Houston NY Eve

Insider's Guide to big New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Houston: Fireworks and free performances

After a two-year hiatus, a big New Year's Eve celebration, complete with a midnight fireworks display and lots of entertainment, is headed back to downtown Houston — in a new location, with the B-52s and Houston-based Tontons as featured attractions.

Other events — all free — will take place inside the Alley and Wortham Center theaters throughout the evening, beginning at 7 pm. They range from a production of SantaLand Diaries to a Broadway Sing-A-Long, and performances by magician Curt Miller, percussionist and bandleader Pedrito Martinez and smooth jazz Bobby Lyle Trio. (See full schedule below.)

Also on tap is an early New Year’s kid-friendly celebration in the Family Zone on Jones Plaza filled with dancing, games, activities and costumed characters.

Grown-ups can toast the end of the year in the Bubbly Garden with room for dancing and a lounge area. The B-52s, affectionately known as the "world's greatest party band" with such dance hits as "Love Shack" and "Deadbeat Club," perform at 10:35 pm on a special outdoor stage constructed on Smith and Capitol streets in the Theatre District, leading to the midnight fireworks celebration from atop Jones Hall. The Tontons will perform from 9:15-10:15 pm.

Food and beverage booths will sell traditional "good luck" food and hot cocoa, coffee and cider, as well as beer, wine and champagne. Parking is available in garages underneath the Theater District buildings.

New tradition

The event revives a burgeoning New Year's Eve tradition that developed when Gloworama was launched at Discovery Green to welcome in 2010 with neon-decorated art cars and a spectacular light show. The event morphed into an event called New Year's Eve Live and organizers hoped to make it an annual family-style blowout as the Bayou City version of New York's big annual celebration in Times Square.

But in late 2013, the annual event was canceled due to a lack of sponsors. Insiders say that Mayor Annise Parker lobbied for the return of the signature downtown happening as one of her last achievements before leaving office. (Mayor-elect Sylvester Turner will be inaugurated on January 4 in Jones Hall). Houston First stepped in to sponsor the celebration.

Other sponsors include the city of Houston, the Houston Downtown Management District, the Houston Theater District and the Houston Chronicle. The event is produced by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.

“Houston has lots to celebrate and what an extraordinary way to begin a new chapter for this tradition," Parker said in a statement.

Online contest

In conjuction with the big event, sponsors are conducting an online contest, with a chance to win a Theater District experience, which includes overnight accommodations at The Lancaster Hotel, a $100 gift card to the Hard Rock Cafe and four tickets to the Theater Under The Stars production of Mary Poppins.

Entries, which can be made online at www.houstontxgov.nye/contest.html, must be received by Wednesday (December 30) at 5 pm. The drawing will be held on Thursday (December 31) after the 7:45 pm performance of the Curt Miller Magic Show at Wortham Center. The winner must be present at the drawing.

Live options

Because there is so much construction work around Discovery Green, with a giant new Marriott Marquis hotel aiming to open before the 2017 Super Bowl, as well as renovations to the George R. Brown Convention Center, organizers decided to move the celebration to the Theater District and take advantage of the facilities to present live performances in some of the buildings throughout the evening. They include:

7 - 7:45 pm
Cullen Theater, Wortham Center
Curt Miller Magic Show

7 – 9 pm
Hard Rock Café
Kristal Cherelle & Will Makar
Strolling Entertainment
New Orleans Hustlers Brass Band & Glow Go Dancers

7 - 9 pm
Kids Plaza, Jones Plaza
DJ Johnny J, Arcade, Face Painters, Fortune Teller, Red Door Productions Dancers, LunchBox Dance Crew, Balloon Artist
*Special Kids Countdown – 9 p.m.

7:30 - 8:30 pm
Alley, Neuhaus Theatre
SantaLand Diaries (Mature Audiences Only)

Brown Theater, Wortham Center
Broadway Sing-A-Long I

8 - 9:30 pm
Alley, Hubbard Theatre
Pedrito Martinez

9 – 10:15 pm
Cullen Theater, Wortham Center
Bobby Lyle Trio

9:15 - 10:15 pm
Main Stage, corner of Smith and Texas
The Tontons

9:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Brown Theater, Wortham Center
Broadway Sing-A-Long II

10:35 - 11:58 pm
Main Stage, corner of Smith and Texas
The B-52s

Todd Waite stars in The SantaLand Diaries at the Alley Theater at 7:30 pm on New Year's Eve.

Photo courtesy of Alley Theatre

Todd Waite stars in The SantaLand Diaries at the Alley Theater at 7:30 pm on New Year's Eve.

concerts festivals

Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features

Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

---

The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

movies film

Houston NY Eve

Insider's Guide to big New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Houston: Fireworks and free performances

Todd Waite stars in The SantaLand Diaries at the Alley Theater at 7:30 pm on New Year's Eve.

'Famous' Bronx-based pizza chain fires up 3 Houston locations

Texas Monthly's BBQ Snob dishes on the magazine's new top 50 list

Houston haunt earns only Texas spot on Bon Appètit best new bars list

Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme