If you’re in need of a little culture, look no further than a little section of town on Pearl Street.

Katie, our digital audience specialist and myself decided to spend a night out in Buffalo’s theater district. We grabbed a pre-show dinner at Encore, conveniently located across the street from Shea’s where our night would eventually take us.

Both fans of Broadway shows, we were really looking forward to Billy Elliot which is running at Shea’s until Sunday. Billy Elliot tells the story of a young boy trying to follow his unexpected dream to be a dancer, set in a small town in England. Tickets are still available for the rest of the week’s performances and more information on the show can be found at Shea’s website. 

Take a look at some photos from dinner at Encore below.

The lipstick martini and the stilleto martini were great choices to start off our pre-show meal. Both were fruity and refreshing.

We split the spinach and artichoke plate as an appetizer which included toasted bread instead of the tortilla chips were we expecting.

The Blue Crab roll was my entree for the night, complete with tasty crab on top of the eight pieces of sushi.

Her go-to favorite, Katie chose the Lobster Roll off the menu, and we were treated to five humongous pieces of sushi to share.

Then it was time for the show! We found our seats at Shea’s and were thrilled to be taking in a night at the theater.

Overall, the performance of Billy Elliot was incredible. Having been a dancer myself for a good 18 years, I was in awe of the skill and talent by Ben Cook, the young actor playing the title role on Tuesday night. His accent, stage presence and dancing was unlike I had ever seen from a 14 year old boy.

Some of our favorite musical numbers included “Shine” which included a whole company of young ballet girls, “We’d Go Dancing” which provided a comedic look at Billy’s Grandma’s life and “Company Celebration” which was a finale number of sorts that really showed off the company’s dancing talents.

A night out in Buffalo’s theater district is a must when it comes to fall and winter events this season. For more information on upcoming shows and performances at Shea’s, head over to their official website.