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    Houston's Best Holiday Shows

    Houston's best holiday shows: Naughty, nice and new choices include Grumpy Santas and Serial Dater

    Tarra Gaines
    Dec 10, 2015 | 12:35 pm

    With another holiday season upon us, it’s time to make that difficult choice, traditional or new. I’m not contemplating decorating or gift giving but that most important annual entertainment decision: Do we see that Christmas show we’ve seen every year since childhood or try something different?

     

    Practically every performing arts institute and organization is offering up holiday music, dance or theater so there’s something out there for everyone. So if you're looking for the performance that's right for you, check out our naughty and nice show list to plan those vibrant holiday nights and matinees.

     

     The Case for Nice and Traditional
    I’ve long gone on record with a resounding “Humbug” when it comes to the same annual holiday shows, but if there’s any year to go old school, 2015 is probably it.

     

    The Alley Theatre brings their Michael Wilson adaptation of A Christmas Carol back to the newly renovated Hubbard Theatre. So who knows what happens when those Ghosts of Christmas have more room to roam on the expanded stage?

     

     Classical Theater Company goes back to the Carol basics, in this case Dickens original short story. CTC’s version adheres to the bleakness of the Dickensian London so the true moments of light and love in the story shine all the brighter.

     

    If you don’t feel like venturing inside the loop, Queensbury Theatre has a one-man Christmas Carol to light up that Christmas spirit into your Energy Corridor life.

     

    The Houston Symphony has plenty of holiday music from Handel’s Messiah to their Very Merry Pops concerts. They’re also offering A Frosty & Frozen Christmas concert where the one song that united tweens around the world, “Let It Go,” gets a full orchestra rendition.

     

    Something of a new tradition is Houston Grand Opera’s The Little Prince, which was first commission in 2003. While Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic children’s story of the friendship between an alien boy and a crashed pilot stranded in the desert might not immediately call to mind Christmas, CultureMap's own Theodore Bale says “the general sense of the fantastic makes it kind of a gift to children and adults.”

     

    The don’t-miss performance for traditionalist this year will undoubtedly be Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker. Yes, Houston Ballet has depicted Clara’s magical journey to the Land of Sweets for 44 years, though I think the whole saga might be one long bad, eggnog induced hallucination. But this year will be the final production of Artistic Director Emeritus Ben Stevenson’s choreography of the Tchaikovsky classic. Houston Ballet first staged the Stevenson version in 1987, so there’s many a dance lover that grew up with this rendition.

     

    Don’t worry that 2016 might be devoid of a Sugar Plum Fairy and her dancing minions. A brand new Stanton Welch version, featuring all-new sets and costumes, will debut next year.

     

     The Case for Something Naughty and New
    While there’s comforting familiarity in attending a play or ballet that’s become a multigenerational holiday custom, I argue December is a great time to sample a new-to-you performing arts or theater company from the safety of a holiday show. So here are a few new productions for an adventurous end of 2015.

     

     Panto Snow Queen: Unfrozen
    Every year, Stages Theatre bridges the holiday show traditionalists vs. new stuff divide by producing an original Panto play. Stages usually gives the British genre of fairytale inspired theatrical silliness that’s put on during the holiday season a decidedly Texas twist. This year’s Panto, Unfrozen, is as goofy as ever with interactive opportunities for the kids to yell at the scene-stealing villainous Snow Queen and topical jokes for adults. There’s even a special guest from Disney Corp. to belt out cease and desist orders if the story strays too close to Frozen territory.

     

    Weird double Disney/Stages crossover trivia: Stages Panto regular Genievieve Allenbury, playing “herbalist” hippy Bean Mogul in Unfrozen, also plays the Queen of Valencia on ABC’s hilarious Medieval musical series Galavant. The second season debuts in early January, just a few days after Allenbury takes her last bow as BM.

     

     Striking 12
    If you haven’t had enough modernization of the dark fairytales of Hans Christian Anderson (read the originals, whenever you feel your life is too happy), TUTS Underground has an indie rock version of the Little Match Girl fairytale. That’s the fun one where the little girl freezes to death. In this retelling, the girl is a woman selling Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD) lights and the three actors playing all the characters are also the on-stage band playing piano, drums and a six-string Viper violin. This might be the edgiest holiday show of the lot.

     

    For parents who want to take the kids to something classic but new this year, TUTS also brings us A Christmas Story, the musical based on the 1983 movie based on 1966 novel by Jean Shepherd In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash that reveals the true meaning of Christmas, BB guns and lying to your mom.

