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    best january theater

    Houston's 10 must-see stage shows for January kick off a lively 2020

    Tarra Gaines
    Jan 3, 2020 | 10:45 am

    And we’re off.

    While we still might be remembering those excellent (and weird) live stage moments from 2019, Houston theater companies and presenters have already boxed up the ever-greenery, Santa beards, and Victorian hats of the December holiday shows to make way for a January filled with new Broadway musicals, innovative contemporary plays, and oh, yeah, the grand opening of Stages’ three theater space Gordy Campus.

    So if you’re ringing in 2020 with a resolution to see more live theater, here’s some of the best drama, comedies and musicals to try this month.

    The Color Purple presented by Society for the Performing Arts at Hobby Center (January 3 and 4)
    The Tony-winning revival of the Alice Walker contemporary classic novel turned Oscar winning film comes back to town. The John Doyle-directed revival strips down the show to focus on the jazz, gospel, ragtime, and blues-influenced score as it follows the emotional and spiritual journey of hero Celie — as she loses everything, and through love and perseverance becomes the ultimate survivor.

    Hello, Dolly! presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (January 7-12)
    American theater’s greatest matchmaker, the irrepressible Dolly Gallagher Levi, heads into town to find love for everyone, including herself. Will she land the curmudgeon millionaire Horace Vandergelder while benignly meddling in everyone else’s love life before the hijinks ends? We’ll bet a chorus of high-kicking waiters on it. Theater lovers just lost Hello, Dolly composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, so a night with Dolly might just be perfect celebratory wake for the musical theater giant.

    Hamlet at Main Street Theater (January 9-19)
    Prague Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Guy Roberts, a special guest on the MST stage for many seasons, takes on the role of director, actor, and adaptor for this unique take on arguably Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy. This one-man, 90-minute Hamlet uses the original text but offers only the events in the play that the justly melancholy Prince experiences himself. Hamlet, solely from Hamlet’s perspective, gives audiences new insights into the psychology and dynamics of one of theater’s most fascinating characters.

    Samuel Beckett’s Ladies Night presented by Mildred’s Umbrella at Rec Room (January 9-18)
    Check out a very different kind of ladies night, as Mildred’s presents this collection of four Beckett short plays rarely performed together but all focused on women: Not I, Rockaby, Come and Go, and Footfalls. Some of Houston’s fave actress — including Carolyn Johnson, Jenna Morris, Whitney Zangarine, Sally Burtenshaw, Arianna Bermudez, Callina Anderson, and Katherine Rinaldi — will be there to get their Beckett on.

    The Realistic Joneses from 4th Wall Theatre at Studio 101 (January 17-February 8)
    The strange plots, awkward and sometimes hilarious dialogue, and resonating emotional cores of Will Eno’s plays have become a favorite of many Houston companies when looking to go beyond the traditional. In one of his more realistic, but still surprising works, married 4th Wall founders Kim Tobin-Lehl and Philip Lehl play one-half of the Jones couples of the title. The production brings in New York television and theater star, Mr. Robot’s Vaishnavi Sharma, plus long-time Houston fav for quirky and nuanced roles Drake Simpson, to play the second set of Joneses, in this show about life, death and nosey neighbors.

    Alley All New at the Alley Theatre (January 16-26)
    The fifth-annual new play festival gives Houston audiences a fascinating, and absolutely free, look into the artistic process and sneak peek into what may well be the next big plays every theater wants to produce. These reading and workshop performances allow some of the most innovative and up and coming contemporary playwrights a chance to see their in progress work come to early life, while letting theater-lovers in on the creation.

    Quixote Nuevo at Alley Theatre (January 17-February 9)
    Artistic director Rob Melrose seems to be going for charming or Texas-centric with several of the selections for his first full season at the Alley. This first show of the new year might hit both qualities, along with some biting comedy. El Paso playwright Octavio Solis’s reimagining of Don Quixote gets a decidedly modern Texas spin. Set in a fictitious Texas border town, this Quixote still pursues the impossible dream and lost love. Directed by Austin based KJ Sanchez, the show stars Sesame Street’s Emilio Delgado.

    The Fantasticks at Stages Theatre (January 24 – March 15)
    Stages makes its historical move to the Gordy Campus, looking to the future with a nod to the past with this production. The company has produced the classic musical two times, in its very first season and then in its inaugural season in the Allen Parkway space. Try to remember such an allegorical and lyrical musical about romance, family relationships, and love that lasts.

