The new year brings a flurry of great theater this month. Broadway lovers will get quite a treat as we’ve got three touring blockbuster musicals making Houston stops this month, while HGO brings us one of the grandest classical musicals of them all, West Side Story. Along with all that music, Houston theater fills our new year with comedies, romance, dramatic local history, and marriage advice from our favorite wild nun.
Book of Mormon presented by Broadway at Hobby Center (January 7-12)
Start 2025 with a hilarious bang, as one of the most outrageous musicals to grace a Broadway stage makes a missionary stop in Houston. Though definitely not for kids or the faint of comic heart, the musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with Frozen songwriter and EGOT winner Robert Lopez, went on to win multiple Tony awards. The explicit language-laced comedy does have a lot of heart as it follows the adventures of a mismatched pair of Mormon missionaries, sent halfway across the world to spread the good word in song.
Fade To Black Reading Series at MATCH (January 9-12)
From its founding in 2012, the Fade To Black Play Festival has made a national name for itself by giving African-American playwrights across the country a stage and eager audience to showcase new and in-progress work. This year’s festival will showcase eight new 10-minute plays written by unique voices around the country, including Houston and Texas playwrights.
December a Love Years in the Making at Alley Theatre (January 17-February 2)
Workshopped at the Alley’s prestigious All New Festival, this world premiere by award-winning playwright Marisela Treviño Orta tells the story of an unusual May-December romance between a creative writing professor and her former student who exchange time-defying words of love through letters and poetry. A younger and more mature set of actors play both characters as love changes and evolves over the years.
& Juliet presented by Broadway at Hobby Center (January 21-26)
The smart, hilarious book from Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek writer, David West Read, along with a banger of a playlist from songwriter and record producer Max Martin made this vivacious jukebox musical a smash on Broadway and London’s West End. The shows poses the question: what if Anne (Shakespeare’s wife, not the actress) Hathaway has editorial notes for her hubby as he writes Romeo & Juliet, and what if that includes Juliet ditching dead Romeo and living her best life in Paris? As both Anne and Will insert themselves into the narrative, Juliet finds her groove singing songs you’ll likely know every lyric, from "Since U Been Gone” to “It’s My Life,” “Stronger,” and “I Want It That Way.”
La bohème from Houston Grand Opera (January 24-Febraury 14)
HGO lines up Grammy-winning artists for the opening production of their winter repertoire. One of opera’s greatest and beloved tragedies, Puccini’s La bohème tells the story of the great loves and losses amid the struggling artists of 19th century Paris. Originally created by Tony Award- winning director John Caird, this production’s intimate set, constructed from paintings and canvases, will transport us to the belle époque Paris, where tragedy awaits the opera’s beguiling band of bohemians.
Soprano sensation Yaritza Veliz makes her HGO debut in the role of the fragile Mimì with Grammy Award-winning lyric tenor Joshua Guerrero as her Rodolfo. Other Grammy-winning artists showcased in this revival, a co-production from HGO, Canadian Opera Company, and San Francisco Opera, are baritone Edward Parks in the role of the painter Marcello and celebrated conductor Karen Kamensek.
Camp Logan at Ensemble Theatre (January 24-February 23)
Celebrated Texas playwright Celeste Beford Walker was inspired by true and tragic Houston history when writing this award-winning drama. The gripping play chronicles the lives of six black U.S. soldiers and the incidents leading up to the 1917 racially-charged riot at their Camp Logan base – now home to Houston's Memorial Park. The events led to one of the largest courts martial in U.S history for the members of the 24th Infantry Regiment, and it wasn’t until 2023 that the Army set aside all the convictions, acknowledging the soldiers were not given fair trials.
Mean Girls presented by Theatre Under the Stars (January 28-February 9)
In the early aughts, Tina Fey made a comic/anthropology film about the cutthroat world of high school popularity wars. The movie’s plot, characters, and cutting lines became iconic and then in 2018 Fey partnered with Jeff Richmond (music) and Nell Benjamin (lyrics) to turn the story into a smash musical, which would later be turned into a movie musical. But nothing beats hanging out with these mean girls live and in person. Once again, Cady, Regina, Gretchen and the rest of the girl gang open their burn book at the Hobby Center to sing their way to the top of the class.
’Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3 at Stages (January 29-February 9)
Stages season of celebrating Sister continues. For their hilarious Nun for All Seasons, an add-on to their diverse lineup of plays and musicals for 24-25, Denise Fennell gets back into the habit of giving us a Late Nite Catechism perspective on all the major holidays. In this show, she’ll take us into wedding season, giving us her stern but deeply funny lessons on the Sacraments of Marriage and the Last Rites. As always, classroom participation is a must, so look out for some pointed questions, practical marriage counseling, and maybe even Sister’s own version of The Newlywed Game.
The Foreigner at A.D. Players (January 29-February 23)
If you’ve made a new year's resolution to laugh more, try this award-winning classic 80s farce. Through a set of outrageous circumstances, a shy British man named Charlie must pretend to be an “exotic” foreigner who doesn’t know English while visiting a rural Georgia vacation lodge. As Charlie tries to get some much needed rest amid a lodge-full of colorful characters, the misunderstandings and mistaken identities pile up. As local lies and secrets are revealed to this innocent foreigner, an explosive comic ending might just lead to a new life for all the underdogs in this charming story. Timing is everything when it comes to fast-paced farce, so we’re looking forward to seeing these experienced comic Players in action.
West Side Story from Houston Grand Opera (January 31-February 15)
Last fall, HGO ended their 23-24 season with a dynamic production of the classic musical, The Sound of Music. This month, they’ll slip on their musical dancing shoes again with the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim masterpiece of American musical theater, West Side Story.
Directed by the legendary Francesca Zambello, who also directed Sound of Music, and co-produced by HGO, Glimmerglass Festival, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, HGO originally offered this production in 2018 at their special George R. Brown stage when the company was displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Now opera and musical lovers will have a chance to see and hear it in the full grandeur of the Wortham Center. Soprano Shereen Pimentel makes her HGO debut as Maria, the role that won her an Outer Critics Circle Award on Broadway. The stellar cast also includes Grammy Award-winning tenor Brenton Ryan as Tony and acclaimed Broadway artist Kyle Coffman, who also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film version, in his HGO debut as Riff.
The Heart Sellers at Stages (January 31-February 23)
For what maybe the most timely show of the month, Stages gives us the Houston premiere of this Lloyd Suh play that’s garnered accolades across the country. Set in the 1970s, after the Hart–Celler Act removed some barriers for Eastern European and Asian immigration, The Heart Sellers depicts the lives of two recent immigrant women — one from the Philippines and the other South Korea. After first meeting in the grocery store on Thanksgiving while their husbands are at work, the two women find a commonality in their daily loneliness. Over wine and a somewhat-questionable frozen turkey, they share laughs, tears, and their American dreams, such as disco dancing, learning to drive, and visiting Disneyland. Their evening of kinship offers hope for friendship and connection that transcends cultural barriers.
The works focus on Lennon's themes of peace and human communication.Images Courtesy of Yoko Ono © Yoko Ono 
