Entertainment and Culture

PUBLISHED AUGUST 2023

On the east side of Missouri, in St. Louis, you can find the Grand Center Arts District, where all manner of performing arts—Broadway plays, classical music, ballet, and more—help that city stake its claim to artistic excellence. Not quite 250 miles to the west sits the twin-orbed shell of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, which immediately thrust that community into discussions of the world’s best venues when it opened in 2011. 

In between, you’ll find an endless array of art, history, and science museums. You’ll find pro and major-college sports, as well as some of the best championship-level collegiate sports the nation has to offer. You’ll find outstanding venues for shopping and dining, theme parks for the kids, and first-class accommodations from five-star hotels to high-end bed-and-breakfast options.

Looking for more? Check out spectacular zoos in the two major cities or botanical gardens that will dazzle and delight, ranging from Powell Gardens just outside Kansas City to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

So where to start with so many choices? Let’s begin by catching the stage. No, not that one. The performing arts stage.

A defining element of Missouri’s entertainment and culture space is the number of impressive venues. Take the one-of-a-kind Starlight Theatre, Kansas City’s premier outdoor stage venue. Or the St. Louis trifecta of the Fabulous Fox Theatre, Powell Symphony Hall, and Sheldon Concert Hall. 

Both cities boast symphonies, ballet and repertory theater troupes, and each has large-scale facilities for concerts that range from indoor venues like 18,000-seat T-Mobile Center all the way up to stadium-level seating at Arrowhead (58,000 for concerts) or the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis (66,000).

In Springfield, Missouri State University’s campus is home to the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts. And even in tiny Arrow Rock, the Lyceum Theatre and its 416 seats (about seven times the small burg’s population!) offers professional musicals, dramas, and comedies in an eight-show season.

From the black-tie venues to the black and blue of contact sports, Missouri gives fans of every stripe reason to break out the face paint on Saturdays and Sundays with its professional and collegiate sports. Coincidentally enough, those paint hues come in two colors: red and blue.

St. Louis hockey fans have the St. Louis Blues to help maintain their NHL cravings, while the Cardinals have a storied history among National League baseball franchises. The blue hue in Kansas City represents the Royals, whose ownership is dangling the prospect of a Downtown stadium to replace the 50-year-old Kauffman Stadium.

What really has Kansas City fans primed is the past decade of success by the NFL franchise, the Chiefs. Coming off a 2023 Super Bowl victory—their second title in four seasons and third trip to the title game—fans are making Arrowhead one of the toughest tickets in the league. But if you go, bring an appetite: The parking lot outside the stadium is absolutely packed with smokers and grillers who create the best tailgating atmosphere in the nation. 

The attractions aren’t all on the pro level; you’ll find NCAA Division I sports headlining the collegiate options. Those start with the University of Missouri bringing the best in college football and basketball to Columbia, roughly halfway between the state’s two big cities. 

With perennial Top 10 football teams like Alabama and Georgia making biennial visits, Mizzou has the state top of mind for college fans everywhere. At the Division II level, Northwest Missouri State is a powerhouse with six national championships in football and another in basketball, as recently as 2021.