• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    the summer of sherlock and sci-fi

    12 of the hottest stage shows to catch in Houston this summer

    Tarra Gaines
    May 29, 2018 | 6:00 am

    When those Houston summers get too hot, it's a joy to head into the theatrical shade for the coolest of live local theater. And each year it seems our theater companies are offering more and more selections and genres of shows to entertain every type of drama lover. So whether you’re looking for shows that sing, a world premiere story, silly comedy or even the type of thought-provoking sci-fi you won’t see at the multiplex, Houston theater has just the production for you.

    So to get ready for four months of sizzling outstanding theater, check out our guide for all those can’t-miss shows.

    World premieres
    Wanda, Daisy and the Great Rapture from The Landing Theatre Company and Obsidian Theatre (runs through June 9)
    First presented in Houston during Landing’s 2017 New American Voices Play Reading Series, this magical realism story depicts two step-sisters struggling to remain connected with the world outside their South Carolina trailer as one parent has died and the other battles a mysterious illness. David Rainey, Landing’s artistic director and Alley company member, directs while Obsidian’s executive director Tom Stell, takes an acting turn onstage.

    Replica at Stages Theatre (runs through June 10)
    Mickey Fisher who has created several science fiction shows for television including Extant and the soon to debut Reverie brings this new scifi play to Stages. With help from a doctor/scientist, a dying woman signs on to a very experimental procedure in an attempt to hold on to her family. Spoiler hint: along with one of Houston’s dramatic favorites, John Feltch, the show stars identical twins Janna and Julie Cardia. Get $18 tickets through TodayTix here.

    The Tamarie Cooper Show: Field Trip! from Catastrophic Theatre at the MATCH (June 29-August 12)
    For some Houston theater-lovers, Cooper’s summer comedy/musical/cabaret of chaos is as much an annual tradition as Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker. This year she harks back to her early creative years when she and her crew performed on a school bus. Her fan legions have gotten too large to cram onto even a monster truck sized vehicle, so in this new show, the Catastrophic gang takes the audience on a comic metaphysical field trip, instead, to explore the meaning of life according to Tamarie.

    Musicals
    Guys & Dolls from Theatre Under the Stars (June 12-24)
    TUTS gets set to rock the boat with this new revival of the musical filled with gangsters, gamblers and the women who try to reform them. Nick DeGruccio, who last directed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights for TUTS, returns to Houston with a Latin-inspired reimagining of the 50s classic. Get $50 tickets through TodayTix here.

    Sistas: The Musical at Ensemble Theatre (June 23-July 29)
    Three sisters, their white sister-in-law and the daughter of one the sisters come together to prepare for the funeral of the family matriarch. The five women share memories, laughter and sorrow as they decide on the perfect song to celebrate their grandmother and all their lives.

    Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at Stages Theatre (July 11-September 2)
    Stages Theatre begins their 2018-2019 season in the heat of the summer with the scorching music of Johnny Cash. This musical portrait of the man in black features over two dozen Cash hits, including “I Walk The Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “Ring of Fire.”

    Mystery
    Holmes and Watson at Alley Theatre (June 22-July 22)
    Sherlock Holmes is dead, or is he? Doctor Watson sets out to discover if one of three patients at a (probably mysterious) medical asylum is his old friend and the world’s greatest detective. Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, who also wrote Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club gives us this twisty, latest addition to the Holmes mythology.

    Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at Alley Theatre (August 10-September 2)
    No long after Holmes and Watson solve their case, the Alley turns to the great dame of murder, Agatha Christie, to add even more mystery to the summer with their annual Summer Chills offering. Mousetrap, which has being running for 66 years on London’s West End, traps a group of strangers together in a boardinghouse during a snowstorm. Our guess is they won’t spend the evening having a lovely dinner followed by a restful night’s sleep.

    Comedies
    The Cake at Alley Theatre (June 1-July 1)
    Another work that Houston first discovered as part of a reading series, the Alley All New, in this case, this dramedy is cooked up by This Is Us writer/producer, Bekah Brunstettter. A bride goes back to her small hometown for her dream wedding and asks a family friend to bake the big cake. But what happens when the baker, who’s also about to compete in a reality show baking contest, objects to making a cake for a wedding with two brides? Comedy and moral quandaries are just icing on the cake of this sounds-delicious Alley offering. TodayTix has $20 mobile rush tickets through June — get them here.

    Buyer & Cellar at Main Street Theater (July 14-August 12)
    This one-man show chronicles the unlikely (and entirely fictional) friendship between Barbra Streisand and a struggling actor hired to watch over her basement filled with glorious possessions. Not-as-struggling actor Doug Atkins plays both sides of this friendship, actor/cellar curator Alex More and Queen Babs herself. Get $19 tickets through TodayTix here.

