The Paramount Theatre

Snap Judgment, the smoking-hot public radio show and podcast, returns to the Paramount this summer for live storytelling that features performances by the nation’s top storytellers. Garnering national attention for the selection of nonfiction narrative that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster, these tickets go quickly, so be sure to tune into KUT 90.5 on Sunday mornings at 11:00am to catch the radio show, and then get your tickets before they’re gone. VIP tickets include a VIP reception.

The ATX Arts Pass is an affordable, yearlong introduction to Austin’s vibrant and thriving performing arts scene. With your ATX Arts Pass, gain access to four iconic arts institutions and experience theatre, opera, ballet, and live music, all here in Austin.

Legendary artist Graham Nash is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – with Crosby, Stills, and Nash and with the Hollies. His remarkable body of work, beginning with his contributions to the Hollies opus in 1964 continues all the way to This Path Tonight (2016), his most recent solo album. Don't miss this music legend at Austin's most historic theatre.

Lead singer Kevin Russell loves nothing more than challenging people’s sensibilities while making them laugh, which he can do merely by stepping onstage alongside drummer/percussionist Keith Langford, keyboardist Winfield Cheek, and bassist Jeff Brown, plus the Tijuana Train Wreck Horns and the Shiny Soul Sisters. It might be a rent party at a trailer park, but hey, fun is fun, and that’s what Shinyribs are all about.

Singer-songwriter Darden Smith will release his first book, The Trick: Surviving A Life In Creativity in September 2018. With a combination of songs, stories and projected images from the book, Smith will be performing a show that brings The Trick to life.

Lubbock’s Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock have been friends for almost 40 years, and members of that not-really-a-band, life-of-its-own musical entity known as The Flatlanders for nearly as long. Their almost-annual fall shows at the Paramount are showcases of master songwriters at work, none more so than last year’s edition when they were joined for the first time by opening act Dan Penn, who's returning once more to open for the Panhandle legends.

Three-time Emmy nominated writer, director, producer, standup comedian, and Moontower Comedy Festival alum Neal Brennan has become a force in the comedy world. An across-the-board talent, he has collaborated with the top writers and talent in the business and worked on several popular shows. Neal is currently a writer, Creative Consultant, and on-air correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Tomás and the Library Lady is a bilingual musical, based on the beloved book about the true story of the Mexican-American author and educator Tomás Rivera, who became the first minority Chancellor in the University of California system. This inspirational production shows how reading and education — and self esteem – can make anything possible.

Boz Scaggs is in the midst of a musical renaissance. Through his recent explorations in R&B, jazz and the Great American Songbook, the versatile singer/songwriter/guitarist has created a highly personal, unfailingly soulful modern repertoire. The latest edition, ‘Out of the Blues,’ finds Scaggs – born in Ohio, raised in Texas and Oklahoma – reconnecting with his earliest musical and regional influences.

Moontower Comedy Festival alum Tom Papa is one of the top comedic voices in the country finding success in film, TV, radio, podcasts as well as on the live stage. His credits include Live from Here, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan, Come to Papa, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Inside Amy Schumer, and many more. He also just released his first book, Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas.

At long last, the Capitol Steps are steps from the Capitol! They began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them. Taken together the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience. Since they began, the Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums, including their latest, Orange Is the New Barack. They’ve been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS, and can be heard twice a year on NPR stations nationwide during their Politics Takes a Holiday radio specials.

As any fan of the Hubbard canon knows, the devil pops up in his songs a lot — nearly as often as all of Hubbard’s wise-cracking blackbirds, lyrical and musical nods to Lightnin’ Hopkins, bad-ass women, and a myriad of other grifters, ruffians, and scrappy cats of the gnarly and general lowdown variety. He’s now even worked his way up to top billing on the acclaimed songwriter’s latest, Tell the Devil I’m Getting There as Fast as I Can, another modern classic from the iconic Texas outlaw, and we look forward to hearing highlights from his whole career at another edition of his annual birthday bash at Paramount.

