I've been here twice now. Years ago to see the performance Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a few…read morenights ago to see the band The Moon and You. The space is great, it is small and intimate. The stage is the perfect size for the venue and there is a good view regardless of where you sit. The lobby has snacks and drinks for great prices. The NC Stage is located right next to a parking deck so you don't have to drive around downtown forever looking for a parking spot.

My wife and I attended a performance of "Jeeves in Bloom." This event featured a free buffet of…read more"heavy" hors d'oeuvre. The food was delicious and included prime rib, grilled vegetables, meat and cheese wraps, a cheese tray with probably 10 varieties of cheese and accompaniments, bread, crudité, and some sweets. There were drinks of all kinds and some lighter fare offered in the concession area also. Unlike most theaters, the food and drink can be taken into the performance. The show was two hours with an intermission and I brought a soft drink back for the second half. The show was wonderfully acted and well-presented by all technical and back stage staff. The staff and ushers at the theater were very friendly and helpful too. They told me---more than once---that they were grateful for my support of the arts. I'm glad they were there, and hope they remain so for many seasons to come. Bravo, to all!

I booked tickets here and then couldn't go. Trying to get your money back from them and their third…read moreparty is absolute hell. The only way you can get your money back is if someone is dead or dying

Absolutely shocked to find that I have never been to the spot before. I think that perhaps I always…read morethought it was the fine arts theater or gotten confused or maybe they're advertising is so good that I've seen a lot of shows posted, but never actually had the privilege of attending. Speaking of privilege, a lot of that here. Went to see a show in the balcony the other night and it was a nice experience. Definitely wear a lot of the older wealthier Asheville citizens gather. Certainly a crowd here. Could've also been the event we went to which was a cultural performance. Ultimately, I appreciate that we have cultural performances in our city and a space for them. Parking was a little annoying just because it was Saturday downtown but I do like the space is central. Lots of places to eat at around. Finding it was incredibly easy as well. Inside, there was quite a bottleneck as we arrived about 20 minutes before the show. We did have to wait in line. It was a little bit confusing to figure out exactly where to go but some staff helped. They had wine for sale- house and pricier stuff. The house was around nine dollars a glass. I really appreciate that the staff helped us shoes and gave their opinion. The staff working the wine area was incredibly kind. The stage itself was gorgeous. It was very easy to see in here, no matter where you were.

We saw the final performance of RENT on 2/22/26! What an amazing performance! This Theatre is such…read morea gem in the city of Asheville. if you are local or just visiting, try to see a show here. You won't be disappointed!

I came here on a Sunday afternoon for the first time to see 39 Steps. As many people said, parking…read moreis street only, so be sure to arrive at least half an hour ahead of time. The theater has two stages. The main stage can accommodate maybe 100 to 200 people, but it created a really nice atmosphere. The backstage is much smaller. The play I saw was on the main stage. I enjoyed that everything started on time and had only a 15 minute break for intermission. The play itself was fantastic. I know that Asheville is a cultural center with lots of artsy folks, but the actors were top-notch even assuming that. I will be coming back for a few other plays this month, and can't wait to see what more they can offer. I also enjoyed that the play was translated into American sign language. I think including diversity and accommodating people of different abilities is essential.

Wonderful theater that brings unique and original cutting edge stories to the stage…read more The staff is friendly and there is not a bad seat in the house. General Admission seating. Parking lot a few feet away.

Just saw Drag 101 with Delighted to be here at The Magnetic Theatre. The show was outstanding,…read more funny, educational and the singing was amazing Go see this show before he is gone!!!

Such a great experience to see Classics in the park. Live Theatre is a magical experience and I…read morelove that i have seen audiences of all ages come to the shows. People talk to each other before and after and engage in intellectual discussions. The experience is well worth putting on your vacation agenda. We try to go every time we can. I hope to get involved with this company when i relocate!

