Newport Performing Arts Theater Night: Dinner, Show, Whisky

A night at the Newport Performing Arts Theater runs on its curtain: shows are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM. Eat before at Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill or El Calle Food and Music Hall, and end at The Whisky Library on the second floor of the Grand Wing, all inside Newport World Resorts.

The show times

• Fridays and Saturdays: 8 PM.
• Sundays: 3 PM.
• Size: 1,710 seats.
• Cost: ₱1,500 and up a head for the night.

The theatre opens when something is on, and the programme says what is playing and what a seat costs. Buy the tickets first, from the theatre's own programme, and build the rest of the night after the date is fixed.

Dinner before an 8 PM curtain

Two places at Newport World Resorts set different tones.

Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill is known for beef Wellington and is on the Michelin Selected list. It costs ₱1,500 and up a head. This is the dinner that makes the night an occasion. Book it early enough: a table at about 5:30 PM leaves two unhurried hours for dinner before an 8 PM curtain.

El Calle Food and Music Hall is a food and music hall with live music, also at ₱1,500 and up a head. It is the looser choice. A hall suits a couple who cannot agree on what to eat, and the music fills the gap if the table goes quiet before the show.

Newport is walkable inside, but allow a margin between the bill and your seats.

After the show: whisky

The Whisky Library has more than 240 whiskies and sits on the second floor of the Grand Wing. A list that long is its own entertainment. Ask for something neither of you has tried and share two different pours.

Newport keeps late hours: a 2 AM close applies to the food and music hall, the whisky bar, or both. Check the whisky bar's closing time on the day before promising anyone a long nightcap.

The food and music hall is the other way to end the night, with live music where the whisky bar has a bottle list.

The Sunday matinee version

A 3 PM curtain turns the plan around.

1. Late lunch or coffee beforehand, kept light.
2. The 3 PM show.
3. Dinner after, at whichever of the two restaurants was not lunch. The beef Wellington table suits this slot, since there is no curtain to watch the clock for.
4. One whisky, and home at a sensible hour for a Sunday.

This is the better version for a first theatre date, or for anyone with work on Monday.

Cost, travel and the other theatre

Everything at Newport costs ₱1,500 and up a head: the theatre, both places to eat and the bar. A night at the resorts typically runs ₱2,500 to ₱6,000 a head or more.

Ways to bring it down without losing the night:

• Make it one whisky after the show.
• Take the matinee and have a single meal.

On travel: Newport is its own complex, and it is a ride from MOA, from Entertainment City and from the CCP Complex. Do not plan a sunset at MOA at 6 PM and a curtain here at 8 PM without leaving time for the road.

Check which theatre is on the ticket. The Theatre at Solaire is a different stage, for Broadway tours, concerts and ballet, at Solaire in Entertainment City, Parañaque. The two are not interchangeable and not walkable from each other.

A theatre night that is live now

The planner covers Cubao now, and the Pasay Bay Area is next; see the areas page. Cubao has its own show night at New Frontier Theater, a 2,325-seat theatre for concerts and fan meets, planned in the Cubao theatre night out.

For a free show on this side of the bay, see the Okada fountain show date. For more evenings, start at date ideas in Manila.

The planner covers Cubao now. Pasay Bay Area is next, and this post is written from the same kind of checked list.