Cancel

Open app

Search

McDonald Theater

3.0 (29 reviews)

McDonald Theater Photos

You might also consider

Recommended Reviews - McDonald Theater

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

Kyle D.

The historic McDonald Theatre truly is an atmospheric and fitting venue for a mid-sized college town. Opened in 1925 and owned by the Kesey family (same as the renowned author) it originally served as a cinema house until the early 2000s. Since being converted to an all-purpose venue, it offers a mixture of live concerts, stage performances, weddings, proms, and other entertainment and celebratory events to the local community. Keeping with the classic feel of last-century architecture and ambiance, the interior has large vaulted ceilings and plenty of open space. This in turn amplifies the acoustics during live shows, making it an especially popular scene for hip hop, EDM, and reggae music. The main floor is standing room only, which encourages free movement and dancing. A seated balcony area looms above, which is reserved for those patrons over 21 due to the serving of alcohol. In additional, the venue also offers a fashionable separate full bar area which includes an outdoor smoking space. Over the years I've personally seen many shows at this establishment and have come to appreciate it. Although it offers nothing to knock your socks off, its yester-year feel and great acoustic quality keep me coming back for live music and artists old & new.

Crystal B.

We really enjoyed this small, yet inviting theater. The live music sounded great, almost like a private show. The line to get in and the line at the bar was quick and easy. The downside was only having one bathroom. Be sure to go before the show! ;)

See all

12 days ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

6 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 10
Thanks 0
Love this 8
Oh no 1

11 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 1
Photo of Crystal B.
109
33
29

8 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

14 years ago

Helpful 5
Thanks 0
Love this 4
Oh no 0

7 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0

16 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

7 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Brad P.
76
25
1

15 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

11 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

11 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

13 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

11 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

14 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

13 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

11 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

10 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Pam K.
57
55
109

10 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

12 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

12 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

13 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Ask the Community - McDonald Theater

Review Highlights - McDonald Theater

They are in the heart of the city and there's a lot to do in downtown Eugene these days before and after a show.

Mentioned in 3 reviews

Read more highlights

Verify this business for free

People searched for Performing Arts 156 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

Verify this business

Richard E Wildish Community Theater - Nutcracker

Richard E Wildish Community Theater

(3 reviews)

$$

This was my first time coming here and it was awesome! I went to the A Very Merry Christmas Movie…read moreNight, friend choreographed three dances in it. She did such a great job! If you haven't been here I would recommend it. All of the seats have a great view

If you're considering using the Wildish Theatre for your performance or production, think twice…read more The Majestic Theatre is a far better choice, as The Wildish, even though we were doing what's called a "door deal," no rent to the theater, just splitting the take at the door, refused to split $500 in radio advertising expense, didn't put our show listing on the website until 2 weeks before the show, and only then because I pointed out it wasn't there! They insisted that they just put the show in the Caledar listing at the Register Guard and the EUGENE Weekly, and did social media marketing (though I saw none until the week of, and only on Facebook). We sold 50 tickets. We took the same show to The Majestic Theatre in Corvallis the next night. They advertised on Bicoastal Media radio Stations and got us a story, for our "Baby Boomer Comedy Show," in the local paper, and did a wonderful job of social media marketing, we sold 287 tickets (300 is a sellout). We had the same split the door deal with The Majestic, so at $18 a person, the Theatre made $2,066. The Wildish, I believe in part because the listing didn't make it to the scroll on the website until two weeks before the show (and it might not have made it then if a friend hadn't texted me and said he couldn't buy tickets), I didn't see any social media posts until a week before the show (and only on Facebook) and though we offered to split the cost of radio advertising, none was done, the Wildish netted $605, less than a third of the net for The Majestic, at $2 more per ticket. That's the second time we've brought the show to the Wildish (same lack of promotion the first time as well), and it will be our last. Not sure where the disconnect is when it comes to the Board of Directors realizing that with a "door deal" the theater has skin in the game and needs to step up and promote the show. The Majestic, operated by the City of Corvallis, gets that, in spades. If the Wildish hasn't gone out of business by the time you read this, I'd suggest finding another venue.

The Hult Center for the Performing Arts - South side of building.

The Hult Center for the Performing Arts

(55 reviews)

I ordered my tickets to the Morgan Jay show Online. It was easy to pick my seat and also receive my…read moreticket. The venue is pretty spacious and the seats were decent. I sat in Row C so I was fairly close to the front. This venue does offer some snacks as well as drinks for purchase. The drink prices were about average for when you go to a venue. There is plenty of restaurant options nearby as well as a couple hotels to stay at if you're out of town like me.

The Hult Center is Eugene's premiere fine arts venue. It's a civic venue; the bond measure approved…read moreby Eugene's voters in the 70s covered both the performing arts center and the hotel/convention center adjacent, with no federal or state funds used in building the facility. The idea was to reinvigorate the city, which for most of its existence has existed as lumber town and has, IMO, struggled a bit as it's grown and tried to reinvent over the last few decades. The grand opening took place in 1982. Nice and forward-thinking of the city, at the time fewer than 100,000 people. (I'm hoping that my mom and grandparents were amongst those giving it a 'yay' vote.) It's located in the heart of downtown Eugene. The building is interesting and quite striking in some ways. There's part of the exterior that is plain cement; I'm not sure who had this drab concrete vision for Eugene in the 60s-80s, but there were a few buildings built in this same style. It's definitely ugly and unfortunate. Luckily, I'd argue the Hult has one of the most beautiful lobbies of any building; it is fully glass, several stories tall. Its jagged peaks emulate the mountains surrounding the Willamette Valley, within which Eugene is situated. At night it simply glows and is quite beautiful. The other unique feature is in the Silva Concert Hall, the main performance space. The walls and ceiling have a basket weave design which I believe was a design to solve the problem of acoustics, since it is a multipurpose building dedicated to producing performances of all kinds: opera, musicals, orchestra, and more. It hosts non-arts events--my high school graduation was here, and I think all of Eugene's high schools still hold graduation in this ~2,500 seat hall. The Oregon Bach Festival, established at the University of Oregon by the late Helmuth Rilling and the late Royce Saltzman, is perhaps the jewel in the Hult Center crown. The Soreng Theatre is the other official performing space here, though I've been to more intimate performances that have taken place in the lobby as well. If those are some of the impressive features of the Hult Center, of course there are some downsides. One of the biggest is parking. Eugene is a city where, until the early 2000s, one of the tallest buildings was four stories, with the only skyscraper in town being the retirement center. The parking garage is not efficient in its design, and there are far too few disabled parking spots. Accessibility is another big issue; I took my mom here and dropping off in front would not have been an option because she couldn't have gotten from the street level to lobby level alone, and the only entrance from the garage was on the second floor of the parking garage (where there was insufficient disabled spots, and I'm not sure if other levels had disabled parking). These are things that I really hope their IDEA staff are considering and working to improve. There are a few resident companies here beyond the Bach Festival. They also have touring performances, such as Broadway in Eugene, bands or performers. Amongst the shows I've seen here are Seinfeld (it was like 2003, cut me some slack); Aida, as performed by the Eugene Opera; Harry Connick, Jr.; RIverdance; most recently, Hamilton. It's always a very enjoyable evening whatever I see here. I hope you get a chance to experience it soon yourself.

McDonald Theater - theater - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...