Weekend Event Planner

Drake, Kenny Chesney and Symphony speed painter top best weekend events in Houston

Memorial Day weekend in Houston promises to be memorable, with the return of a cultural diversity festival, two great theater productions, and big name concerts for country, rock and hip hop fans.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, May 21

Carnival Houston 2015
For the second year in a row, multiple locations around Houston will host Carnival Houston events, a festival to celebrate the life and cultural diversity of the Bayou City. Among the activities during the four-day festival, lasting through Sunday, will be a gala, a pageant, a paint party, a street parade and festival, an after party and a fun-day with picnic and games.

Alley Theatre presents Kneehigh's Tristan and Yseult
This is your last chance to see Britain’s acclaimed Kneehigh theater company make their Texas debut with this very contemporary retelling of the ancient Tristan and Yseult tale. Taking place at the Alley Theatre's temporary space at the University of Houston through Sunday, this innovative theatrical experience incorporates music, comedy, dance and moments of acrobatic flight to portray the emotional heights and depths of those loved and unloved.

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Newsies
Based on the 1992 Disney movie musical flop, Newsies somehow found renewed life on Broadway, earning hosannas from both critics and audiences, and winning two Tony Awards for choreography and original score. The high-energy musical about the 1899 New York City newsboys strike runs at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday.

Friday, May 22

Comicpalooza
With more than 2,000 hours of programming at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Comicpalooza is the largest pop-culture event in Texas after SXSW. Among the stars at the four-day extravangaza, which ends on Memorial Day, are Jeremy Renner, Stan Lee, George Takei, Henry Winkler, Linda Blair, the cast of Gotham and several cast members from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The Big Revival Tour with Kenny Chesney featuring Jake Owen and Chase Rice
Country superstar Kenny Chesney has had a lot of fun in Texas recently, receiving an honorary trophy at the 50th annual ACM Awards at AT&T Stadium in Arlington before returning there last weekend for a concert. That tour will make its way south to BBVA Compass Stadium, with Chesney supporting his 2014 album, The Big Revival. He'll be joined by Jake Owen and Chase Rice.

Houston Symphony Paintjam Concert Experience
Houston-based speed painter Dan Dunn joins the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall for the world premiere of The Paintjam Concert Experience. Dunn will choreograph his speed painting to the Houston Symphony’s performance of songs like Tyzik’s The Great Westerns Suite, "Bohemian Rhapsody," music from Gladiator, John Lennon’s "Imagine," selections from Ravel’s Mother Goose and more. There will be a live auction of the eight works Dunn is expected to paint during each show.

Saturday, May 23

Bay Day Festival
The annual Bay Day Festival celebrates the multiple uses of the Galveston Bay system. Among the highlights of the the one-day festival, taking place at Kemah Boardwalk, are bay-themed arts and crafts, live animal demonstrations and touch tanks, a scavenger hunt, live music and more.

Memorial Day Weekend in The Woodlands
Memorial Day weekend doesn't rival, say, the Fourth of July when it comes to patriotic celebrations, but you can still enjoy a good time at Town Green Park in The Woodlands with this event. On both Saturday and Sunday there will be concerts, fun activities, vendor booths and night-ending fireworks, all of it for free.

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators in concert with Fozzy
Axl Rose may have never been able to move on from Guns N' Roses, but guitarist Slash has had no such issues. He formed a side project even before the breakup of that iconic band, and has been working steadily since, including with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators on his latest album, World on Fire. He'll perform at the House of Blues with Fozzy as opening act.

Sunday, May 24

Drake in concert
Canadian rapper Drake has come a long way since the beginning of his music career, to the point that even his mixtapes can hit the top of the charts. He'll come back to the Houston area for the second time in less than a year, this time playing at Toyota Center in support of his 2015 mixtape, If You're Reading This It's Too Late.

Drake will perform at Toyota Center on May 24.

Photo by Chinh Phan

Drake will perform at Toyota Center on May 24.

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Movie review

Will Arnett shines in Bradley Cooper’s divorce drama Is This Thing On?

Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald

Will Arnett in Is This Thing On?.

With 12 Oscar nominations in the past 12 years in multiple categories, Bradley Cooper has turned into not only an acclaimed actor, but also a touted filmmaker. Given that pedigree, it might be difficult to remember that he first gained recognition as a comedy star in movies like Wedding Crashers, Yes Man, and The Hangover series. For his latest directorial effort, he has married comedy with drama in Is This Thing On?.

Unlike the previous two films he directed, Cooper only has a supporting role, ceding the lead to Will Arnett. He plays Alex Novak, who, as the film begins, is starting the process of divorce from his wife of 20 years, Tess (Laura Dern). Forced to move to a depressing apartment in New York City and only getting limited time with his two kids, Alex finds the unexpected outlet of stand up comedy when he signs up for open mic night at the famous Comedy Cellar.

The film follows Alex as he continues to pursue comedy while still having to see Tess on a regular basis, thanks to a shared custody agreement and get-togethers with friends like Balls and Christine (Cooper and Andra Day) and Stephen and Geoffrey (real life couple Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle). While the comedy serves as a form of counseling for Alex, truly moving on proves more difficult than expected.

The film, co-written by Cooper with Arnett and Mark Chappell, is loosely based on the real-life story of British comedian John Bishop, so one of the biggest things they needed to get right was the comedy itself. Alex’s marital situation lends his comedy more of a confessional style than actual jokes, and his evolution in that space is done well. Shooting in the actual Comedy Cellar and populating the club with real comedians like Amy Sedaris, Jordan Jensen, Reggie Conquest, and more gives those scenes an extra dose of realism.

As if to underscore the personal and emotional nature of the story, Cooper and cinematographer Matthew Libatique make liberal use of closeups with handheld cameras. The camera is constantly moving around and often seems to be right in the actors’ faces, something that is most noticeable when Alex is performing. As if the stories Alex was telling weren’t intimate enough, having Arnett's entire face fill the frame forces the audience to pay attention to what his character is saying.

If there is something to knock about the film, it’s a lack of dramatic stakes. While there’s natural tension between Alex and Tess due to the divorce, it’s way less than in a movie like, say, Marriage Story. There’s also a sneaking suspicion that Cooper was just looking to have fun with the film, casting himself as the comic sidekick and working with good friends like Arnett and Hayes. If ever there was a good hang divorce movie, this is it.

Arnett rarely gets to be in movies, much less as the lead, but he ably embodies this somewhat dramatic part. It helps that he’s given a great scene partner like Dern, who knows when to dial her acting up or down for a particular situation. Cooper and Day are also good despite their story being slightly superfluous, and Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s parents lend the film some extra gravitas.

Is This Thing On? is a much different type of film from Cooper’s first two directorial efforts, A Star is Born and Maestro, and it’s nice to see the filmmaker offer something new. It has a relatable story for anyone who has ever been married while offering an element of uniqueness with someone discovering an undiscovered skill late in life.

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Is This Thing On? opens wide in theaters on January 9.