Song In Summer

Houston theaters are whistling a happy tune this summer: 7 don't-miss musicals

Do you hear that Houston — a lofting melody floating on the summer breeze? Well, get used to it because the whole city is about to break out into catchy tunes. You can thank this seasonal shower of songs to H-Town’s theater community, as they’ve all gone musical crazy this year.

Yes, the usual suspects like Broadway at the Hobby Center, Theatre Under the Stars and new kid on the block, Bayou City Theatrics, have summer offerings, but it seems many of our regional drama theaters have also caught the musical summer flu. Some — looking at you Stages — even have two musicals dueling (dueting?).

In fact, you can pretty much pick a musical genre or era and there’s a show for you. But with so much out there — over 10 shows at my last count, from outdoor revivals to world premiere cabaret — it’s hard to choose. So let’s take a trip across town and through musical history and find that perfect show to cool your summer time blues, with great stories set to rock, pop, country, and yes, even the blues.

Trav’lin the 1930s Harlem Musical at Ensemble Theatre

Time travel back to the Harlem Renaissance with a jazzy show celebrating the work of songwriter and pianist J. C. Johnson. While his name recognition might have faded in some circles, the man was quite the influence on jazz and blues and collaborated with icons like Bessie Smith and Fats Waller. Each of the show’s characters are based on or inspired by the stories Johnson told about his own life in Harlem.

Runs June 24-July 26.

George Gershwin Alone at the Alley Theatre

If you’re not ready to leave 1930s New York just yet, check out this one-man show about one of America’s greatest composers, George Gershwin. Playwright Hershey Felder, who first publicly performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” when he was 16, created and stars in, well alone, this tribute and examination of George Gershwin’s life and music. Felder just might be persuaded into a sing-along encore, so brush up on your “Summertime” before the show and get ready to join in on the fun.

Runs now until June 21st.

Motown the Musical at the Hobby Center

Let’s groove through several decades and states to join music legend Berry Gordy in Detroit where he’s about to discover the likes of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. They're all set to make an appearance in this multiple-Tony-nominated story, based on Gordy’s autobiography. The show features over 40 Motown hits, so there’s sure to be your favorite in here somewhere.

Runs July 21-26.

Mack and Mabel/Honky Tonk Angels at Stages

Stages is playing overachiever when it comes to summer musicals. Mack and Mabel, on now, depicts the sometimes funny sometimes tragic love story of real life silent film makers Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. Director Kenn McLaughlin integrates some 21st century innovative video work into this revival of the 1970s Broadway musical about the dawn of Hollywood.

When Mack and Mabel closes, the three Honky Tonk Angels on a journey to follow their dreams for Nashville stardom take the mike for a this jukebox country musical. Sure it looks to be light on plot, but with it stuffed full of country classics like “Delta Dawn” and “Stand by Your Man” who’s going to care?

Mack and Mabel runs now until June 28; Honky Tonk Angels runs July 15-Aug. 24.

First Date at The Hobby Center

We arrive back in the 21st century and 21st-century relationship problems, where all the single 20 to 30-somethings are still looking for “The One.” The Broadway hit, set up as a date in real time between dating veteran Casey and blind-date-newbie Aaron, lets the whole restaurant butt in to give their own opinion as to whether this date is from heaven or hell. First Date is the final show of Theatre Under the Stars wild child, TUTS Underground’s 2014-2015 eclectic season, and features many of our favorite hometown actors in the cast.

Runs June 11-21.

The University of Tamarie at Catastrophic Theatre

If you’re looking for a more edgy comic show, enroll in this Houston tradition. In the 18th installment of Tamarie Cooper’s annual musical extravaganza, she puts education and more specifically the Texas State Board of Education, John Hughes movies, standardized tests, and college life on her satire curriculum. When the Catastrophic Theatre gang puts that all into a theatrical blender and presses Tamarieize, it’s bound to be some crazy August fun.

Runs July 17-Aug. 29.

Listen to a song of old Hollywood from Mack and Mabel.

Stages Repertory Theatre presents Mack and Mabel

Photo by Amitava Sarkar

Listen to a song of old Hollywood from Mack and Mabel.

unspecified

A Roman Holiday (Season)

All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

$\u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"$

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

“Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

“This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

museums museum of fine arts houston openings