Love what they are about. Such a grew community experience! Worthy of community support!read more

I never thought I was "really into magic," but recently I started noticing that I was way, way more…read moreinto magic than anyone else I knew. Some people are repulsed by magicians, the same way some people are repulsed by clowns. My reaction is the opposite. My reaction is "Hell yes, by all means, amaze me!" So we should probably get that bit out of the way up front. If you hate magic, you won't much enjoy a festival full of dozens of professional and amateur magicians. In my own case, I was thrilled. These are not a bunch of Vegas headliners here. There are no Copperfields, no Blaines, no Penns, no Tellers. There were big names, but not necessarily big names you've heard of. Asheville's own Ricky Boone, performed. Ricky is generally considered to be one of the nation's great close-up magicians, in addition to having a very compelling personal story (he has a very noticeable physical disability, which only seems to add to the level of amazement he can stir up in his audiences). The other big name was Kendrick McDonald (Ice), a flamboyant chest-thumper of a showman in a purple denim steampunk duster. Ice made news last year when he was elected the first African American president of Society of American Magicians, one of the oldest and most prestigious magical societies in the world. Kendrick pulled an army of doves, seemingly out of nowhere (I think they came out of his sleeves), and they flew around the auditorium and acted....dovelike. Arianne Black, a woman magician from Las Vegas, had an audience member handcuff her and seal her up in a giant canvas mail pouch, while panting "I love my job..." into the microphone. She looked a bit like a blonder version of Sarah Palin, in cheaper clothes. She escaped from the mail pouch pretty quickly, it should be noted. My favorite act of the day, personally, was a Charlotte former street magician named Christopher Hannibal. Hannibal (he goes by his last name) is an imposing figure. Giant, scruffy, pale, neck-bearded, in a threadbare dark suit and a bowler hat 1/2 size too small. He sweated under the stage lights and made off-color jokes. And yet...His patter and flourishes were the smoothest and most elegant I've seen, live. I noticed on his website he claims to perform "inspirational magic". I guess I'd have to agree. Not in a touchy feely Tony Robbins motivational way. But in the way that it's always truly awe inspiring to see someone so simultaneously in control of what complicated things he's doing with his hands and saying with his mouth, always aware of whom he's tricking, and how. I honestly have no clue how he performed any of his tricks. He was 6 steps ahead the whole time. Amazing act. I would pay real American money to see it again. Then there were the young kids performing magic. They held their own remarkably well. Got laughs from the audience, and won over a few skeptics along the way. It is interesting to think of magicianship as kind of a lifecycle skill where young people are so amazed by a particular trick that the next year you see them they're standing on stage with their own deck of marked cards, amazing the audience. Look at the kids in the audience, mouths agape. Then look at people like Hannibal and Ricky, subtle and unflappable closeup masters. You realize that these world-class magicians must have, themselves, sat in an audience at 8 years of age, been amazed, and then practiced in the garage until their fingers went numb for the next 20-40 years. Ricky did it to make his wheelchair "vanish." Hannibal did it to make enough money to put his kids through college. No small feat for a street performer. I guess what I'm getting at here is, wow, that was really a diverse group. The magicians were diverse. The audience was diverse. The acts were diverse. The only unifying thing was really cool magic. Everything else was up to creative interpretation. When I was growing up as a kid, I used to think of magic as something that able-bodied white adult men did with rabbits, while wearing tuxedos and top hats. Asheville Magic Festival kind of turned that silly notion on its ear, and I think the world of magic is better for it. Leave Penn and Teller in Vegas. Gimme Ricky Boone any day!

We had an amazing experience working with Zowie Entertainment for our wedding. From our first…read moreconversation, Eric was extremely organized and easy to communicate with. He got every detail right and kept us in the loop the whole way through. Eric, who runs the company, is genuinely nice and made us feel like our wedding mattered to him. On the day of, he delivered outstanding entertainment that kept our guests engaged all night long. The pricing was fair and we felt like we got incredible value for what was provided. We'd recommend Zowie Entertainment to any couple looking for a band or DJ that's professional, personable, and truly cares about making your day special.

Very professional. Well prepared. Set up music for a dance party for seniors. Everyone had…read morewonderful time.

This is a must for any girls gathering! Ash was the warmest kindest instructor for our group of 10…read moregirls wanting to have fun and learn some sexy dances and tricks! We have never laughed harder or had a better hour of our lives! Can't wait to come back next time!

