raise the curtain

Beauty and the Beast and Tony-winning shows star in the Hobby Center's new season

Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center just announced their 2025-2026 season, and this might be one of the freshest and most literary lineups ever. Gone are the days when Houston musical lovers had to either fly to New York or wait many years for the hottest show to tour. Several of these big shows only debuted on Broadway a year or two ago, and the season brings to Houston both the Tony-winning Best Musicals for 2023 and 2024, Kimberly Akimbo and The Outsiders. Yet, for such a selection of recent smash hits, many of these shows look to timeless novels and stories for inspiration.

“Over the past couple of years, so many exciting new musicals have opened on Broadway,” said Hobby Center President and CEO Mark Folkes about the season. “The 2025-2026 Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center Season welcomes a dynamic group of productions to Houston, including the Tony Award winning best new musicals from each of the past two Broadway seasons. Boasting classics and family favorites to fresh new shows, this is a season that will absolutely thrill Houston audiences.”

While we’ve got plenty of performances still to see for the rest of the 2024-2025 season, let the musical anticipation begin.

Kimberly Akimbo (September 16–21, 2025)
Winner of the 2023 Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical Tony Awards, this bittersweet musical comedy won over audiences and critics alike. The show follows the story of teen Kimberly, who struggles with a rare genetic disorder and fitting in when she moves to a new town in suburban New Jersey. Kimberly makes wishes for a better life, as she navigates her family’s dysfunction, unrequited love, clueless friends and possible felony charges. Ever the optimist, she is determined to find happiness against all odds and take a journey on at least one great adventure. [Update: This article has been updated with new performance dates for Kimberly Akimbo.]

A Beautiful Noise: the Neil Diamond Musical (November 4-9, 2025)
In the tradition of jukebox musicals about music stars like Jersey Boys and Tina, this latest musical biography puts the life of Neil Diamond at center stage. Created in collaboration with Diamond himself, the show chronicles his beginnings as a poor kid from Brooklyn to became a chart-busting, American showman with 120 million albums sold. Featuring some of the biggest songs of Diamond’s catalogue, including “Sweet Caroline,” “Love on the Rocks,” and “Kentucky Woman,” Beautiful Noise draws connections between the songs’ powerful lyrics and important moments in Diamond’s life.

The Outsiders (November 18-23, 2025)
The most recent Best Musical Tony Award-winner on the list is based on the classic young adult novel by S. E. Hinton, as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation. Set in 1960s Oklahoma, The Outsiders tells the story of orphan Ponyboy Curtis, his brothers, his best friend Johnny Cade and their Greaser found-family of ‘outsiders.’ Always in battle with the upper-class Socs, the Greasers live in a world of violence where “nothing gold can stay” but dream about a better life filled with love and acceptance. Yet in the end, hope might live in the act of storytelling.

Disney’s Beauty & the Beast (January 6-18, 2026)
Thirty years ago, Disney made theatrical history and put its lasting mark on Broadway with the timeless story of Belle and her beastly prince. Houston was a part of that history, as the musical had an early tryout here. Now, get ready for a new production to celebrate the 30th anniversary. While beloved songs like “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast”remain the same, look for spectacular new sets and costumes. Reuniting to create this new production are members of the original Tony Award-winning artistic team, including composer Alan Menken, lyricist Tim Rice, book writer Linda Woolverton, with direction and choreography by Matt West.

Water for Elephants (January 27-February 1, 2026)
Another Broadway show in the lineup inspired by a novel — in this case the best-selling historical romance by Sara Gruen — Water for Elephants was a critics’ favorite in 2024. After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the tracks will take him and finds a new home, family, and love among the remarkable crew of a traveling circus. Seen through the eyes of his older self, his adventure becomes a poignant reminder that if you choose the ride, life can begin again at any age. Experience all the light, color, and music of a 1930s circus in this emotional extravaganza.

The Great Gatsby (March 3-8, 2026)
We travel back to the Roaring Twenties for this glitzy, glamorous musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel. The show takes us into Gatsby’s jazz-age world filled with wealth and nonstop parties. But that ritzy facade hides stories of lost love, failed relationships, and tragedy. Director Marc Bruni (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) brings this story of extravagance and longing to life onstage set to a jazz and pop-influenced original score that will leave audiences roaring for more.

Some Like It Hot (March 24-29)
If you like your musicals with lots of big dance productions, this Tony winner for best choreography is the show for you. Based on the gender-bending, beloved Marilyn Monroe film, the Prohibition-set story follows Joe and Jerry, two club musicians who are forced to flee Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. To escape, they join an all-women jazz band headed to California. Joining the band, of course, requires some changes in outfits and outlooks. The music and spectacular dance numbers give Some Like It Hot an old-Broadway, retro feel, while the bold, updated lyrics and book deliver a 21st century sensibility.

Clue (June 9-14)
The one play in the lineup is the ultimate comic whodunit based on the cult 80s film, which was based on the classic board game. Six mysterious guests, who may or may not know each other, assemble at Boddy Manor to dine on red herring and then play a little after dinner game of blackmail, threats, and murder. Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife, Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench, or Miss Scarlet in conservatory with a candlestick? Did the butler do it all along? Or perhaps the twisty ending only leads to more comic thrills.

The season also boasts two additional optional selections, audience favorites making their return to Houston. In February, 2026, the road to hell is full of bad intentions but the best music as the Tony winning Hadestown entwines the ancient Greek love stories of Hades and Persephone with Orpheus and Eurydice into one epic show. As the first song, “Road to Hell” spoils, don’t expect a happily-ever-after with these stories, but do listen for a different bluesy take on these classic Greek myths.

Photo by Jeremy Daniel

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.

Then April, 2026 brings a rocking version of British history, as the Six wives of Henry VIII engage in a singing competition over who had the worst marriage. With those marriage outcomes being: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived, they’ve got a lot to sing about.

Best April Theater

The 9 best plays, musicals, and operas to see in Houston this month

Photo by Joan Marcus

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Houston theater companies seem to be feeling a bit nostalgic as they offer up some timeless and contemporary classics shows for audiences this month. Drama gets political, comedy gets historical, and an array of queens, knights, lunching ladies, and barbers sing. Celebrate the classics, and one world premiere, as theater blossoms across the city this month.

Brother Andrew at A.D. Players (now through April 26)
The family friendly and spiritual theater company's latest new work is this musical inspired by the New York Times Bestseller, God's Smuggler. The true story follows a young Dutch man who, after a dramatic conversion, takes on a new calling as Brother Andrew and risks his life to smuggle Bibles behind the iron curtain during the cold war. With music and lyrics by Christian rock star Neal Morse, Brother Andrew becomes an inspirational, thrilling musical, and Houston theater goers can be the first to see it.

Six presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (April 7-12)
Let’s sing out “Yas, Queens!” as six divas take the Hobby stage once more to have (and belt) it out over who had a worst marriage to the king of bad husbands, Henry VIII. With those marriage outcomes being: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived, they’ve got a lot to sing about. Coincidentally resembling some of the hottest pop stars of our age, the 16th century royals: Catherine, Anne, Jane, Anna, Katherine with aK, and the second Catherine with a C (Henry had a type for names), finally get to tell their own side of the story in this theatrical concert extravaganza. Six is one of those rare musicals that after many years is still going strong on Broadway, but you don’t have book a flight to seek an audiences with the queens, as Broadway at Hobby brings them back to Houston.

Company from Garden Theatre (April 10-19)
Garden continues to celebrate its fifth season by remounting some of its audience's favorite shows, and the final musical of the season is no exception. Stephen Sondheim’s exploration of New York marriages through the eyes of a single and singular man, Bobby, also gave us Sondheim fans some of our most adored songs, like “Ladies Who Lunch” and “Being Alive.” Through a series of dinner parties, first dates, and candid conversations, Bobby explores the highs, lows, and absurdities of modern relationships, gaining insight into marriage, commitment, and his own persistent bachelorhood. Garden Theatre’s founding artistic director Logan Vaden, plays Bobby, alongside a cast of Garden regulars.

