok. No coat check. Free parking. Best to bring in higher level of talent, people can afford to pay higher prices for better talent. read more

Just saw Girls Night The Musical. While the show itself was good, the sound was terrible throughout the entire show! When the play started you could barely understand what any of the actors were saying. During the show, the sound went in and out. Loud beeps and uneven sounding made the songs sound like a grade school musical. While the actors had very nice voices, you could barely tell. The actors themselves were great. The Sound Technicians did a terrible job. read more

Just saw Texas flood there last night first time there what are the amazing band great performance comfortable theater free parking great value read more

Everything about this theater is great except for the sound. I just attended my second rock show there and the sound quality was frustrating at both. Possibly the fault of the house system? It's too bad because literally everything else about it is really nice. read more

Ger A. Barrington, IL 133 friends 569 reviews 469 photos 4.0 star rating12/13/2021 We had never been to the Des Plaines Theatre before but are long time fans of the St. Charles Arcada. They've done a really nice job rehabbing the Des Plaines Theater & wish they would do the same thing with The Arcada. New seats, looks very nice Everywhere. Des Plaines did a much nicer job rehabbing this theater than St. Charles has done with the Arcada, and remember Ron Onesti is a promotor, he doesn't own these facilities. This theater is larger than the Arcada by by maybe 20-30%, wider stairways and has several bars & the now standard Onesti Speakeasy. The balcony is great but only 3 rows. Bathrooms are minimal as typical in the old days, lines for the bar long also standard. The three rows in balcony were less than 1/2 full with the middle row largely empty so nice spacing. Main Floor was 3/4 full not bad for a Sunday night. I thought the sound was ok, and sightlines were great although we went for the Trans Infinity Orchestra that was just awful. Unintelligible narration during Stunningly loud heavy metal renditions of Xmas songs that takes you half the song to catch the melody, like Silent Night. All with End of the World flashing lights in your eyes and a little non smoke smoke. We always bring sunglasses & earplugs for this type of "music" and were good. Special note this show cost $10 more than the same show in St. Charles. About 1/2 way through the first half, Ron Onesti came up and down the 3 balcony rows & asked if anyone wanted to be reseated because of the lights? Nobody took him up on it that I saw. Nice Touch, Ron Onesti is still a really nice guy. We thought it had ended at what turned out to be a short intermission, and bailed. Mission Accomplished. Nice facility. Give the Des Plaines Theater a try. Like the St. Charles Arcada, a lot of free easy walkable street parking although I will say a lot of that is marked 90 minutes so watch out, but we weren't too concerned on a Sunday night. There are also several garages nearby. I'm not as familiar with the eating scene in Des Plaines as I am in St. Charles which is great, but gonna explore. This is a great facility to see someone that you really WANT to see. We were largely checking out the rehab. Great Job. read more

Awesome atmosphere at the Bourbon 'N Brass Speakeasy!! Coco was such an amazing singer!!

We desperately need more music venues so I'm happy that the Des Plaines Theatre opened. However, it is not ideal. First couple of times I came here the acoustics were horrific. They seem to have gotten it right now, last night's show sounded great. However, upon purchasing tickets I had a pretty strange encounter with the ticket seller. As directed by a sign posted on the outside window, I went inside. As I started to talk to the ticket seller he got a phone call. I overheard him ask the caller to call back as it was busy (that's debatable but whatever). The caller clearly had a lot of questions, perhaps a problem and wasn't hanging up. I waited very patiently for the call to end, I wasn't in a particular hurry. Just prior to the call ending a couple approached and said they were just picking up tickets. I kindly said to go ahead of me to make their simple transaction. The seller then turned his attention to me and I asked VERY legitimate questions about which seats were left and the various price points. At this, the seller said, "look, I'm very busy!" in a NOT nice tone. I was dumbfounded and could only say, "too busy to sell me tickets??" I hope he realized how insane his statement was. The point of purchase set up is not ideal, I had to stand outside his booth trying to look at the screen on his laptop, no counter area. It was unorthodox. Anyway, got my tickets, saw the show, sound was good. I think they can do a lot more with the two eating areas; I think one very casual with beer, wine and crappy "food " and the other a bar with far too few seats and one potentially long line to get cocktails. I hope Onesti puts a little more money into making this the entertainment venue it has the potential to be. read more