    The Green Book at Ensemble Theatre (January 23-February 23)
    Not based on the film of the same name, instead playwright Calvin Alexander Ramsey took his inspiration directly from Victor Hugo Green’s historical travel guide. The play focuses on three travelers staying at a tourist home attend a lecture by Dr. W. E. B. Ensemble notes beyond the drama “the plays investigation of the impact of Civil Rights on contemporary American issues.”

    The Band’s Visit presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (January 28-February 2)
    In this multiple-Tony-Award-winning musical based on the award-winning film, a ceremonial Egyptian police band takes a wrong turn on tour and ends ups in a small Israel desert town. The lost travelers and locals exchange secrets and truths through music. In a big casting coup, Israeli stage and screen star Sasson Gabay, who played the band’s conductor Tewfiq in the film, reprised his role on Broadway and has stuck around for the touring production.

    Houston says Hello, Dolly! to the irrepressible matchmaker and the beautiful score from Broadway giant Jerry Herman.

    National tour of Hello, Dolly!
      
    Photo by Julieta Cervantes
    Houston says Hello, Dolly! to the irrepressible matchmaker and the beautiful score from Broadway giant Jerry Herman.
    theater
    news/arts

    Best May Art

    Floating worlds and immersive experiences top Houston's 9 best new art openings

    Tarra Gaines
    May 8, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    ​“Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!”
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” opens at Artechouse in May.

    After an blooming array of outdoor art installations the last few months, new art takes flight indoors for some rocking immersive shows and stunning exhibitions embracing the natural world. Art and science meet at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Houston Museum of Natural Science, while art and history merge at Rice Moody Center, the CAMH, and the Menil Collection. Houston-based artists also take the spotlight in several big shows across the city.

    “EAT!!” at the Silos in Sawyer Yards (now through May 24)
    This exhibition from local mixed-media artist Diane Gelman showcases the art of dining in a thoughtful-yet-whimsical new way. A feast for the eyes, this new solo exhibition features paintings, sculptures, and installations all about one of our favorite subjects, food. For Gelman, a registered and licensed dietitian, food is a celebration, served with joy, fostering social activity and positivity the world over. It is a universal language that promotes cross-cultural connection, and nourishes both our bodies and souls. “EAT!!” will encourage personal reflection and will be an entire smorgasbord for the senses. Gelman was awarded a 2025 Individual Artists Grant for EAT!! from the City of Houston.

    “Audubon's Birds of America” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (now through September 1)
    Perhaps one of the most famous naturalist books of all time, John James Audubon’s Birds of America series captivated its original 19th century audience with its spectacular, life-sized ornithological illustrations and helped to make birding the hobby that it is today. This fascinating exhibition at the HMNS gives us the chance to see these illustrations up close in all their colorful plumage. Originally organized by the National Museums Scotland, the exhibition includes 46 prints from their rare unbound collection of Birds of America. Along with these magnificent illustrations, the show will explore both the beauty of Audubon’s work and the complexities of his legacy, including Audubon as an adventurer and naturalist legend, as well as the more complex, problematic realities of his actual life.

    “Floating World: A.A.Murakam” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through September 5)
    In the past few years, Houston has become home to so many immersive and interactive art spaces, but the MFAH will always be the pioneer when it comes to giving viewers the chance to play amid the art. Once again, the MFAH has captured art lightning in a bottle, this time literally, with the multi-gallery exhibition by the Tokyo and London-based A.A.Murakami, also know as Azusa Murakami, and Alexander Groves. Melding science, nature, and art, the duo create large-scale immersive landscapes working in mediums of light, fog, plasma, bubbles and sound. Each gallery holds work that is etherial, constantly transforming and will never be the same with each visit. Expect “Floating Worlds” to be a local social media art star by June.

    “This is the first exhibition in a U. S. museum of the work of these remarkable artists,” noted MFAH director Gary Tinterow. “The term that A.A.Murakami has used to characterize their work, 'Ephemeral Tech,' aptly captures the uncanny nature of these mesmerizing environments, which rely on the latest innovations in artifice and science to evoke the timeless, fleeting moments of nature’s forces.”

    “The Eternal Garden: Titanium Art by Aka Chen” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (now through September)
    This exhibition of work by the renowned Taiwanese artist Aka Chen features 20 sculptures that uniquely combine jewelry artistry and Chinese brush painting using titanium and gemstones. Chen’s unique process involves sculpting the metal under water using precision tools originally designed for medical applications and working at extraordinarily high temperatures. Once shaped, the titanium undergoes an anodization process, revealing a mesmerizing iridescent shimmer. This intricate process culminates in the artful setting of carefully selected gemstones, each enhancing the inherent beauty of the titanium and elevating the pieces into works of art. Chen’s sculptures represent the most delicate objects and creatures in nature, like flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies, but are formed by some of the strongest natural material.

