TUTs' new shows

Theatre Under the Stars shines with new season of marvelous musicals, cutting-edge tales, and kooky comedies

TUTS brings the touring Broadway revival of Once On This Island to Houston in February 2020.

Photo by Joan Marcus

With a melodious mix of classic and contemporary musicals, along with one down-home country world premiere, Theatre Under the Stars plans to dance into their 51st year with a dynamic new season. While their 50th anniversary season continues to bring new productions of audience favorites, TUTS gets ready to leap into their future with revolting youths, a chorus of real-life stories, some Texas country twang, and a holiday elf surprise.

“On the heels of our 50th anniversary, the upcoming season is a defining moment for us as we embark on our next 50 years,” said Dan Knechtges, TUTS artistic director. “We have an exciting mix of both traditional and contemporary Broadway classics, with the professional premiere of a new Texas-themed musical, the return of a heartwarming holiday classic, and the exclusive Houston engagement of the national tour of the 2018 Tony Award-winning Best Revival.”

Here’s a closer looks at all the shows we’ll be humming along to in the fall and into 2020.

A Chorus Line (September 10-22, 2019)
Life on the line takes its place center stage in this multiple Tony Award winning classic from the 70s with with book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. This TUTS revival might bring a bit of 21st century sensibility to the show with director Julie Kramer and choreographer Jessica Hartman perhaps adding some additional female perspective.

Spring Awakening (October 8 - 20, 2019)
Frank Wedekind’s play about youth in revolt in late 19th-century Germany found new life and great resonance with Broadway audiences as the alt-rock opera, the Tony winning Spring Awakening. The story follows a group of adolescents as they navigate their journey into adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable.

“Spring Awakening is a bit of a departure for us in the sense of the subject matter and in the modern rock score,” said Knechtges. “However, I want TUTS to honor recent exemplary theatre in addition to the traditional classics. This soul-stirring story from the late 1800s is remarkably relevant today.”

Elf-The Musical (December 7-22, 2019)
Buddy, the human, raised by a loving family of elves at the North Pole stops by for holiday antics at the end of the year to teach his bio family, and Houston, about the spirit of the season. The musical, with songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin and book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, has quickly become a holiday favorite. This production will be directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges.

Once On This Island (February 18 - March 1, 2020)
Though TUTS self-produced all the shows for its 50th season, (which continues with Mamma Mia! in February) the company has a history of bringing in one or two Broadway touring musical a season. They go back to this beloved traditional next season with national tour of the 2018 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical, Once On This Island. The show follows Ti Moune, a peasant girl in search of her place in the world, but who is willing to risk it all for love. Guided by the mighty island gods, Ti Moune sets out on a remarkable journey to reunite with the man who has captured her heart.

Pure Country (April 14 - 26, 2020)
TUTS has premiered a few musicals to world in the past, including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and in 2020 it gets back into the game with the world premiere professional production of this new musical based on the 1992 George Strait film, Pure Country. The musical tells a jaded hero’s journey of a country music mega-star who walks away from successful to return to his Texas roots and find his love of music and life again.

“Pure Country is obviously a celebration of Texas culture, but it also has a universal message about the importance of home, both in terms of geography as well as the inherent human need to manifest our true passions, even when the world has other expectations of us,” said Knechtges, who will also direct and choreograph the show. “I’m also excited that TUTS is able to play this pivotal role in the development of this new musical, which is a renewed commitment to our heritage of fostering new works.”

Disney’s Newsies (May 19 - 31, 2020)
The riotous, striking paperboys are back in this revival production of the feel good hit. This band of singing underdogs become unlikely heroes when they stand up to the most powerful men in turn of the 19th to 20th century New York. The production will be directed and choreographed by Chris Bailey, who just directed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for TUTS in December.

dance theater music

Best March Art

9 new art museum and gallery exhibits opening in Houston this month

Ernesto Neto, SunForceOceanLife (installation view), 2020, crocheted textile and plastic balls, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund

As spring returns so does a flowering of biannual, annual, and biennial art festivals and events this month. Art blooms indoors in Houston's favorite museums but also on the city's streets, parks, and even waterways. Lots of immersive art invites viewers to journey into the picture.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston gets contemplative, and the Menil Collection displays some rare recent gifts. If that’s not enough art for one month, FotoFest celebrates a big anniversary, and the yearly “Night Light” art party heads downtown.

