Mahalia Jackson Theater For The Performing Arts

This theater is easily accessible, has parking, and is small enough that there aren't any bad seats. The staff was helpful and friendly.

I absolutely loved my experience at Mahalia Jackson. I went to go see the RuPauls Drag Race Werq the World tour! The show itself was super fun but from my balcony seats the sound sounded mumbled and hard to understand (could just be based on it being a theatre not typically used to club music). Go figure! It's a big theatre so if you have far away seats (like I did) it's possible for your view to be a bit obstructed; lights cut off our view of screens above the stage. Ushers were helpful if you needed help finding your seats. I found the bathrooms up by the balconies were easy and quick to access even during intermission, so that's a bit of a life hack.

I love this theater. This is the 1st one I went to here in New Orleans. I have not had a bad seat in this house. I have been in the balcony and on the main floor, house right, left and center. Some seats near the front, you may have to strain your head a bit up, but it really is not bad. All of the employees have been friendly. Restrooms are clean, if not a bit on the small side. Parking is centrally located. Louis Armstrong park is in front so you can walk around a bit if you are early. Food and beverage are a bit on the high side price wise.

Wow. It's been 8 years since I reviewed this theater and I was an FTR back then! I must say the renovation is holding up. And they are keeping the theater looking spiffy and clean. I really like the seating configuration now, as opposed to pre-K. The sound in the theater is great. And even though I was in the cheap seats, the view was good of the stage. And I can attest that the A/C works really well because I was freezing.Will call and the ticket lobby is small, especially if folks are standing around chatting instead of taking care of business. Use a different entrance if you can. I didn't purchase any concessions this time, but the bartenders were hustling to get everyone served.-1 star because the parking lots are pretty bad. They are not well kept up AND they wanted $15 for a Sunday matinee of the opera? Nope, I'll just park on the street and walk in. If I had been leaving late at night different story and I would have paid for the safety. But really the lots need some help.

The Mahalia Jackson Theater is surprisingly nice. If it were just my experience inside, it would easily earn four stars. It's what is outside that downright sucks.Inside MJ is a classy joint, at least by NOLA standards. My most recent experience was for a dance recital which are normally absolute hell on earth for me. MJ made that hell a lot more bearable. Here is why:Seats - The seats had actual leg room. This may not be a concern for much of the general public, but it most definitely a concern for me. My knees weren't crushed into the chair in front of me and that is a super rare thing in a theater, particularly one this old.Sound/Lights - Whoever was handling the sound/lights did a fantastic job.Bathrooms - Clean and plentifulInside staff - Friendly and helpfulOutside is the complete opposite. Here is why:Location - This theater is in an awful area of the city. The parking area is surrounded by high fencing, but no one prevented random shady characters from cutting through the lot. After the show I had to try and distract my children so they wouldn't see some random guy peeing on the sidewalk and some drunken couple nearly falling into the street outside the exit as they went at it. Parking - $15! $15 American dollars? Really? That is a giant expletive deleted joke. What do I get for $15? A parking spot, lax security and that's it. At the entrance where I paid the $15 there were no less than 8 employees. 1 was taking money while the rest sat around watching.Security - No roving patrols just random dudes milling about. I asked one which way to go for rehearsal and he just grunted at me. Seriously dude? A grunt? Despite the outside stuff, I actually enjoyed the rehearsal and that is due in large point to the theater itself. I would hate everything outside, but I would be glad to attend any other event at this place.

A lovely place to watch a play or musical. So far I've seen Wicked and Dear Evan Hansen here. The theater is set right in Louis Armstrong Park. At the night, the fountain outside and chandelier really stand out and it is quite beautiful. There are snacks and drinks available for purchase during the show. For the Dear Evan Hansen show I paid $15 for parking in their lot, and it was cash only. I'm pretty sure it's like that for all events which is quite expensive when you don't have a lot of great other parking choices.

The Mahalia Jackson Theater was disappointing. The seat room was uncomfortable with a lot less leg room than most coach airplanes I have been a passenger on. The bathrooms were not clean and there were no partitions between urinals. You would think with all the smoking in the outside waiting area that the staff would let my Ozarka water bottle slide, but oh no I wasn't allowed to bring it in. I can understand that the place is a business and they need to drain there patrons' wallets as much as possible, but when the tickets as well as the parking are already priced high, the food concession lines are very long and the food and drinks are way over priced it would be nice if something like a water bottle was overlooked. On a brighter note, I went to see a stand up comedy show staring Louis CK last Thursday with my wife. His show must have been the funniest show I have ever seen live, including the late great George Carlin. He brought all new material with him and the show lasted a good hour and a half. The show was definitely 5 stars, but the venue was not!

The theater was extremely spacious. The acoustics were AMAZING. Clean bathrooms but there were no paper towels.

Wandered in on this venue quite by accident. This was a welcome surprise. The facility is impressive and laid out very well. From the performance hall to the bathrooms. Everything was well maintained and the staff was friendly and helpful. I look forward to coming back here again.

So unfortunate for those in the arts that this is such an terrible facility with awful support staff and unethical policies. My friend bought a glass of wine, a double bourbon with diet, and a bottle of water, it was $65 with tip; ridiculous? Absolutely. But alas, at least it supports the performing arts. Then, halfway through the show, one of the seating attendants comes over and takes the drinks away because "drinks are not allowed in the theatre". This includes the bottle of water!!! I asked her where is the policy that says drinks aren't allowed, she instead just takes the drinks away without saying anything further. I was flabbergasted. Now, we were not rude, we were not talking, we weren't spilling, we just paid enough for seats in a front row such that the seating person could see us; I guess that's our mistake, should have paid less. After the show, I asked the person at the front at the bar where the signage is that drinks are not allowed, she states it doesn't exist and asks who took away our drinks, and has no further help or explanation. Have you ever bought food at a restaurant and then told food wasn't allowed there? Or gone to a baseball game and bought a beer and then told to throw it away because beer is not cleanly enough? Me neither. Absolutely ridiculous. The people at the front when we checked in were relatively rude and then no one offered us a program or was able to help us in finding a seat, instead just directed us to see the seating chart and figure it out for ourselves. I would be extremely hard pressed to push myself to come back to a facility with so little regard for customer service. Hopefully they reap the consequences of their poor customer service, and the performers are able to find a more suitable performance venue where they can benefit without being unsavory to their customers.