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    best june theater

    'Wicked' games, wild Italian comedy, and little lies headline June theater in Houston

    Tarra Gaines
    Jun 7, 2023 | 4:40 pm

    It’s getting hot out there, Houston. Perfect timing for cool new theater and dance to chill out to this June.

    From tragic swans to wicked witches, devilish deals, a new take on a comic classic, and two new-play festivals, we’ve got a lot on our must-see list this month. Plus, it wouldn’t be a Houston theater summer without a new musical dancing mayhem revue from Tamarie Cooper and the Catastrophic Theatre crew.

    Here are the hottest stage productions this June in Houston.

    Wicked from Broadway at the Hobby Center (through July 2)

    The show that defied gravity — and Broadway conventions and expectations — when it first took to broomstick in 2003 is back for a nice long stay at the Hobby Center.

    Wicked still flies high, with Houston – and world-wide – audiences never getting enough of this story that redefines who’s good and who’s wicked in the land of Oz. Before Dorothy landed via tornado, two witchy legends went on a whole other adventure of sisterhood, love, family, heroism and the occasional flying monkey.

    "Thank Goodness" Elphaba and Galinda have returned to bring some magic to our summer.

    Swan Lake from Houston Ballet (June 8-18)

    National tour of Wicked
      
    Photo by Joan Marcus

    Witch team are you: Elphaba or Galinda? Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Wicked.

    The exquisite tragedy makes a soaring return as the Houston Ballet performs one of the most beloved ballets of all time. This production has quite the history, as the Tchaikovsky-set Swan Lake was the first full-length story ballet that Stanton Welch created as Houston Ballet artistic director in 2006.

    With costumes and set design inspired by John William Waterhouse’s painting The Lady of Shalott by the late Kristian Fredrikson, this Swan Lake has become a favorite of Houston dance lovers. It has also earned international praise after tour to the famed Tokyo Bunka Kaikan theater in Tokyo in October 2022.

    Oh, and a 150-year-old spoiler alert: there’s no happy ending for this fairytale story of a maiden-turned--swan who falls in love with a prince, but what heights she flies along the way.

    The Servant of Two Masters at Alley Theatre (June 9-July 2)

    Alley Theatre artistic director Rob Melrose has translated and also adapted this Carlo Goldoni classic work of Commedia dell’arte that's both a world premiere — and a 200-year-old play.

    Theater lovers might be a little more familiar with the modern adaptation, One Man, Two Guvnors, which the Alley also staged several years ago. But we hear Melrose, who also directs, will take his adaptation back to its original Italian roots with actors wearing the traditional costumes and masks of the traditional comedy style.

    With the entire Alley resident acting company and additional Alley regulars in on the mayhem, expect lots of mistaken identities, outrageous disguises, star-crossed lovers with wacky, not tragic, destinies — and one hungry Harlequin.

    Alley All New Festival at Alley Theatre (June 16-25)

    The annual new play reading fest gives us the (free) chance to discover what may be the big theatrical thing.

    This year brings the freshest new work from several up and coming and award winning women playwrights. Expect tales surrounding a love letter, rural girls and their horses, a DIY séance, a May/December romance, a medical thriller, and even a modern take on The Odyssey from Penelope’s POV.

    This festival brings a multitude of voices and stories to the stage for a week of theatrical discoveries.

    Thunder Knocking on the Door at Stages (June 16-August 6)

    Stages closes out the ’22-’23 season with a bluesy deal with the devil that heats up into a unique love story across generations.

    Weaving the music three-time Grammy Award winner Keb’ Mo’ into this family story, Thunder Knocking tells the story of a mysterious blues guitar-playing stranger who arrives in a small Alabama town with a musical challenge for the offspring of his late rival.

    "Thunder Knocking on the Door is one of those magical experiences in the theatre where a simple family story transforms into an epic fairy tale,” says Stages artistic director Kenn McLaughlin. "There are so many theatrical surprises and so much joy, I still hold the first time I saw this show in 1998 as one of my favorite evenings in the theatre ever.”

    Fade to Black Festival at MATCH (June 22-24)

    Houston’s only national short play festival to spotlight the new works of African-American playwrights returns for its 11th year.

    The guiding formula for the festival is 10-10, as it features 10 plays of 10-minute length that are all new works from a dynamic selection of playwrights.

    Every year, the scripts go through an impressive selection process before the shows make it to full, 10-minute productions. Quite a few of the winning plays come from Houston playwrights, but also look for new works from exciting new voices from across the country.

    Tamarie’s Totally True Revue (plus lies too!) from Catastrophic Theatre (June 23-August 5)

    Tamarie’s back and daring us to discover the whole truth about her weird, wonderful world. As always, Tamarie brings a cool new musical theater revue to our sweltering summers.

