welcome home, tuts

Houston's musical theater masters showcase dynamic new can't-miss season

With Broadway scheduled to reopen in September, Houston’s own major musical producer, Theatre Under the Stars, has just announced its revised 2021-2022 lineup. The Homecoming season will bring their audiences back to the Hobby Center for the first time in over a year.

For those who had already signed up for the motley crew season of ’80s rockers, sea creatures, and hospitable singing Canadians don’t worry, many of the dazzling shows that were scheduled for last year have been moved to the coming season.

Due to delays in its New York opening, the pre-Broadway tour of the 1776 revival will not make it to Houston, so as a musical treat, TUTS has added the fan favorite addition, Jersey Boys who will be working their way back to us next spring.

“With increased access to vaccinations, we are feeling confident that we’ll be able to launch our season this October,” describes TUTS artistic director Dan Knechtges in a statement about the revised lineup and coming season. “We’re also thrilled to offer Houston audiences the true-life musical phenomenon, Jersey Boys. This is a show we often get requests for, and we’re excited to include it in this celebratory season.”

So for those who never stopped believing TUTS would be back, this season’s for you.

Rock of Ages (October 5 - 17)
There’s jukebox musicals and then there’s Rock of Ages. This ’80s nostalgia love story between a LA rockstar wannabe and starry eyed Kansas girl lets all the fun melodrama loose to the music and lyrics of REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar , Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Styx, and Journey.

Jessica Hartman, who has designed the choreography for several recent TUTS shows will choreograph and direct this one.

Sister Act (November 2-14)
Based on the blockbuster Whoopi Goldberg film, Dan Knechtges will direct and choreograph this musical based on the blockbuster Whoopi Goldberg film, a TUTS premiere.

Houston’s own Simone Gundy (NBC’s The Voice , TUTS Memphis) gets into a TUTS habit as Sister Mary Clarence, a.k.a nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, who must go into divine witness protection after witnessing a murder. She soon finds the music spirit as part of the convent choir.

Disney’s Little Mermaid (December 7-24)
Take a dive under the seas for the holidays with this revival of the Disney Broadway favorite with music by eight-time Academy Award winner, Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater.

Mermaid Ariel gains legs but loses her voice to seek out new life and love on land. We don’t have to wait for the rumored live action on the screen version when we can have real live singing and dancing action on the Hobby stage in front of us.

South Pacific (February 8-20)
Winning a Pulitzer and 10 Tony’s in its time, the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic finds new audiences with each revival. The songs like “Younger Than Springtime” and “Some Enchanted Evening” continue to entice, while each generation can discover new nuances and meaning in this World War II story of prejudice, war, sacrifice, and love.

Come From Away (March 22-April 3)
This touring production of the award winning show about singular acts of kindness and connection will likely have new resonance after this past year of anxiety and isolation for many. Come From Away reveals the true story of what happened to some of the planes head to the U.S from Europe on 9/11 as they’re forced to land in Canada’s eastern-most province.

The stranded passengers find hospitality and songs from small town Newfoundlanders. All of the characters are based on real individuals, including Dallas-based Beverley Bass, the first female American Airlines captain.

Jersey Boys (May 10-22)
The boys are back in town next spring, as TUTS invites the touring Broadway favorite for a stay.

Houston musical lovers are always ready to relive the dramatic behind-the-music story of the early days and rise of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in a show that also features all their hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Oh What A Night,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “Working My Way Back To You.”

“Our incredible subscribers have hung in with us through so many ups and downs over the last year, and we cannot wait to bring them back to the theatre with this amazing season,” said Knechtges.

Houston’s own Simone Gundy gets into a new habit as Sister Mary Clarence in the TUTS production of "Sister Act."

Theatre Under the Stars presents Sister Act

Photo by Laura Hagen

Houston’s own Simone Gundy gets into a new habit as Sister Mary Clarence in the TUTS production of "Sister Act."

theater

MFAH will host two impressive American art exhibits this fall

Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Winslow Homer, Children Playing Under a Gloucester Wharf, 1880.

Houston art lovers can get a glimpse of a couple of impressive exhibits this fall at the MFAH. One is from a private Texas collection of American modernist paintings. The other is a collection of rarely seen Winslow Homer watercolors from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Opening October 25, American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection marks the first exhibition drawn from the renowned private collection of Texas philanthropist Charles Butt. With some 80 works, including by such iconic artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, and Jacob Lawrence, this landmark presentation highlights a deeply personal collecting vision, offering a fresh perspective on American modernism and illuminating key movements and artistic voices that shaped the course of 20th-century art.

The exhibit’s sections reflect Charles Butt’s lifelong passions, which span a love for the sea, developed over Butt’s childhood spent in Corpus Christi, as well as works showcasing how landscape shaped America’s response to modernism, and how artists subverted landscape conventions to chart more personal journeys. A special section in the Houston presentation will be devoted to seven visionary watercolors by Charles Burchfield.

“Charles Butt is widely known in Texas for his philanthropy and abiding commitment to education,” Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, said in a statement. “Less known, until now, is his discerning eye and passion for American art, as expressed by some of our most accomplished artists in the 20th century. We are pleased to host his distinguished group of American modernist paintings in Houston, and grateful to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art for organizing the exhibition and this statewide Tour.”

The exhibit runs through January 18, 2027.

Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston opens November 1. This is a once-in-a-generation exhibition showcasing the watercolors of this quintessential New England artist, who captured the fleeting effects of light, atmosphere, and landscape on daily life in America during the transformative decades of the late 19th century. Houston is the only travel venue for this exhibition, following its debut last fall in Boston. The exhibit runs through February 7, 2027 and includes 50 watercolors by the artist, alongside a selection of his oils, drawings, and prints.

“We are thrilled that our colleagues in Boston have consented to share with us their definitive collection of works by Winslow Homer,” said Tinterow. “The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is not only one of the world’s premier art museums, but the longtime steward of the singular legacy of Winslow Homer. As a quintessential New England artist, Homer — much like his exact contemporary Mark Twain — captured life in America as it transformed from an agrarian economy to an industrial powerhouse. Because Homer's light-sensitive works on paper are normally kept in dark storage, this exhibition provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see Homer's vision of our country, made visible only in Houston on the occasion of the nation’s semiquincentennial.”

Museum goers will find the exhibit organized chronologically, focusing on major chapters in Homer’s life. The arc demonstrates his evolution as an artist, capturing his fascination with the world around him. Paintings include Leaping Trout, from 1889, his first watercolor to be purchased by any museum, and Driftwood, his last watercolor.

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and originally apprenticed to a print shop, Homer covered the Civil War for Harper’s Weekly as an artist. Working in watercolor in the 1870s, he traveled through the Adirondacks, Massachusetts, Florida, and the Caribbean. He died in 1910, having spent the last decades of his life painting and working in Maine.

These two exhibitions are presented in conjunction with America 250 marking the semiquincentennial of America’s founding with a roster of more than 70 artworks from across its campus and collections that speak to the American experience.

Winslow Homer, Children Playing Under a Gloucester Wharf, 1880.

museums museum of fine arts houston visual-art openings

welcome home, tuts

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