    Shakespeare
    Shakespeare in Vegas from 4th Wall Theatre (run through June 9)
    Summer always brings Shakespeare to Miller Outdoor Theatre, but to get us ready, 4th Wall gives us some comic insight into the lengths a serious Shakespearean actor will go to play all the great roles. She might even join a Vegas acting company backed by a wise guy producing the classics to honor his mother.

    Houston Shakespeare Festival at Miller Outdoor Theatre (July 27-August 5)
    Since 1975, the University of Houston School of Theatre has brought together local and nationally acclaimed artists to deliver to Houston free performances of the Bard’s greatest (and occasionally lesser known) plays. This year, the Festival will present quite the difference in tone with arguably literature’s greatest tragedy, Hamlet, and one of Shakespeare’s broadest, yet timeless comedies, the Comedy of Errors, featuring not one, but two set of identical twins for the height in mistaken identity hijinks.

    Tamarie Cooper's shows are a favorite Houston summer tradition. This year she's taking a Field Trip in the MATCH. (The cast of Tamarie for President)

    Catastrophic Theatre's Tamarie for President
      
    Photo by Anthony Rathbun
    Tamarie Cooper's shows are a favorite Houston summer tradition. This year she's taking a Field Trip in the MATCH. (The cast of Tamarie for President)
    theater
    news/arts
    series/todaytix-houston
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    Salutations, Soo Youn

    Houston Ballet principal dancer announces retirement after 13 years

    Holly Beretto
    Jun 20, 2025 | 10:00 am
    ​Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho
    Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2016). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.
    Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho and in Theme and Variations.

    Houston Ballet principal dancer Soo Youn Cho has announced her retirement, after 13 years with the company.

    For more than a decade, she has captivated audiences with her elegance, emotional authenticity, and technical brilliance. Audiences have seen her in roles such as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, among many others.

    Cho’s retirement follows a period of recovery from spinal surgery prompted by chronic back issues that intensified during and after her pregnancy.

    "This decision was not made lightly, but with a great deal of reflection and acceptance over the past year," said Cho. “Since I first began ballet at the age of four, it has been the greatest love of my life. Even through pain and injury, I felt joy and purpose in every moment. I gave my best to every step along the way, and I now leave the stage with a peaceful heart and deep gratitude.”

    Cho further said that even before becoming pregnant, she had been managing chronic back issues throughout her career.

    “With dedication, careful conditioning, and the unwavering support of those around me, I was able to continue dancing for many years,” she said. “Despite my best efforts to recover, I’ve come to the difficult realization that I won’t be able to return to dancing at the level I once did. With a heavy but full heart, I’ve decided to retire from the stage.”

    Born in Korea and trained there, as well as in Canada and Germany, Cho danced with Opera Leipzig Ballet in Leipzig, Germany and the Tulsa Ballet in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was promoted to principal in 2010. She joined the Houston Ballet in 2012 as a demi soloist. She quickly rose through the ranks, promoted to soloist in 2014, then first soloist in 2016. In 2018, she became the Houston Ballet’s first Korean principal.

    Upon achieving the designation, she said, “I feel like I have made an important mark in history, along with other great dancers, for my people in such a great company.”

    Cho’s roles onstage reflected her wide artistic range and commitment to storytelling through dance. Her Houston Ballet colleagues and audiences admire and praise the passion and sincerity she brought to every performance. One of those, Cho’s portrayal of Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, is especially close to her heart, not only for its emotional depth but for the lifelong friendship it sparked with fellow principal Yuriko Kajiya.

    “Becoming part of this Company and working alongside such extraordinary people has been one of the greatest blessings and privileges of my life. I close this chapter with a full heart and immense appreciation for the art, the audiences, and the people who made it all so meaningful.”

    Cho said that while she doesn’t yet know what will come next, she departs the company filled with gratitude.

    “Looking back, I feel nothing but gratitude,” she said. “Gratitude for the incredible colleagues and mentors I’ve shared the studio with. Gratitude for the audiences who supported us performance after performance. And gratitude for the art form itself — so demanding, so beautiful, and so deeply rewarding. I leave the stage with peace in my heart. Because I gave everything I had to this journey, I can move forward without regret.”

    \u200bHouston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho
      

    Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2016). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho and in Theme and Variations.

    houston balletsoon youn choperforming-arts
    news/arts
    series/todaytix-houston

    most read posts

    Houston loses top-10 rank in 2025 list of America's best cities

    Houston fave Frank Billingsley's house hits the market for $1.5 million

    2 Houston universities declared among world's best and more top stories

    Loading...