“Global Visions – FotoFest at 40” programming across Houston (March)
Marking four decades of photographic arts and education programming in Houston, this 2026 FotoFest looks back on key works and themes from the 20 previous biennials between 1986 and 2024. With participating art galleries and museums around the city offering special photography exhibitions over the next several month, FotoFest will feature more than 450 artists from the United States and 58 countries. Curated by FotoFest co-founder and former artistic director Wendy Watriss and FotoFest executive director Steven Evans, with co-curators Annick Dekiouk and Madi Murphy, “Global Visions” will explore some of the previous festival themes including geography, identity, war, ecology, and social change, while also celebrating FotoFest’s global reach and impact. Look for auctions, tours, conversations, art walks, and workshops as part of the programming.

“Buddha/Nature: Five Dialogues on a Shared World” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through May 10)
Ancient and contemporary art converse in this extraordinary new exhibition at the MFAH that explores key teachings of Buddhism centered on how we engage with the natural world. The exhibition is organized crossed five thematically focused galleries, including Samsara, Impermanence, Karma, Compassion, and Awakening. Each gallery features one of five ancient Buddhist sculptures from the Xuzhou Collection, a private collection of Buddhist masterpieces, along with works by international and Texas contemporary artists.

“This exhibition brings ancient Buddhist sculptures into dynamic dialogue with contemporary art,” explains Hao Sheng, consulting curator to the MFAH and organizing curator of the exhibition. “These sacred objects take on new resonance when paired with modern works that explore fundamental questions about existence and harmony. As we witness shifts in our natural environment, we are invited to reflect on the impact of our collective choices in order to achieve a deeper understanding of our place within a changing world.”

“Blooming Wonders: A Celebration of Spring” at Artechouse (now through May 31)
The Houston venue that acts as a greenhouse for art, science, and technology to grow together, Artechouse, brings back this hit exhibition from last year.To explore themes of growth, renewal, and sustainability, “Bloom wonders” showcases several dynamic installations, including “PIXELBLOOM: Timeless Butterflies,” a 270 degrees projection space that puts visitors in the middle of a butterfly cloud. Audiences journey with a flock of butterflies into an immense garden of flowers. In another immersive space, “BloomFall: Through the Infinite” guests enter an mirrored infinity room full of shifting floral dimensions. The installation, “Akousmaflore et Lux” creates a very different type of garden where plants transform into musical instruments. “Clay Pillar” invites visitors to sculpt new forms using clay and a little help from an AI program.

“Ernesto Neto: SunForceOceanLife” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now-September 7)
Immersive art gets elevated as the MFAH brings back this commissioned installation that had museum goers walking on air. Looking something like a giant starfish or spiral galaxy from underneath, Ernesto Neto’s singular work floats above almost the entirety of Cullinan Hall in the Caroline Wiess Law Building. One of the largest crochet works to date by Neto, the sculpture consists of yellow, orange, and green materials hand-woven into a myriad of patterns and sewn together in a spiral formation. Visitors can enter this rising labyrinth and wander through different sections filled with soft, plastic balls underfoot that move with each step. Once they reach the center of work, they might pause to view the piece from within the art and reflect on their own journey through “SunForceOceanLife.”

“Ernesto Neto created this site-specific piece as a tribute to the life-giving forces of the sun and the ocean. Inspired by crochet, which he learned from his grandmother, the piece transforms this traditional Brazilian craft into a massive, enveloping structure that engages the body and the mind,” remark Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art on the return of the monumental installation.

True North 2026 along Heights Boulevard (now through December)
Once again, art grows on the Height Boulevard esplanade with this annual outdoor sculpture exhibition sponsored and partnered by the nonprofit Houston Heights Association. The outdoor show features the latest work of some stellar Texas and Houston artists, including Hans Molzberger, Suzette Mouchaty, James D. Phillips, Roger Colombik, Mark Nelson, Robbie Barber, Jim Robertson, Keith Crane/Damon Thomas. Since the artists don’t always install their sculptures on the same days, True North is always an artful excuse to make time for a walk along the boulevard to see what new work has popped up. This beloved tradition is once again thanks to an all-volunteer team, along with the Houston Heights Association in cooperation with the City of Houston Parks and Recreation and Public Works Departments and the Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

"Rebel Girl" and “The Vanguard” at Houston Center for Photography (March 12-April 12)
Just a few days after International Women’s Day, HCP continues their historic commitment to championing women’s photographic careers as they present two exhibition exploring the complexities of female identity. “Rebel Girl” exhibits the work of Luisa Dörr, Selina Román, and Jo Ann Chaus, artists whose work challenges convention while questioning stereotypes and illuminating the evolving roles and perceptions of women today. For “The Vanguard,” HCP executive director, Anne Leighton Massoni, went through their archives and selected the work of 20 trailblazing women who exhibited at HCP within its first 20 years. Taken together their work illustrate the diversity of women’s artistic visions and creativity.

“The Gift of Drawing: Cy Twombly” at the Menil Collection (March 27-August 9)
Perhaps as a nod to the Menil Collection being the home of the only permanent retrospective exhibition of 20th century pioneering artist, Cy Twombly’s, work, last year the Cy Twombly Foundation made an extraordinary gift of 121 of Twombly’s drawings to the institute. Now art lovers around the world will get to see some of that landmark gift, as the Menil Drawing Institute presents this exhibition featuring 30 of those works. Covering three decades of the artist’s activity, from the 1950s to the 1980s, the show will feature work created by Twombly’s use of a broad range of materials, from graphite to oil paint; techniques such as drawing and collage; and themes that are fundamental to his entire practice, such as classical antiquity, eroticism, and nature. Some highlight of the exhibition will be a series of lush and unrestrained landscapes from 1986 that verge on pure abstraction; two untitled works from 1970 that are related to the artist’s “blackboard paintings” on view in Cy Twombly Gallery; and Narcissus, 1975, a collage of paper, with oil, charcoal, and wax crayon on paper. None of these works have been exhibited in the U.S. before.

“Night Light” at Allen’s Landing at Buffalo Bayou Park (March 28)
The annual free festival of video art along Buffalo Bayou moves west this year from its usual setting along the industrial and residential landscapes of the Buffalo Bayou East trails to Allen’s Landing in downtown Houston. The concrete bridges and underbellies of the major city freeways that emerge from watery bayou depths become the canvases for three site-specific installations from some of Houston most innovative video and multidisciplinary artists. Co-presented by the Aurora Picture Show and Buffalo Bayou Partnership “Night Light” puts the spotlight on new works from artist, designer, and engineer, Corey De’Juan Sherrard Jr.; video, installation, and performance artist and Rice professor, Kenneth Tam; and award winning collaborative duo Hillerbrand+Magsamen. And it wouldn’t be an outdoor Houston event of any kind without food, so expect a lively night artisan market hosted by East End District and BLCK Market at East River featuring local vendors and food trucks plus tunes from DJ Gracie Chavez.

Bayou City Art Festival Downtown at Sam Houston Park (March 28-29)
Downtown Houston continues to sprout art everywhere, as the last weekend in March also heralds the biannual Bayou City Art Fest in Sam Houston Park. Showcasing art from 250 creators from around the country, the festival always brings a wide selection of paintings, prints, jewelry, sculptures, and functional art at all price levels. Fest goers also have the opportunity to meet the art makers and hear the stories behind the art. This year’s featured artists is Lijah Hanley, a digital photographer from Vancouver, WA who first found his place behind a camera lens when he was 13. Along with a day of art, a ticket includes live music all day long on two stages, roaming performers, exciting kids areas with interactive crafts, and culinary arts demonstrations.

$Ernesto Neto, SunForceOceanLife (installation view), 2020, crocheted textile and\nplastic balls, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the\nCaroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund$