Darren Criss opens the Plaza Theatre's 90th year

The Tony winner plays the restored Palm Springs landmark on Tuesday, Dec. 1, a year to the day after its reopening night.

One year ago, on Dec. 1, 2025, the Plaza Theatre on South Palm Canyon Drive held its first show in more than a decade. Cynthia Erivo performed that night, after a $30 million restoration. This year the same date starts something bigger.

Darren Criss plays the Plaza Theatre, 128 S. Palm Canyon Dr., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026, at 7 p.m. NBC Palm Springs reports the concert opens the theater's 90th-anniversary celebration. According to its report, tickets went on sale last Friday, Oct. 23, at 10 a.m. through the Plaza Theatre's website, and the show is also listed on Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster offers valet parking at Hotel Zoso and pre-show dinner packages at FARM, Lulu California Bistro and Clandestino. For a Tuesday downtown in December, those add-ons are worth a look.

Criss arrives as a Broadway headliner. He won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Oliver in Maybe Happy Ending, and as a co-producer he shared in the show's Best Musical win. In the spring he announced the 2026 Tony nominations with Uzo Aduba. His concerts this year have covered his whole career: a Wilmington, Del., venue described his spring show as fan favorites spanning Glee, his StarKid beginnings and his Broadway work. His tour presale page lists a Nov. 14 date at the Curran in San Francisco two weeks before Palm Springs.

The Plaza opened on Dec. 12, 1936, with the world premiere of Garbo's Camille.

The room has a long history. The Plaza opened on Dec. 12, 1936, with the world premiere of MGM's Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. Architect Harry J. Williams designed it. Over the decades it hosted radio broadcasts and was home to the long-running Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. Then it fell into disrepair and closed in 2014.

The Plaza Theatre Foundation formed in 2019 to bring it back. It broke ground in 2024, raised public and private money for a project NBC Palm Springs put at $30 million, and cut the ribbon on Nov. 21, 2025. In January the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since reopening, the Plaza has also become home to the Palm Springs Symphony as its symphony-in-residence.

The calendar makes the anniversary feel real. The theater's own listings show a holiday concert on Dec. 22 and a White Christmas sing-along on Christmas Eve. Criss's night on Dec. 1 opens the season, eleven days before the building turns 90.

Criss's usual headline rooms hold about 1,300 people. A night in a restored 1930s movie palace on Palm Canyon is a different kind of show for a performer who came up through Glee and StarKid and now holds a Tony.

Downtown has waited a long time for the Plaza to be full again. On Dec. 1 the building that premiered Camille gets a Broadway star to start its 90th year. Go if you can.

Sources: NBC Palm Springs – Darren Criss to perform at Palm Springs Plaza Theatre for 90th anniversary (nbcpalmsprings.com); The Plaza Theatre – Home (palmspringsplazatheatre.com); The Plaza Theatre – About (palmspringsplazatheatre.com); The Plaza Theatre – Palm Springs Symphony named symphony-in-residence (palmspringsplazatheatre.com); The Plaza Theatre – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (palmspringsplazatheatre.com); The Plaza Theatre – White Christmas Sing-a-Long (palmspringsplazatheatre.com); Ticketmaster – Darren Criss, Plaza Theatre, Palm Springs, Dec 1, 2026 (ticketmaster.com); NBC Palm Springs – Historic Plaza Theatre nears grand reopening after $30 million restoration (nbcpalmsprings.com); KESQ – Plaza Theatre listed on the National Register of Historic Places (kesq.com); Tony Awards – Maybe Happy Ending (tonyawards.com); Tony Awards – 2026 nominations announced (tonyawards.com); Visit Wilmington – Darren Criss brings his new concert tour to Wilmington (visitwilmingtonde.com); Darren Criss – Tour dates (presale) (presale.darrencriss.com)