Concerts and Theater

printer iconPrintemail iconEmailfavorites iconSave to Favorites
Trip Ideas

    * Where to Go
    * The Best of Panama
    * The Panama Canal in a Day (or Two)
    * Panama History 101
    * Panama’s Mild Wild Side
    * Panama’s Best Birdwatching
    * Panama City’s Gay Nightlife
    * Panama Jungle Hiking Adventure
    * Being Green in Panama
    * Bocas, Boquete, and the Big Ditch


Amador’s glitzy Panama Canal Village (tel. 314-1414) contains the Figali Convention Center, Panama’s largest venue for extravaganzas. It hosts major international rock and pop acts—ones that have gotten local fans revved up in the last few years include the Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Paulina Rubio, and the Jonas Brothers.

Teatro Balboa (tel. 228-0327), an aging former movie house off Stevens Circle in the heart of the Canal Zone townsite of Balboa, hosts concerts and the occasional play and special event.

The Theatre Guild of Ancon (tel. 212-0060, www.anconguild.com) is the only English-language playhouse in the country. It somehow survived the demise of the Canal Zone’s once-thriving community-theater scene and still puts on the occasional play. The rickety old wooden playhouse is next to the police station at the base of Cerro Ancón, just off Avenida Frangipani and Manzanillo Place. A bit of Hollywood gossip: Jennifer Aniston’s dad, John Aniston, was an actor at the theater in the 1950s.