a totally lit yuletide

Downtown Houston lights up the holidays with 8 winter wonderlands, ice skating, markets, and more

Every great city boasts a great downtown holiday celebration — take Christmas in New York City, for example. The Bayou City is no different, as it toasts the 2022 yuletide season with a downtown, stroll-worthy event.

Aptly titled City Lights Downtown Holiday Magic, the holiday fun offers up eight unique, themed villages/venues located across downtown. Visitors can enjoy holiday markets, winter lights, a hot chocolate bar, roaming carolers, movie nights, sweet treats, and more.

Things kick off at 5:30 pm on Friday, November 18 with an official, ceremonial lighting at Avenida Houston's plaza. These experiences are mostly free, open to the public, and run through January 2, 2023 — just in time for nights out, weekend fun, staycations, or a trip for visiting friends and family.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the official site regularly, where they can sign up for the free City Lights Pass and even enter a drawing to win holiday-themed experiences every week.

“This will be an exciting holiday season as downtown Houston transforms itself into a signature wonderland unlike anything we have seen in years past,” said Michael Heckman, CEO of Houston First Corp., in a statement. “From the elaborate holiday villages to skating on the largest outdoor ice-skating rink in the southwest, families and visitors will now have multiple opportunities to make new holiday memories.”

Here's what to expect with the holiday village fun downtown, per organizers Houston First Corp. and Central Houston, Inc.

Plaza at Avenida - Deck the Trees and live music

The Grand Holiday Window at the George R. Brown Convention Center facing Avenida de las Americas is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with 30 artfully decorated holiday trees — all perfect for those Instagram moments. Live music from the Avenida Concert Series will add to the ambience; check the performance schedule here. This event benefits the Alley Theatre’s educational community and artistic initiatives.

Marriott Marquis - Texas Winter Lights

One of Texas' most picturesque hotel rooftops is bringing back a poolside tradition. Each year, fans pack Texas Winter Lights, an interactive walk-through - or float–under–lights experience at the Marriott Marquis Downtown's Altitude Rooftop & Pool. Visitors can enjoy more than 30 festive beverage offerings, a new interactive graffiti wall, and nightly snowfall, or a poolside movie every Thursday at nightfall. More fun includes the Marriott’s Grove of Trees, the Archway of Lights, and the lazy river, which is heated to a perfect 80 degrees all winter long. Tickets start at $25 for non-guest days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only); event runs through January 8, 2023.

Discovery Green - Holiday Ice Village

An icy Houston downtown tradition returns in the heart of Discovery Green. Ice skaters of all skill levels can look forward to quirky and cool, themed skate nights (many set to a DJ) and even a chance to hit the ice with Santa. Tickets are $17 per person and include a skate rental. More options at the Green include a enjoy a holiday movie under the stars every Thursday night and the park's Solstice Art Installation. Every Saturday in November and December, shoppers can hit Flea by Night for a diverse offering of vendors selling interesting holiday gifts. Check the official Discovery Green site for details.

Hilton Americas - Land of Sweets

The lobby of the Hilton Americas brings back its sweet holiday fun. This year’s chocolate display features hand-sculpted and Minion-themed masterpiece encompassing more than 2,000 pounds of chocolate. To sweeten the deal, the hotel is offering themed packages for potential guests, including treats, ice skating packages, and more.

Wortham Theater – Sugar Plum Plaza

Visions of sugarplums to dance in the iconic Fish Plaza at the entrance of the Wortham Theater. This ode to a holiday classic also presents cheerful tunes amid the Sugar Plum Plaza to gaze at its larger-than-life, custom-built ornaments.

Market Square Park - Mistletoe Square

Downtown's Market Square Park own state bragging rights with Texas’ biggest mistletoe installation, cleverly named Mistletoe Square for the holidays. Grab a loved one (or anyone who'd up for a peck) and smooch under this 150-inch ball of greenery hanging from a giant, 15-foot candy cane — perfectly made for an IG Boomerang. For more date night fun, craft a gingerbread house with Phoenicia Specialty Foods or catch a holiday movie under the lights. Check www.marketsquarepark.com for details.

Main Street Square – Santa’s Village

Here comes Santa Claus — specifically, to Main Street. Score a photo with Kris Kringle every Friday and Saturday starting at 6 pm at Santa’s Village in Main Street Square, which is centered by lit, 40-foot water bursts and a 250-foot-long, eight-inch-deep reflecting pool. After hanging with Mr. Claus, explore a series of holiday markets happening every Friday and Saturday.

Winter Wanderland on Bagby Street

The totally lit fun on Bagby Street is highlighted — literally — by some 100,000 twinkling LED lights that span from the newly updated Bagby Street and Lamar to Preston. Don't miss the giant angel wings, constellation arches, and an 80-foot light tunnel across from The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts for those picture-perfect holiday photo opps.

Photo courtesy of Central Houston

Take a walk in the Winter Wonderland.

Movie Review

Wicked: For Good clings to the musical and misses out on movie magic

Photo by Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked: For Good.

Splitting the film adaptation of the musical Wicked into two parts makes a certain kind of sense beyond the financial incentive of making fans pay for two films. Like most stage musicals, there’s a definitive break between the two acts, and it’s hard to resist going out on the high note of “Defying Gravity” for the first film. And expanding the story for the films puts the entire story at around 5 hours, much too long for one sitting.

However, separating them puts a spotlight on the strengths and weaknesses of each act of the musical, and it's a popular opinion that the second act is inferior to the first act. In the awkwardly-named Wicked: For Good, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is firmly ensconced as the Wicked Witch of the West, striking fear in people across Oz. Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has ascended as the protector of the land’s citizens, even as she hides the fact that she doesn’t possess the powers that Elphaba does.

The story speeds through a number of different arcs, including Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), becoming governor of Munchkinland; Glinda essentially forcing Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) to commit to marrying her; even more bad revelations involving the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh); and more. Hanging over all of it is the tenuous bond between Elphaba and Glinda, which is tested on multiple occasions.

Director John M. Chu, working from a script by original musical writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, leads the way on the faithful adaptation that is perhaps a bit too faithful. Chu helmed the memorable adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights that brought more life to an already lively production. He accomplished similar results in Wicked part one, but For Good often feels less than cinematic, with many scenes coming off as static and too much like a stage production.

The second film contains a lot of story movement, including the vague or explicit introduction of the four main characters from The Wizard of Oz, providing plenty of opportunity for creative staging or deeper storytelling. Instead, things just sort of happen, with Holzman and Fox failing to see the necessity of connecting story dots in a movie setting. With lots of extra time to work with (the run time is 2 hours and 17 minutes), giving more information about significant events shouldn’t have been an issue, and yet the filmmakers rarely give the audience that luxury.

The songs, as they should be, are the showcase of the film, and yet none of the sequences measure up to the ones in the first film. The rushed storylines make it difficult to connect with emotionally-resonant songs like “As Long As You’re Mine” and “No Good Deed.” “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble,” new songs created for the film for Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, are decent but lack power. “For Good” is the one everyone is waiting for, but it too fails to land properly.

Erivo and Grande certainly give it their all, and when they’re allowed to dig deep into their characters, they make as much of an impact as they did in the first film. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as often, and their characters’ bond suffers. Most of the other actors are done no favors by the whirlwind storytelling, but Goldblum still stands out in his various scenes.

Creating a whole film for the second act of Wicked gave Chu and his team a perfect chance to slow things down and give the events it contains extra meaning. Unfortunately, they turned For Good into something that feels less like an expansive movie and more like a slightly more interesting version of the stage production.

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Wicked: For Good opens in theaters on November 21.

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