     

     The Twelve Dates of Christmas
    Usually the men get to have all the life introspection angst in holiday entertainment–think Scrooge or Wonderful Life’s George Bailey — but this year one sister is anxiety-attacking for herself in Bayou City Theatrics’ one-woman show The Twelve Dates of Christmas. When New York actress Mary sees her fiancee making out with another woman on television at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, it sends her into a 12 month rebound dating spiral. Funny and poignant, the play is something of a bitter but comic Christmas treat if other super sweet holiday tales have sent you into theatrical sugar shock.

     

     Three Holiday Refreshers
    Though they might seem familiar, three theater companies are bringing back some favorite shows with a promise that they’ve gone through a rewrite. Horse Head Theatre Company throws its Holiday Huzzah celebration again, featuring Houston playwright Abby Koenig’s biographical The Jew Who Loved Christmas with changes to the ending to reflect another year passed.

     

    Stark Naked Theatre brings back last year’s world premiere, Ho Ho Humbug, as a 2.0 update. The play’s creator, Scott Burkell, who also plays the grumpy department store Santa, cut the two-act play into a 90-minute version with a new ending.

     

    Meanwhile, over at AD Players, the fan favorite one-act A Christmas of Many Parts by AD founder Jeannette Clift George and Kevin Dean has become a full length show about the cast of actors in the full length Christmas extravaganza, Nativity!

    The spirit of Christmas represented by a Red Ryder BB Gun in the TUTS production of A Christmas Story.

    TUTS 2015-2016 season announcement February 2015 A Christmas Story
      
    Photo courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars
    The spirit of Christmas represented by a Red Ryder BB Gun in the TUTS production of A Christmas Story.
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    Best July Art

    Where to see art in Houston now: 9 fun new exhibits opening in July

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 9, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    ​Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"

    Art blooms in our world class museums but also on our city streets this July. From exhibitions featuring traditional paintings and sculptures to high tech immersive and interactive shows, we’re weaving art into the best of summertime fun and dreaming up beautiful new artistic creations all over Houston.

    “Town Meeting 1978-2028” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Pioneering Houston-based interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin continue their decades-long project to create new and sometimes monumental artworks in response to little-known pre-Stonewall queer histories. For this latest exhibition, the duo explore a more recent and influential piece of Houston history, “Town Meeting I,” the pivotal convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena in 1978. For this show at Art League, they’ve used their “wind drawing” technique of stenciling unfixed charcoal powder on paper and blowing it away, leaving a ghost-image. Using archival images of “Town Meeting I” as the bases of their stenciling, the finished “wind drawings” highlight the ephemerality, beauty, and loss of queer histories. In addition to these new works, Vaughan and Margolin hope to inspire, facilitate, and develop programming in 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Town Meeting 1.”

    “Fragmentos de un sueño que yo también soñé (Fragments of a Dream I Also Dreamed)" at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    “Every house is a body, and every individual body is a house full of memories and hopes,” says award-winning Venezuela born, Chicago-based artist, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, of her artistic focus. Molina’s fragmented, layered, and figural compositions explore that idea of home and memories. Delving into memories and stories, these figurative compositions, depicting people and relationships, fluctuate between stories of the present, past, and future. Taken together, the works in “Fragmentos de un sueño” aim to visually capture the feelings of vulnerability, nostalgia, and hope embedded in the experience of many immigrants. Art League notes that Molina’s pieces emphasize optimism over hardship, specifically addressing the longing for a home that no longer exists while striving to create a new one.

    “Every Fiber of Their Bodies” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Working with natural fibers such as linen, paper collage, and hand-spun paper yarn made from calligraphy paper and book pages, textile artist Lin Qiqing weaves stories ofhuman relationships, gender, immigration, and language. As the title hints, the labor-intensive weaving process brings thematic depth to the images of bodies depicted in the pieces. The woven pieces also make connections to the natural world, as when Lin crumples then smooths handmade mulberry paper to resemble human skin, or when she uses handwoven fiber to mimic the body’s movement. Lin process includes research and experimenting with natural materials to explore themes of the internal human struggle for existence and our interactions with the world around us.

    “Annual Juried Exhibition” at Archway Gallery (now through July 31)
    For the 17th year, the artist owned Archway Gallery celebrates Houston artists with its juried exhibition of area artists who are not members of the space. This year’s exhibition is juried by Project Row Houses founder and MacArthur "genius" fellow, Rick Lowe. The acclaimed artist and social activist has selected work from over 35 area artists representing a diversity of medium and styles. Sales from the exhibition will go to Houston’s Brave Little Company, the theater company for Houston’s kids and their gown ups.