    Somehow, she also manages to get her crew of Catastrophic regulars into some of the most outrageous costumes, and dance routines of the year. We hear rumors that everyone from Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Ben Franklin, Kenny Rogers, and Tamarie's psychic high school attendance clerk (!) will make an appearance to tackle the nature of truth, lies, and dental hygiene.

    Smoke on the Mountain at A.D. Players (June 28-July 23)

    Another feel-good summer show that brings a bit of music to our nights, this production transports audiences back to a 1938 Saturday night sing-a-long in a small community in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains.

    Smoke features two dozen rousing bluegrass songs played and sung by the Sanders Family, a traveling family music group making its return to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church after a five-year hiatus.

    As each family member takes a turn sharing an important life event, one thing after another goes awry and they reveal their true — and hilariously imperfect — natures, endearing themselves to us and allowing us to share in their triumphs.

    Phenomenal Woman at Ensemble Theatre (June 29-July 30)

    Ensemble partners with North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre for a “rolling world premiere” of this biographical depiction of the life of acclaimed American poet and icon, Maya Angelou.

    This Phenomenal Woman takes us on an epic journey through her astonishing life story. From the trauma that thrust her into mutism, to the awakening that inspired her to write “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” audiences will experience this monumental, poetic spirit and discover how she developed one of the most celebrated voices of all time.

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    Best May Art

    Floating worlds and immersive experiences top Houston's 9 best new art openings

    Tarra Gaines
    May 8, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    ​“Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!”
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” opens at Artechouse in May.

    After an blooming array of outdoor art installations the last few months, new art takes flight indoors for some rocking immersive shows and stunning exhibitions embracing the natural world. Art and science meet at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Houston Museum of Natural Science, while art and history merge at Rice Moody Center, the CAMH, and the Menil Collection. Houston-based artists also take the spotlight in several big shows across the city.

    “EAT!!” at the Silos in Sawyer Yards (now through May 24)
    This exhibition from local mixed-media artist Diane Gelman showcases the art of dining in a thoughtful-yet-whimsical new way. A feast for the eyes, this new solo exhibition features paintings, sculptures, and installations all about one of our favorite subjects, food. For Gelman, a registered and licensed dietitian, food is a celebration, served with joy, fostering social activity and positivity the world over. It is a universal language that promotes cross-cultural connection, and nourishes both our bodies and souls. “EAT!!” will encourage personal reflection and will be an entire smorgasbord for the senses. Gelman was awarded a 2025 Individual Artists Grant for EAT!! from the City of Houston.

    “Audubon's Birds of America” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (now through September 1)
    Perhaps one of the most famous naturalist books of all time, John James Audubon’s Birds of America series captivated its original 19th century audience with its spectacular, life-sized ornithological illustrations and helped to make birding the hobby that it is today. This fascinating exhibition at the HMNS gives us the chance to see these illustrations up close in all their colorful plumage. Originally organized by the National Museums Scotland, the exhibition includes 46 prints from their rare unbound collection of Birds of America. Along with these magnificent illustrations, the show will explore both the beauty of Audubon’s work and the complexities of his legacy, including Audubon as an adventurer and naturalist legend, as well as the more complex, problematic realities of his actual life.

    “Floating World: A.A.Murakam” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through September 5)
    In the past few years, Houston has become home to so many immersive and interactive art spaces, but the MFAH will always be the pioneer when it comes to giving viewers the chance to play amid the art. Once again, the MFAH has captured art lightning in a bottle, this time literally, with the multi-gallery exhibition by the Tokyo and London-based A.A.Murakami, also know as Azusa Murakami, and Alexander Groves. Melding science, nature, and art, the duo create large-scale immersive landscapes working in mediums of light, fog, plasma, bubbles and sound. Each gallery holds work that is etherial, constantly transforming and will never be the same with each visit. Expect “Floating Worlds” to be a local social media art star by June.

    “This is the first exhibition in a U. S. museum of the work of these remarkable artists,” noted MFAH director Gary Tinterow. “The term that A.A.Murakami has used to characterize their work, 'Ephemeral Tech,' aptly captures the uncanny nature of these mesmerizing environments, which rely on the latest innovations in artifice and science to evoke the timeless, fleeting moments of nature’s forces.”

    “The Eternal Garden: Titanium Art by Aka Chen” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (now through September)
    This exhibition of work by the renowned Taiwanese artist Aka Chen features 20 sculptures that uniquely combine jewelry artistry and Chinese brush painting using titanium and gemstones. Chen’s unique process involves sculpting the metal under water using precision tools originally designed for medical applications and working at extraordinarily high temperatures. Once shaped, the titanium undergoes an anodization process, revealing a mesmerizing iridescent shimmer. This intricate process culminates in the artful setting of carefully selected gemstones, each enhancing the inherent beauty of the titanium and elevating the pieces into works of art. Chen’s sculptures represent the most delicate objects and creatures in nature, like flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies, but are formed by some of the strongest natural material.

