Theater Takes Center Stage

Houston Theater Week is your cue to say yes to a great night out

For anyone who has ever said, “We should really go see a show sometime,” Houston Theater Week is the perfect excuse to make it happen.

Houston Theater Week presented by Huntington Bank returns August 24-30, offering buy one, get one free tickets to nearly 400 live performances from 21 participating performing arts organizations. From theater and opera to ballet, chamber music, contemporary dance, and symphony performances, the annual celebration makes experiencing Houston’s world-class performing arts scene easier — and a whole lot more affordable.

The program has become a much-anticipated Houston tradition, and for good reason. Since 2022, Theater Week has helped sell more than 118,000 tickets and generated nearly $5 million in revenue for local performing arts organizations. That milestone reflects not only Houston’s appetite for live performance, but also the impact of the partnership between Houston First Corporation and the city’s professional arts community.

For audiences, the appeal is simple: Buy one ticket, get another free, and suddenly that show that seemed like a “maybe someday” becomes an easy night out. It’s also a chance to discover something completely new, whether that means trading a familiar comedy for contemporary dance, trying opera for the first time, or seeing a local theater company that has somehow remained off the radar. And there is plenty to discover.

This year’s lineup spans familiar classics, ambitious new productions, historical stories, multicultural performances, innovative works, and plenty of uniquely Houston experiences. Several productions also offer a particularly good reason to make plans.

At Alley Theatre, the 80th season is a milestone worth celebrating, with a remarkable legacy that includes 754 productions and 53 world premieres. Audiences can also catch A Christmas Carol as part of the holiday offerings featured during Theater Week.

For a classic holiday tradition, Houston Symphony’s Handel’s Messiah delivers stirring vocals, lush orchestration, and the kind of grand, goosebump-inducing moments that make live music especially magical this time of year.

Handel’s Messiah at The Houston SymphonyPhoto courtesy of Houston First

Stages has some especially intriguing options, including Come From Away, the Tony Award-winning musical about the extraordinary kindness and community that emerged after the September 11 attacks. This marks the first Houston-produced production of the musical, with an entirely local cast and creative team.

For something considerably more out of this world, One-Man Star Wars Trilogy puts the entire original Star Wars trilogy into the hands of a single performer. It's a “you have to see it to believe it” kind of theatrical experience. Silent Sky, meanwhile, tells the true story of astronomer Henrietta Leavitt and celebrates women in science, a theme that feels particularly at home in Space City.

Families have plenty of reasons to join the fun, too. Houston Grand Opera will present a family-friendly version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with an American premiere production and a bilingual English/Spanish Family Day version directed by Houston-based soprano Ana María Martínez. It’s a playful introduction to opera for younger audiences and a chance for parents to prove that opera can, in fact, be fun.

Plus, don't miss the iconic Show Boat, one of the most influential works in American musical theater. It features unforgettable music and a sweeping story of love, ambition, and life along the Mississippi River, with memorable songs, romance, drama, and a richly layered story that has captivated audiences for generations.

Theatre Under The Stars brings more family shows to the stage including the beloved musical The Music Man to the stage, packed with toe-tapping tunes, charming characters, and plenty of old-fashioned theatrical fun. And of course, the legendary tale of The Little Mermaid invites audiences under the sea, where Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder, and friends take the stage in a dazzling musical adventure.

Photo courtesy of Houston First

Show Boat at Houston Grand Opera

Accessibility is also part of the Theater Week experience. The Hobby Center’s Theater for Everyone initiative includes sensory-inclusive performances designed to create a more comfortable and welcoming environment for guests with sensory sensitivities. The performances feature trained staff, sensory supports, and flexible audience expectations without changing the performance itself.

For those who like their performances with a strong local connection, Houston Ballet opens its 2026-27 season with Pecos Bill, a larger-than-life, unmistakably Texan work inspired by the legendary cowboy.

Pecos Bill at Houston BalletPhoto courtesy of Houston First

Ballet fans can also experience Houston Ballet’s Manon, a richly dramatic tale of passion, desire, and doomed romance brought to life through powerful choreography and expressive storytelling.

