Don't Miss List
Fab arts faves include Stoppard trilogy, Sinatra dancing & music from Houston'sbrainiac twins
Come Fly Away brings together the music of Frank Sinatra and the creative visionof Tony Award-winner Twyla Tharp. The show hits the Hobby Center April 10-15,2012 as part of the Gexa Energy Broadway at the Hobby Center 2011-2012 season.Original Broadway Cast © 2010, Joan Marcus
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, "Life Is Living Festival: Chicago"Photo by Bethanie Hines
Main Street Theater is looking forward to the most ambitious project in its36-year history: Tom Stoppard’s epic trilogy, The Coast of Utopia.
Jermaine Spivey and Martin Schmidt of Matmos in Ayman Harper's The LID atDiverseWorks Jan. 13-14, 2012Photo by Tomi Paasonen
Editors Note: We've asked Houston arts leaders and CultureMap contributors to pick the jewels from Houston's upcoming arts season — the events that they don't plan to miss. Here are CultureMap contributor Nancy Wozny's favorites:
Lists are tricky things. I don't even like "to do" lists. As a performance writer with roving eyes, it's hard to leave out Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective at The Menil Collection. You can find my early thoughts about must-see events in the true parts of My Fantasy Season column. Now that I have actually surveyed the entire performing arts season, here are five more events that I can't live without. Feel my pain/joy.
red, black and GREEN, a blues, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center For the Arts at UH, Nov. 4-5
When I first saw Marc Bamuthi Joseph perform at the Mitchell Center's Systems of Sustainability conference, I wasn't sure if he was a dancing poet or a spoken word artist with strong hip-hop chops. Who cares? He's on to something, a hybrid form of crafting work based on community-based research conducted through his Life is Living festivals, which democratize the environmental movement. I witnessed a sneak peek of this piece last fall at the Houston Museum of African American Culture. He's one dynamic performer.
The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard, Main Street Theater, Part I: Voyage Jan. 12-29, 2012; Part 2: Shipwreck, Feb. 10-March 11, 2012; Part 3: Salvage Feb. 24-March 11, 2012
I can't get enough of Tom Stoppard's headiness. No worries there, it's unstoppable Stoppard at MST with the entire The Coast of Utopia trilogy. I know my head is going to hurt, so I'm studying up now. Stoppard expects you stayed awake during your history and literature classes. Let it be known that MST has been Houston's leading Stoppard producer, having mounted 11 of his plays in its 36-year history. I'm still processing their brain-bending production of Stoppard's period hoppingArcadia.
Come Fly Away, Gexa Energy Broadway at the Hobby Center, April 10-15, 2012
Twyla Tharp got her Moving Out mojo back with Come Fly Away. The great genre-defying choreographer knows her way around Ol' blue eyes' tunes. Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs in already considered a contemporary classic. Having grown up with Sinatra crooning from the living room, I competely look forward to Tharp's new dansical. Tharp gives hope to dance on the Broadway stage.
Ayman Harper with Matmos and Jermaine Spivey in (theLID at DiverseWorks, Jan. 13-14, 2012
I've been watching Ayman Harper since seeing his compelling ballet, Bed Fears, Dream Piles, created for Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. And it's not been easy, as the native Houstonian lives in Berlin. Harper has been telling me about his collaboration for a year now, and the wait is finally over. Since leaving the legendary Forsythe Company, Harper has moved into his own as a creative artist. Matmos makes atmospheric, idiosyncratic electronica using samplers, analogue keyboards. Spivey, also a Forsythe veteran, now dances with Kidd Pivot, Crystal Pite's amazing Frankfurt-based troupe.
Take a sneak peek at Ayman Harper's (theLID with Matmos
