A historic theater dinner buffet restaurant has announced the permanent closure of its Newport location. After more than four decades of service, The Newport Playhouse and Cabaret Restaurant will serve its final dinner at the end of 2026.
Newport Playhouse to Close at the End of 2026
Located at 102 JT Connell Highway in Newport, the restaurant is a family-run dinner theater venue. The Newport Playhouse and Cabaret Restaurant is well-known for serving a great buffet, a live theater play experience, and a humorous cabaret finale.
In an August 19 Instagram post, playhouse president Jonathan Perry announced the closure. The final day of service will be December 31, 2026, ending 43 years of operation.
Jonathan Perry, president of The Newport Playhouse & Cabaret Restaurant, thanked the community and said, “To our customers, employees, actors, musicians, directors, technicians, and everyone who became part of this family: thank you. There would never have been a Newport Playhouse without you.”
Reflecting on its journey and the hard times theater faced, Perry added, “Through floods, equipment failures, renovations, changing times, and even a worldwide pandemic, somehow ‘The Little Theater That Could’ kept going.”
The restaurant did not share any official reason for its closure decision.
A Legacy Built Over 40 Years
Established in 1983, the playhouse has operated in Newport for more than four decades. The Newport Playhouse and Cabaret Restaurant built its reputation by featuring a great buffet, followed by a wonderful play and fun-filled cabaret.
The playhouse offers a hearty buffet experience of home-cooked meals that are prepared in-house. It offers large portions of quality selections of a variety of main entrees, side dishes, fresh-baked breads, beverages, and desserts. The playhouse also has a full-service bar; customers can enjoy drinks at their table or at the comfortable bar.
Perry mentioned that over the years of its operation, they have built hundreds of sets and “presented thousands of performances, wrote thousands of cabaret skits, and probably rolled millions of meatballs.”
The team encouraged the community to visit the play during its final months of operation. “We still have several months of performances ahead of us, audiences to entertain, stories to tell, and laughter to fill this building,” said the playhouse.
The closure of The Newport Playhouse and Cabaret Restaurant will be a significant loss for the Newport community.
