Replacement already in place

Changing of the art guard: C.C. Conner retires from Houston Ballet, continuing aBayou City shakeup

C.C. Conner is retiring effective Feb. 2012.
Photo by © Michelle Watson/CatchLightGroup.com
Jim Nelson, general manager since 2000, will be promoted to the post ofexecutive director.
Conner successfully led a $46.6 million capital campaign that resulted inHouston newest Theater District addition: The Center for Dance.
Photo by © Nic Lehoux/Gensler

Cecil C. Conner, Jr. thinks it's time. After 17 years as the managing director of the Houston Ballet, Conner announced Thursday that he will be retiring in February.

He will pass the reins to the dance company's general manager James Nelson, who will step in as the top dog with a new executive director title.

The announcement wasn't unexpected. The 69-year-old Conner had been telling people that his "swan song" was overseeing the successful opening of the ballet's new $47-million downtown building — the Houston Ballet Center for Dance.

"I'm going to continue to work with the ballet in an informal way, helping with fundraising," Conner told CultureMap. "We've built the new building but we still need to raise money for it. So I'll be helping with that. I'll be working on planned gifts in particular.

"I plan to travel without having to look at my Blackberry every 30 seconds. I look forward to being able to take three-week vacations instead of nine days, without having to respond to email."

His tenure is marked with many achievements, including helping the company transition artistic directors in 2003 (Ben Stevenson served from 1976 -2003 with Stanton Welch succeeding him) and upping the nonprofit's endowment three-fold to about $57.6 million.

Conner came to Houston via The Joffrey Ballet in New York City. A lawyer by training turned arts administrator, his passion for supporting art endeavours extends beyond the Houston Ballet, with Conner serving on the board of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County and as chairman of the Texas Institute for Arts in Education's board. He is currently on the board of the Houston Downtown Alliance.

Inspired by Patricia Schultz 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, Conner plans to continue to check off items from his must-do, must-see list.

On Dec. 2, Houston Ballet's "Jubilee of Dance" will honor Conner's accomplishments.

"Every time the curtain goes up, I feel thrilled that I had something to do with what's happening on stage," he said. "I know that the company will continue to grow, and hope that Houston, the country and the world recognize the Houston Ballet as a major international ballet company."

As a former dancer and the general manager since 2000, Nelson has a holistic view of the nonprofit's operations. He is in charge of 52 dancers, 61 musicians and 180 employees while managing a $19.2 million budget. Nelson has a BBA in finance from the University of Houston and participated in former Mayor Bill White’s Economic Development Mission to China.

Conner says that selecting Jim as his successor was a logical choice as Jim had taken over a good bit of C.C.'s day-to-day operational duties as he focused on getting the Dance Center built.

"Jim and Stanton have a great relationship," Conner added. "And it's really important in this kind of institution where you have a two-headed monster running the thing that you have two people that can work together well. You've got to have that relationship."

The 47-year-old has tough ballet shoes to fill. Though his promotion is endorsed by many — including Glenn McCoy, executive director of the San Francisco Ballet, and Houston Ballet Foundation board chairman Joseph Hafner — it is uncharacteristic for an international arts group of Houston Ballet's size and scope to make such a move without a formal, national search.

Conner's retirement is the latest in a wave of leadership changes at Houston's major art institutions.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is still mourning the loss of Peter Marzio and searching for his replacement. Houston Grand Opera had to quickly restructure its current leadership in response to Anthony Freud's move to Chicago's opera house, going to an insider (Patrick Summers) like the Ballet. And just last year, Mark Hanson took over as Houston Symphony's CEO.

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Movie Review

Michelle Pfeiffer visits Houston in new Christmas movie Oh. What. Fun.

Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Michelle Pfeiffer in Oh. What. Fun.

Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.

That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.

Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.

Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.

The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.

The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.

Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.

Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.

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Oh. What. Fun. is now streaming on Prime Video.

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