Attended the Gino Vannelli concert on 6/15/24. The man is an incredible talent, but the sound system in the theater is terrible. Vocals were garbled and featured instrumentation was virtually inaudible. Seen Gino in other locations and have never encountered this problem. We will not go back to the Des Plaines Theater until this acoustic issue is resolved. read more

Cowboy JIM is the best bartender ever at the Des Plaines theater soul chaser rock !! Who wants popcorn??

Cowboy Jim is the best bartender around!! Great drinks- so much fun !! Soul chasers rock!!'

Great venue. Easy in and out and convenient parking. Sure beats driving to the city.

Beautiful theater! Great shows! Amazing sound! And excellent service from the staff. A must visit venue. So happy they are in town.

Bought VIP tickets for murder mystery dinner on October 31st at 7:00 p.m.. showed up to the theater before 7:00. Hung out till after 7:00 and the theater was locked and completely dark. I feel scammed at this point and sure hope I do get a refund. read more

Beautifully restored. The decor is fun, 1920s vibe. Personnel was kind, helpful and very welcoming. Snack prices very reasonable. We will be frequenting this venue. read more

Des Plaines Theatre - Seeing That Arena Rock. - Performing Arts Near Me - Des Plaines, Illinois

Their security staff are a bunch of old tough guys. I got there with my family and we had items with us at the door. They asked what they were and we told them band merchandise we wanted the band to sign. The security guy goes into this LONG and rude tirade about how fans can't expect artists to sign stuff, how we were wrong to bring it, and that we couldn;t enter the theater with it. I let him go on, THEN break it to the guy that we paid a premium to do the meet and greet...which included signing stuff. He then puts his tail between his legs. The box office guy was eating pizza when we went to claim our tickets. The guy actually puts up his finger for us to wait as he finishes chewing and gobbling pizza. Again, we tell him we're there to claim our very expenside tickets. He turns red then gives us our passes. In short, the place will be rude to you if they thing you're a regular patron. Once they realize to dropped bank there, THEN they wanna' be friends. Unprofessional....we won't be back. read more

There should be a craft cocktail menu at bar. And some lore tables for handicap people. read more

Not fond of the venue. The place is nothing like I had hoped. Tickets are so expensive these days, I expected so much more. Sorry, but I'll pass and hope a better venue comes along. read more

All of the shows have been quite good, but instead of respecting the theater, they treat it like a baseball diamond. The owner gets his 15 minutes of fame prior to the show with his rah, rah Flag perched on his knee like a hero and singing the national anthem like a baseball game. read more

When I was 6 years old, the Des Plaines Theater was an unpleasant place. The interior was completely unlit, so until the movie came on, it was pitch black. It was sticky, smelled faintly of mold, and the inside was cramped, dark, and oppressive. Even my childhood naivete was insufficient protection against its assault on all five of my senses. It is precisely this memory of the theater's descent to rock bottom that gives me such great pleasure at seeing how lovingly it has been restored. The stage and the plaster surrounding it is glorious. A large, black partition that had once divided the theater is gone, exposing the beautiful art deco stylings of the cavernous aisles, complete with seats donated by Radio City Music Hall. The marquee is back, the neon has been restored, and even the lobby is returning to the breathtaking condition it surely was in when the theater was opened in 1925. Looking upon the refinished stage, one can easily picture vaudeville's biggest names entertaining Des Plaines residents almost 90 years ago (and some of their signatures are still in the dressing rooms, uncovered during the restoration). The theater's supporters have done an excellent job, and the community is lining up to have their events at the theater. I truly cannot wait to go back--the Des Plaines Theater is a veritable diamond in the rough. read more

What can I say.... Anything Ronnie Onesti touches is golden. This is a phenomenal music venue. Not a bad seat in the house and the entertainment here is outstanding!! I wish I could give it 10 stars. We saw Pablo Cruise, Firefall and America and every concert was wonderful. Talk about going down memory lane. Thank you Mr. Onesti! read more