    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” at Artechouse (May 15-August 31)
    When the artful fun house that is Artechouse opened last June, the plan was always to rotate in new installations and exhibition, and this latest one will surely rock our art world. This immersive video experience takes audiences on a 50-minute rock ‘n’ roll journey through music history, dropping them into a 270-degree, floor-to-ceiling, 18K-resolution digital canvas and state-of-the-art surround sound. Putting viewers right in the midst of rock history and classic concerts, “Amplified” features rare footage from live performance and behind-the-scenes and candid artist moments, exclusive portrait sessions, album art, and posters. Artechouse says “Amplified delivers one of the most comprehensive collections of rock ‘n’ roll imagery ever assembled and includes the work of 500 photographers and film directors."

    “The Space Between Looking and Loving: Francesca Fuchs and the de Menil House” at Menil Collection (May 23-November 2)
    This show of the acclaimed Houston-based artist’s latest work was inspired by a 50-year-old letter that John de Menil wrote to Fuchs’s father, a German classical archeologist, when seeking his expertise on a sculpture in Menil’s private collection. Decades late, Fuchs found a photo of that piece in her father’s personal effects. “The Space Between” becomes Fuchs’s response to John’s unanswered letter, in the form of her painting various objects, including other art work, from the de Menil House. Through her own artwork, Fuchs reflects on the nature of everyday objects, attempting to capture their fundamental truths. For this series of paintings, Fuchs researched hundreds of photographs taken of the de Menil’s home and studied how artworks were moved through the interior spaces throughout the decades.

    “Francesca’s sincere and inspired approach to researching the de Menil house and permanent collection has generated a refreshingly original and rich perspective on the lives of objects collected by John and Dominique de Menil,” described Menil Collection curator, Paul R. Davis. “Her enduring pursuit of painting compels us to think about the layered and fungible meanings of everyday objects.”

    “Figurative Histories” at Rice Moody Center (May 30-August 16)
    For their dynamic summer exhibition, the Moody Center celebrates Texas-based artists Letitia Huckaby, Earlie Hudnall, Jr., David McGee, and Delita Martin. Besides hailing from the Lone Star State, these four artists also create figurative artwork influenced by their personal histories and socio-political themes. Their work often depicts the human body and uses images from the past to understand the present. Many of the pieces in the exhibition also explore historical absences, especially the lack of Black representation in traditional Western art.

    The exhibition will include photographs by Earlie Hudnall, Jr. of daily life in Houston’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth Wards, eight portraits from Letitia Huckaby’s acclaimed “A Living Requiem” series. The show will also feature seven large-scale watercolors from David McGee’s “Avenging Angels” series, more than one hundred works on paper from his “Tarot Cards” series, and brand new works by Delita Martin, drawn from her “Song Keepers” series, which honors the presence of Black women in history, memory, and spirit.

    “Clément Cogitore: Collective Memories” at Rice Moody Center (May 30-August 16)
    Presented in adjacent galleries, these two video installations from the renowned French artist, director, and photographer, Cogitore, create a dialogue with each other about the nature of community performance and collective energy. The first film, Les Indes galantes, offers a contemporary version of the the 18th century Baroque opera ballet by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. In this reimagining, classic ballet is replaced with krumping, a dance style popularized in South Central Los Angeles in the early 2000s. The second video, Morgestraich (2022), pays tribute to the Carnival of Basel, an event held in Switzerland since the Middle Ages. The piece features elaborately dressed carnival participants against a dark backdrop, walking continually toward an invisible crowd.

    “Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe” at Contemporary Arts Museum (May 30-March 29, 2026)
    This mid-career survey of the award-winning, Houston-born artist will showcase nearly a decade of her multidisciplinary work, including painting, printmaking, video, photography, fiber, and sculpture. Jackson creates much of her art through a research process grounded in interviews with local community members, historians, and advocates. Jackson weaves together color theory and these discovered histories to explore themes of land, labor, and law — culminating in vibrant pieces that celebrate the empowerment of disenfranchised groups within American democracy.

    “My family is a product of the Great Migration route from Texas to California and I am thrilled to bring Across The Universe to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston,” Jackson said in a statement. “This opportunity to share more than 10 years of my work visualizing public narratives across disciplines to the city of my birth is a long held dream come true.”

    \u200b\u201cRolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!\u201d
      
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” opens at Artechouse in May.
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