Le Chat Noir

Le Chat Noir is a gem of a small theater. Intimate, good sight lines, good acting, cool bar, lots of fun.

As far as a place to attend an Event goes, you can’t beat the intimacy of a Concert, Movie, Musical or Play at Le Chat Noir. A great, 100ish seat theatre with a fantastic lobby which makes it good for almost any type of Performance or Gathering.
There is Improvisational Comedy, Burlesque Shows, Non-​Musical Plays, Musicals, Movies (sometimes FREE movies!!), Concerts, Parties, and even a Live Drawing Event. You can purchase drinks at the bar, sometimes the events will have drink specials and sometimes even food!
Check the website to get on the e-​mail list for events, or just drop by sometime if you see the lights on while you’re downtown and pick up a Season Flyer.

My review of Le Chat Noir will be short because it’s not completely relevant. I visited Le Chat Noir for a party. This was an after-​party for an event I’d attended earlier that day. The space is dark, but in a good way. The décor is nice. When you enter you see a huge crooked mirror behind the bar, which was pretty cool. I haven’t seen anything like it. The bar tender was nice and made really great drinks. I had Mai Tai cocktail served in a mason jar and I loved it. I’m not sure if the venue provided the food, but it was good. I especially like the strawberry shortcake. The space has comfortable bar seating and seating throughout. There is also an outdoor area with tables. This is a performing arts venue, so there is a theatre inside, which is nice. I have yet to visit for a performance, but I intend to in the near future. Once I’ve witnessed a performance, I’ll have a more comprehensive report.

Saw Avenue Q here — loved the play. The actors were very good, great performances and singing.
It was opening night, so perhaps the problems can be blamed on that. Theater was very hot — a girl in front of us obviously got sick from sitting in the heat and left partway through the first act. Several others left at intermission because of the heat — which was actually OK for us because we were then able to see the stage better. I heard they reconfigured the stage and perhaps added too many people, making it hard to see and changing the dynamics of the seating. I also didn’t get the seats I thought I was supposed to get. On the phone, I was told I would be in row 4, but ended up in row 7.
Nice bar and lounge area for before the show and at intermission. The performers came out after the show and mingled for awhile, which was nice.
Limited hours for box office, but when I called at 5 PM on Wednesday, I was prompted to leave a message and I did receive a call back to make the purchase over the telephone. Seating chart online is not same as configured for the play.
Still, I like the size of the theater because the audience and characters were very close. The musicians were wonderful and Avenue Q was Avenue Q – which I would sit though in some pretty terrible conditions to see.