Maine Performs

When you're ready to be entertained, Maine delivers with a bang. The difficulty isn't in finding live entertainment, it's in choosing between the many options available. You might:

savor a symphony in the mountains or on the coast, listen to top blues musicians perform in a harbor park, or attend a noontime pipe-organ concert in a church;

celebrate silliness at an L.L. Bean family show, attend a reading by a nationally renowned author, or hop a schooner to enjoy traditional entertainment;

listen to professional chamber music in an acoustically perfect hall, indulge a passion for new music at a top summer music festival in a historic opera house, or appreciate the next generation of musicians at a lakeside amphitheater.

It doesn't stop there. You might:

attend a professional opera, a choral concert, or a fully staged musical;

watch professional theater, including Shakespeare in Cumston Hall in Monmouth, Agatha Christie performed in a city theater, a festival of new plays in Bangor, or Vaudeville-inspired performances in a renovated rural barn;

kick up your heels at a contra dance, revel in classic ballet, or watch new forms of modern dance.

sip wine or coffee while a musician or singer-songwriter performs, dine while being served by waiters and waitresses who become entertainers at meal's end, or picnic while a band plays favorites on the town green.

Can't make up your mind? Fairs and festivals provide a blend of entertainment. Feast at blueberry, oyster or lobster festivals, while listening to bands; discover ethnic specialties at Acadian, Swedish, and Franco-American celebrations; dance with giant puppets at street fairs; listen to bluegrass or rock or try a traditional Scottish game while camping.