    “Foyer Installation: René Magritte” at Menil Collection (now through August 3)
    After a critically acclaimed trip to Australia, some of our favorite Belgian-born Houstonians are back home. Yes, the Magritte paintings have returned to the Menil Collection after taking a star turn in a monumental Magritte retrospective at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales. Now the Menil is celebrating their return with a special installation in the main building foyer. The Menil Collection owns the largest collection of work by René Magritte outside the artist’s native Belgium, and this display focuses on a core group of paintings from the 1950s and ’60s that truly represent Magritte’s status as a master creator of impossible painted worlds and an icon of the Surrealist movement. The paintings were purchased within a couple years of their making by the museum’s founders, John and Dominique de Menil. They represent and important part of 20th century art history, as the de Menils became Magritte’s biggest champions in the United States, helping to shape the artist’s reception and reputation in the postwar American art world. Stop by to welcome them home and slip into their enigmatic wonder.

    “Blooming Wonders” at Artechouse (now through September)
    The latest immersive exhibition from the Houston venue that brings art, science, and technology home together, Artechouse, lets the flowers blossom. The exhibition contains several dynamic installations, including “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. Another immersive piece, “Infinite Blooms” takes audiences on a journey through an endless digital forest of cherry blossoms. The installation, “Akousmaflore et Lux” creates a very different type of garden where plants transform into musical instruments. “Clay Pillar” by Interactive Items / Vadim Mirgorodskii invites visitors to sculpt new forms using clay and a little help from an AI program. Note that “Blooming Wonders” runs simultaneously with the rock ‘n’ roll exhibition, “Amplified” with “Wonders” open during the daytime.

    “Weci | Koninut” at Avenida Houston (now through September 1)
    Houston is a place for big dreams, and this wondrous outdoor exhibition near George R. Brown Convention Center gives us the space to do so. Created by First Nations artists Julie-Christina Picher and Dave Jenniss, this interactive installation weaves together visual arts, Indigenous storytelling and sensory technologies in the form of six immense sculptural dreamcatchers. Each of these dreamcatchers are unique and represent one of the six seasons from the Atikamekw culture, an Indigenous people in Canada. Activated by people passing by, the dreamcatchers come to life with lights, sounds, and story, making the whole installation truly interactive. “Weci | Koninut” creators say that they want the installation to offer a total immersion experience for visitors, to create a moment where nature and dreams converge. Each piece offers a place for the public to slow down, sit, reflect, and yes, dream.

    New Murals in the East End and Midtown (ongoing)
    We could spend days viewing all the new murals painted across town, just in the last few years. But in honor of summer outdoor art viewing, we thought we’d spotlight two noteworthy new additions to our city-wide gallery of murals. As part of his major exhibition last spring at the CAMH, Vincent Valdez worked with San Antonio muralist Rubio and local students to create “Memoria, Memory.” Dedicated to his mother Theresa Santana Valdez (1947–2020), the vivid mural on historic Navigation Boulevard features her favorite bird and flower. Over in Midtown, check out “Stellar Illumination,” the latest installation in the city’s Big Walls Big Dreams mural series. Created by Robin Munro, also known as Dread, the seven stories high “Illumination” depicts a celestial scene of an astronaut gazing at Earth from space.

    “The Weight of Place” at Anya Tish Gallery (July 11-August 23)
    This group exhibition will explore themes of memory and the emotional, psychological, and physical landscapes memories can evoke. The will showcase three contemporary Texas-based female artists: Megan Harrison, Marisol Valencia, and Lillian Warren. While these artists work in different mediums–including large-scale paintings, mixed media works, and elegant porcelain sculptures–they are inspired by personal reflection and nature to create artworks that reflect on the ways we hold onto the past through sensory experience.

    “In Residence: 18th Edition” at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (July 12-June 27, 2026)
    This annual exhibition celebrating the Center’s Artist Residency Program reaches it’s big 18th anniversary. Over the many years, the residency program has supported so many emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media. The program gives them a space for creative exploration, exchange, and collaboration with other artists, arts professionals, and the public. Now arts and craft lovers will get a chance to see the culmination of that work with this exhibition featuring pieces in fiber, clay, copper, and found objects by 2024-2025 resident artists Prerata Bradley, Stephanie Bursese, Atisha Fordyce, Nela Garzón, Gbenga Komolafe, Gabo Martinez, Preetika Rajgariah, Macon Reed, Jamie Sterling Pitt, Adam Whitney, and Dongyi Wu.

    “My Texas” at Our Texas Cultural Center (July 27-August 22)
    Award winning, Russian-born photographer, Anatoliy Kosterev, chronicles his personal exploration of Texas with photographs he took around the Lone Star State. The photos offer extraordinary views of Texas, from our dynamic cities to dramatic and sometimes lonesome landscapes. Kosterev’s photographic style blends science and technology with an artistic eye. He puts those two perspectives into practice when documenting all facets of life in Texas. Using HDR, drone imaging, macro photography, and traditional camera methods, he captures a diversity of subjects from quiet human moments to vast landscapes to delicate close-ups of insects and flowers.

    \u200bArtechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
      

    Photo courtesy of Artechouse

    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds."

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