The reason for the low review is the price of drinks there. We had a glass of Blue Moon & pinot grigio. Cost $21.00. I paid less at some very classy dining places. read more

Pretty cool theater. The non-typical theater food looked nice. The theater itself was fine. Seats were nice, a little too firm for my liking, but I'm pretty picky. Theater 3 had an issue with the speakers because the right side speakers were a lot louder than the left. Other than that, it was your typical theater, but cleaner. read more

Des Plaines Theatre - Performing Arts Near Me - Des Plaines, Illinois

We had a good time here. The theater is beautiful. Everything is clean, really spotless. The parking to available right nearby and is free. It is a very comfortable place. One bad thing here is the sound quality. I thought it was awful. The speaker system seems good, so I'm not sure if it's bad acoustics or an amateur controlling the sound board. Difficult to make out the vocals and I knew all the songs. I thought it was a muffled mess. Seemed like everything was set at the same level all through the same speaker. I even moved about the theater to see if it was just my area, but that wasn't the case. I hope they fix whatever the problem is because everything else about this place is so great. I would really like to come here often but if the sound isn't improved I probably won't. The Arcada has a better sound system but that place is nowhere near as nice and comfortable as this place. Please figure out the sound problem. read more

Great music venue, excellent sound. It's so great to have this historic theater renovated and bringing life to the downtown area.

Great place to see a show. Clean, easy free parking, great acoustics, reasonable drink prices.

Watching two silent films with live organ accompaniment at the Des Plaines Theatre was the highlight of my summer. There is nothing quite like seeing and hearing a movie from that era as its filmmakers intended, in a building constructed specifically for the purpose. Visitors will discover that there's something special about standing in the glow of an art deco marquee as the sun sets on a clear night, though the theater as a whole exemplifies vintage charm, both inside and out. In addition to movies, you can catch live music here or even rent it for an event (recently it has hosted a spelling bee and a birthday party). Unlike a chain multiplex, the Des Plaines Theater is in many ways a partner in its community. This week, for example, they're showing a free Christmas movie for families following the Des Plaines tree-lighting ceremony. Check the calendar on the web site to see the latest goings-on and events. Parking is free and easy, with both a parking garage and options for street parking just steps from the door. You can also find the Metra right across the street, as well as bike racks. read more

I remember visiting the Des Plaines Theater as a child, seeing second-run movies for a few dollars. The screen was ripped and repaired with duct tape. The floor was so sticky, if you stood still too long, you might permanently fuse to the floor. Now fast-forward to 2013. The Des Plaines Theater hosted the Chicago Silent Film Society's Summer Film Festival. The 1928 Art Deco plasterwork has been restored, and the stage is back. A live organist accompanied the film, and I could almost feel like I'd gone back in time. I look forward to seeing what's to come for this jewel of the NW suburbs! read more

Place is clean. Chair was not comfortable over whole experience was good. So I give 4 star.

This place looks more like a haunted house than a theater to me. And if you go actually go inside, you will know exactly what I mean. No air conditioning or heating -- so either layer yourself in clothes or dress lightly depending on the weather. No lights, so plan on sitting in the dark even when there's no movie playing. Sticky floors, a stingy smell, and very uncomfy seats make you kind of grimace as you think of what you would see if the lights were turned on. read more

The refurbished theater in 2013 is very lovely. The play Etude was performed there this past week and it was beautifully directed and professionally presented. The cast had beautiful voices and the effects, staging and music were excellent. This theater should be used for high end plays and musicals in the future. All that is needed is quality publicity to attract other theater groups. The theater should also be given a historical landmark lstatus. The Pickwick theater is younger than Des Plaines and it has a historical site status. CK read more

The place had Hindi and Malu movies for $5! I liked how there were Indian food options as well as your typical food available at movies! If the movies are new, I recommend coming early because the tickets sell out quickly! read more

I think since there is a large indian population here (for some reason) the movie theater now only plays movies that came from india. I think it is because this area the house values are valued very low (around the $100,000-$250,000 is avg.). It also looks very eerie. read more