Potted Potter takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books (and a real-life game of Quidditch) into seventy hilarious minutes. The world’s only Harry Potter parody has garnered rave reviews from New York to Nashville, Chicago to Mexico City and Critics’ Picks from the New York Times, New York Magazine, Time Out London, Boston Globe, Chicago Daily Herald and the New York Post! Even if you don’t know the difference between a Horcrux and a Hufflepuff, Potted Potter will make you roar with laughter. This brilliant family entertainment is perfect for ages six to Dumbledore (who is very old indeed).

Every holiday season, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis brings this Grammy Award–winning holiday extravaganza to venues across the country, and we are thrilled to have them back at the Paramount after many years. With soulful big band arrangements of songs both sacred and secular, Big Band Holidays is an uplifting tradition enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Comedian Bassem Youssef, dubbed the Jon Stewart of the Arab World, was the host of popular TV show AlBernameg – which was the first of its kind political satire show in the Middle East. Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2013, the physician turned comedian and critic now lives in the United States where he continues to shine a light on global issues with thoughtful, hilarious commentary.

Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life. He’s also one of the editors of the podcasts Serial and S-Town. Over the years, he worked on nearly every NPR network news program and held virtually every production job in NPR’s Washington headquarters. On this tour, you can expect this talented journalist to speak on any number of topics, from education to pop culture to politics.

A perennial favorite of Paramount audiences, The Moth Mainstage is their flagship program. It features true, personal stories by luminaries in the arts and sciences, as well as an astronaut, an undertaker, a voodoo priestess and a retired NYPD detective, among many others. Each show features five carefully selected storytellers who develop and shape their stories with The Moth’s directors.

It’s a bonafide Paramount holiday tradition. Last year’s sold-out Christmas bash featured a knockout guest performance from Jack Ingram, and you can bet Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison will outdo themselves with this year’s show. The singer-songwriter husband-and-wife duo will perform songs from their Christmas album, Happy Holidays, holiday-themed classics, and more!

Since the early 1970s, Murphey has left an indelible mark on the American Music Landscape crafting and recording iconic hits. In the process, he has topped the pop, country, bluegrass and western music charts, earned six gold albums and multiple Grammy nominations. His Cowboy Christmas shows are beloved annual events, and we are honored that he chose the Paramount to celebrate 25 years of this holiday tradition in Austin.

Based on the timeless tales of Vasilisa the Beautiful from Russia and the Grimm Brother’s Hansel and Gretel, comes the new musical Gretel! Theatre Heroes, one of Austin’s most exciting emergent companies, surrounds the story with innovative projected scenic elements and exceptional local actors and musicians.

Terry Allen has been joined by an all-star band for big shows at the Paramount the last two years running. We don’t know what he has in store for us this time, but we know it will be great. The renowned songwriter and visual artist from Lubbock has a whole lot of classic albums to draw from (and a whole lot of talented friends to join him onstage).

Austinite Ruthie Foster has a résumé like no one else. And with the release of her latest album, Joy Comes Back, the Recording Academy might want to put its engraver on notice. Because every note on it confirms this truth: It’s Ruthie’s time. Last time she played the Paramount was for a near-capacity crowd at her last album release show. We can’t wait to see what she has in store for us this time.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show leaps off the page and onto the stage in a new critically acclaimed production featuring a menagerie of 75 charming puppets, faithfully adapting four Eric Carle stories: Brown Bear, Brown Bear; 10 Little Rubber Ducks; The Very Lonely Firefly; and of course, the star of the show – The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

ABBA MANIA gives you exactly what you are looking for: two hours of uplifting, dance inducing and sometimes heart-breaking songs, fully live with fantastic staging, lighting and effects. The show recreates ABBA’s sound not only perfectly, but respectfully too. ABBA MANIA is not only for life long, die hard ABBA fans but the new generation of fans, who never had the opportunity to see ‘ABBA’ live.

Before she was a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, and animal activist, Dr. Jane Goodall was a little girl with a very special toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. Together, Jane and Jubilee went on outdoor adventures and observed all the miracles of nature around them. With anecdotes taken directly from Jane Goodall’s autobiography, this adaptation makes this very true story accessible for the very young—and young at heart.

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is the master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers addressing the human condition, especially apparent in his latest book, a collection of his diaries entitled Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002).