Few things signal spring in Houston like the return of Party on the Plaza, the free live concert series presented by Houston First Corporation that runs Friday evenings in April and May.
This year the fun starts April 14 and continues through May 19, bringing a range of music that's as diverse as Houston itself. Expect to hear rock, R&B, Latin, pop, country, and more from 7-9 pm each Friday at Avenida Plaza, downtown's entertainment destination.
While there, snap a pic at the 12-foot selfie display that's surrounded by festive lighting, or duck into one of the delectable restaurants that line the pedestrian plaza.
This year’s Party on the Plaza lineup includes:
Friday, April 14 — The C.I.T.Y. A musical voyage of funk, hip hop, soul, R&B, and more.
Friday, April 21 — Stuart Adams Collective. A genre-defying sound that takes inspiration from the likes of Miles Davis, Robert Glasper, and Erykah Badu.
Friday, April 28 — The Number One Party Band. Playing everything from classic Motown and R&B to the '80s and today's Top 40 hits.
Friday, May 5 — Bulbo. The perfect blend of music in English and Spanish.
Friday, May 12 — Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras. An eclectic group of fun, sing-a-long cover songs that you can’t help but dance to. Openers are Z’maji Glamouratti & Lone Star Discoteq, an ultimate live band experience celebrating dance music’s illustrious past and glittering future.
Friday, May 19 — Mustache The Band. A powerful performance of all your favorite country hits from the 1990s.
Photo courtesy of Party on the Plaza
The free concert series takes over Avenida Plaza.
Learn more about Party on the Plaza and see a complete lis of eateries, shops, and parking info here.
Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.
If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.
Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.
Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.
Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.
Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.
Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.
Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.