Performing Arts Houston will present Dear Prairie View, a world-premiere work by Houston choreographer Harrison Guy celebrating Prairie View A&M’s 150th anniversary. And ROCO’s season features a world premiere in every concert, including new work by Composer in Residence Jessica Meyer and an interactive concerto by GRAMMY-winning video game composer Austin Wintory.

Of course, Theater Week isn't just about checking a show off the bucket list. It is about supporting the artists, musicians, dancers, technicians, designers, directors, and countless other professionals who make Houston’s performing arts scene possible. It gives local arts organizations a chance to introduce themselves to new audiences while giving Houstonians a reason to explore the incredible cultural offerings in their own backyard.

The BOGO tickets can even double as a thoughtful gift for a birthday, anniversary, date night, or special occasion. With so many options, there’s no shortage of reasons to bring someone along.

Tickets go on sale August 24 using promo code HTW26. The complete lineup and participating organizations are available at HoustonTheaterWeek.com. With nearly 400 performances to choose from, the hardest part may be deciding what to see first.

arts & culture houston theater weeks night out promoted theater

Movie Review

Spielberg-inspired movie The End of Oak Street is a dino-snore

Photo by Daniel McFadden

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway in The End of Oak Street.

Steven Spielberg is the iconic director of the last 50 years, so it’s no surprise that many other filmmakers have borrowed from his classic films. But most of the time those come in the form of references or homages, not straight up theft, which is what it feels like watching The End of Oak Street play out in front of your eyes.

Set in the early 1980s in an idyllic suburban neighborhood of an unnamed city, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents to two teenagers, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). They’re also possibly heading toward divorce, as Audrey is secretly writing a novel with a thinly-veiled plot about their life, and Brian is cagey about having to earn extra money with a pizza delivery job.

That all gets put on the backburner when a mysterious event takes their entire neighborhood back to the time of dinosaurs. Armed with little more than a shotgun and sledgehammer, Audrey and Brian do their best to keep the family safe in their house. But the longer the ordeal goes on, circumstances force them out onto the streets and into the increasing danger that’s all around them.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, the film tries immensely hard to be like the Spielberg movies its filmmaker clearly adores, but fails at almost every turn. It never earns the broken family in ‘80s suburbia vibes that were prevalent in E.T., going all in right away in the opening scene with a neighborhood block party that feels forced. Other elements like a bully who has it out for Brian, the family dog that disappears, and an angry neighbor come across as the tropes they are and not as organic parts of the plot.

When it finally gets to its dinosaur sequences, they pale in comparison to those found in Jurassic Park. The strange manner in which the dinosaurs appear is a big part of that, but the action involving them forgoes ominous moments that could build tension for those that play up gore in an unexpected way for a PG-13 movie. Many of the attacks have so little emotional meaning that they come off as comical, which is entertaining but in a hollow way.

As if those weren’t enough, Mitchell — perhaps at the behest of producer J.J. Abrams (who made his own Spielbergian film, Super 8) — tries to honor Spielberg in other ways. Just like in Jaws, he employs the use of a split diopter lens, which keeps characters in both the foreground and background in focus. But instead of using it judiciously, it’s brought out in three separate scenes, including a laughable one with the four family members where it turns into overkill.

Hathaway, coming off of a role in The Odyssey that could earn her an Oscar nomination, is the best part of this film. But even her evident skills are dragged down by the ridiculousness of the story, which requires hysterics that even she can’t sell. McGregor can normally be counted on for a good performance, but he gives several line readings with strange cadences that make his already-underwritten character come off worse. Stella and Convery are okay, but their roles are unmemorable overall.

Mitchell and his team can never settle on exactly what type of film they were trying to make, and so even though The End of Oak Street has a few moments that work, they’re surrounded by many others that don’t. In trying to emulate Spielberg — there’s even a blatant Back to the Future (produced by Spielberg) rip-off towards the end — all Mitchell has done is show how difficult it is to be the master.

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The End of Oak Street opens in theaters on August 14.