    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” at Artechouse (May 15-August 31)
    When the artful fun house that is Artechouse opened last June, the plan was always to rotate in new installations and exhibition, and this latest one will surely rock our art world. This immersive video experience takes audiences on a 50-minute rock ‘n’ roll journey through music history, dropping them into a 270-degree, floor-to-ceiling, 18K-resolution digital canvas and state-of-the-art surround sound. Putting viewers right in the midst of rock history and classic concerts, “Amplified” features rare footage from live performance and behind-the-scenes and candid artist moments, exclusive portrait sessions, album art, and posters. Artechouse says “Amplified delivers one of the most comprehensive collections of rock ‘n’ roll imagery ever assembled and includes the work of 500 photographers and film directors."

    “The Space Between Looking and Loving: Francesca Fuchs and the de Menil House” at Menil Collection (May 23-November 2)
    This show of the acclaimed Houston-based artist’s latest work was inspired by a 50-year-old letter that John de Menil wrote to Fuchs’s father, a German classical archeologist, when seeking his expertise on a sculpture in Menil’s private collection. Decades late, Fuchs found a photo of that piece in her father’s personal effects. “The Space Between” becomes Fuchs’s response to John’s unanswered letter, in the form of her painting various objects, including other art work, from the de Menil House. Through her own artwork, Fuchs reflects on the nature of everyday objects, attempting to capture their fundamental truths. For this series of paintings, Fuchs researched hundreds of photographs taken of the de Menil’s home and studied how artworks were moved through the interior spaces throughout the decades.

    “Francesca’s sincere and inspired approach to researching the de Menil house and permanent collection has generated a refreshingly original and rich perspective on the lives of objects collected by John and Dominique de Menil,” described Menil Collection curator, Paul R. Davis. “Her enduring pursuit of painting compels us to think about the layered and fungible meanings of everyday objects.”

    “Figurative Histories” at Rice Moody Center (May 30-August 16)
    For their dynamic summer exhibition, the Moody Center celebrates Texas-based artists Letitia Huckaby, Earlie Hudnall, Jr., David McGee, and Delita Martin. Besides hailing from the Lone Star State, these four artists also create figurative artwork influenced by their personal histories and socio-political themes. Their work often depicts the human body and uses images from the past to understand the present. Many of the pieces in the exhibition also explore historical absences, especially the lack of Black representation in traditional Western art.

    The exhibition will include photographs by Earlie Hudnall, Jr. of daily life in Houston’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth Wards, eight portraits from Letitia Huckaby’s acclaimed “A Living Requiem” series. The show will also feature seven large-scale watercolors from David McGee’s “Avenging Angels” series, more than one hundred works on paper from his “Tarot Cards” series, and brand new works by Delita Martin, drawn from her “Song Keepers” series, which honors the presence of Black women in history, memory, and spirit.

    “Clément Cogitore: Collective Memories” at Rice Moody Center (May 30-August 16)
    Presented in adjacent galleries, these two video installations from the renowned French artist, director, and photographer, Cogitore, create a dialogue with each other about the nature of community performance and collective energy. The first film, Les Indes galantes, offers a contemporary version of the the 18th century Baroque opera ballet by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. In this reimagining, classic ballet is replaced with krumping, a dance style popularized in South Central Los Angeles in the early 2000s. The second video, Morgestraich (2022), pays tribute to the Carnival of Basel, an event held in Switzerland since the Middle Ages. The piece features elaborately dressed carnival participants against a dark backdrop, walking continually toward an invisible crowd.

    “Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe” at Contemporary Arts Museum (May 30-March 29, 2026)
    This mid-career survey of the award-winning, Houston-born artist will showcase nearly a decade of her multidisciplinary work, including painting, printmaking, video, photography, fiber, and sculpture. Jackson creates much of her art through a research process grounded in interviews with local community members, historians, and advocates. Jackson weaves together color theory and these discovered histories to explore themes of land, labor, and law — culminating in vibrant pieces that celebrate the empowerment of disenfranchised groups within American democracy.

    “My family is a product of the Great Migration route from Texas to California and I am thrilled to bring Across The Universe to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston,” Jackson said in a statement. “This opportunity to share more than 10 years of my work visualizing public narratives across disciplines to the city of my birth is a long held dream come true.”

    \u200b\u201cRolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!\u201d
      
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience!” opens at Artechouse in May.
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