The Designated Mourner from Catastrophic Theatre (April 10-25)
Because of scheduling and production issues, Catastrophic made some changes to its announced season and brought back this contemporary political classic by American playwright and actor Wallace Shawn. Unfolding in a series of monologues and short scenes, three characters, a husband, wife, and her father, talk us through a labyrinthine tale spanning the years before, during, and after a populist uprising in an unnamed country. Now teetering on the edge of authoritarianism, the government has targeted artists and intellectuals for imprisonment and execution. Catastrophic co-founder Jason Nodler, who will direct, says the power of Designated Mourner is that it pushes audiences to reflect on their own beliefs and ideals if confronted by such circumstances. Previous productions have left audiences thinking and questioning long after the final lines.

Spamalot presented by Theatre Under the Stars (April 15-26)
Clap your coconut shells together as the revival of the smash Broadway hit clops into Houston. As the original description so honestly stated, Spamalot is lovingly ripped from the film classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but fans know the musical definitely expands on the film.

Follow King Arthur and his nights of the Round Table on a set of meandering adventures through ancient England, a land full of flying cows, killer rabbits, French taunters, dancing girls, shrubbery, and watery lake tarts dispensing swords. While this revival garnered critical acclaim on Broadway for its new design and staging, the original book, lyrics, and music by Python member Eric Idle still remain, so expect to sing along with knightly songs like “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” “The Song That Goes Like This,” and “Find Your Grail.”

Othello from Classical Theatre Company (April 16-May 2)
The Houston theater company that specializes in bringing new perspectives to theatrical masterpieces describes its 18th season as “sad plays for sad days.” In keeping with that theme, it brings the always complex and provocative Othello to the DeLuxe stage.

The play follows the heroic Moorish general in the Venetian army, Othello, whose life is destroyed by his insidious and conniving ensign, Iago. Calling Othello his favorite Shakespeare play, company founder John Johnston finds many parallels between the play and our current political landscape, especially Othello’s blight and Iago’s ability to manipulate others using fear and racism as a wedge.

Messiah from Houston Grand Opera (April 17-May 3)
As the music rises to the heavens, the Wortham stage will be filled with images reminiscent of fantastic dreams in this rare staging of Handel’s Messiah, arranged by Mozart, as a full operatic production. Though classical music lovers likely are more accustomed to hearing Handel’s Messiah as a holiday tradition in concert halls, Wilson’s acclaimed production becomes a surreal, transformative experience.

Performed by the HGO Orchestra and Chorus alongside soprano Ying Fang, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Benjamin Bliss, and bass-baritone Nicholas Newtona, as well as internationally celebrated dancer Alexis Fousekis, this Messiah production will be one audiences will not soon forget.

Fences at Alley Theatre (April 17-May 10)
It’s been some time since the Alley produced a work by August Wilson, one of the great American playwrights of the late 20th century, but this Pulitzer and Tony winner is certainly a momentous one to welcome Wilson’s work back to the Hubbard stage. Fences tells the story of a former baseball player, Troy Maxson, who struggles with the realities of life and the pursuit of happiness. The play explores themes of racial prejudice and unfulfilled dreams, while depicting the challenges of parenthood and the strength and bonds of family when they are tested.

The Barber of Seville from Houston Grand Opera (April 24-May 10)
One of the most beloved comic operas, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville gets a colorful and exhilarating new staging created and directed by Joan Font, founding director of the Barcelona-based company Comediants. The opera follows the story of the dashing Count Almaviva, who is captivated by the mysterious Rosina but thwarted in his pursuit by her pompous old guardian, Dr. Bartolo. In order to get close to the cloistered beauty, Almaviva enlists the help of the scheming barber Figaro and his clever tricks, leading to a series of elaborate disguises, intercepted letters, and outrageous mix-ups before true love triumphs at last.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Six.

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