This is a very special place. As a plus sized woman I was searching for a place of belonging…read moreinstead of comparison and I found it here. I've dealt with disassociation from my body for decades and DanceClub is where I have found my way back to her. I've never had so much fun in my whole life. You can know when I'm taking a class because I can't stop giggling with joy. I have found so much growth in diving into my sensuality, in doing things I never imagined I'd have the strength for, and simply being myself and no one else. No one is watching to judge, only to cheer you on. I had a breakthrough the other day when I didn't believe I could climb the pole. I admitted my brain was telling me that I wasn't the sort of person that can do these things. I had tears in my eyes and before I knew it I was surrounded by the other girls in the class cheering me on...and I did it! Forever grateful for this family. If you're on the fence about coming, let me push you to the other side!

Well, my friend and I had a girl weekend in Asheville and tried a few fun workouts while we were in…read moretown. My girlfriend has been an aerialist for 4-5 years now and I've only taken one class before but we knew we'd love it. I figured if I couldn't manage any of the moves well, at least I could provide comic relief, right? The other young lady in our group was an Asheville local who just started lessons a month and a half ago, so between us there were many skill levels represented. Being a compact space, there are only four silk stations available so we had the privilege of watching the instructor on a set of silks as well. Carly lead us through a stretching warm up before we practiced with the silks. When Carly saw what we were able to manage she would add to it, varying the tasks for each of us as we all had wildly different strengths and weaknesses. The music was fun, Carly was patient and had wonderful verbal cues as well as demonstrating for me when the verbal clues left me scratching my head. I wish I lived closer and could build my upper body strength and enjoy this unique workout more often. It was hard and fun and two days later my shoulders and back are still sore but I'd go back tomorrow if I could! Now, where is my Cirque du Soleil contract???

Um. I love this place. If I had the power to teleport, you better believe this is one of the places…read moreI'd hit up very, very frequently! (As often as my bruised limbs could allow. The lyra really digs into you, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and doubling up on fabric would probably also be pretty helpful. I'd been itching to take either a pole class or an aerial silks/lyra class for ages, and since I plan my travels around food and awesome fitness classes (priorities, right?), I definitely had to make a stop here before leaving Asheville! I called beforehand to make sure that it was okay for me to take the aerial lyra class, and the lady I spoke to was really helpful and friendly. (I'd only taken one class before, and that was quite unfortunately back in early 2012, so uh...it's been a while!) ...But my goodness, this was a super fun class! Evan was our instructor, and there was only one other student, so we started the class off with a light warmup, and then jumped right in. Evan was really good about explaining everything, and also in evaluating where we were at so that he could tailor the class to our level. We took turns going through a sequence and learning how to clean it up and make it look pretty + fluid. He was also really great about giving us pointers and cues, which was definitely helpful when we were puzzling out a couple of the moves. All in all, super super fun, and I really hope to come back to Asheville at some point again to visit, and so I can take more classes here! The handbalancing class that Evan teaches looks like a lot of fun, and I'd love to take more aerial lyra (+ silks!) classes!

Dancing is a beautiful expression of life. I've been working hard since the move to Asheville, so I…read moredecided it was time to play! A co-worker of mine was talking about how she had taken belly dancing classes with Lisa Zahiya, owner of Studio Zahiya. I talked to another co-worker of mine about it, and we all signed up for the Level 1 series. I love this studio! A very nice space with speakers to pump up the music (to get you going!) and mirrors everywhere to watch your technique. Lisa is an amazing instructor! Very funny and light hearted, while being very thorough with her teaching and always asking us if we had any questions. Our class was an 8 week series where we learned techniques and a choreography. I looked forward to every week! The best part was that our series ended right when they had planned a Winter Dance Spectacular at The Orange Peel and she offered us to perform our choreography as part of the show! I was completely thrilled and most of the class came out to perform! It was a great bonding experience and we all had so much fun! I highly recommend Studio Zahiya if you are looking to dance. They offer such a variety of dance classes and for very reasonable prices. No excuses to get up and move your body, baby! Go get 'em!

I have endlessly good things to say about Studio Zahiya. They offer so many types of dances for…read morepeople ranging from elementary aged to those in their 80s. I am a bi-weekly attendee of their hip hop fitness class, but I enjoying trying out several others including: ballet fitness, chair dancing, hip hop choreography and so many more. I'm really excited to try out a few more this year when time allows. Their classes are offered at varying times throughout the day allowing easy access for all kinds of schedules. Seriously, drop in classes are $6 and the value is astronomical. You can sign up on their website or through the MindBody App. It is too easy and the best/ most fun workout you'll have all week!