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Houston hero Solange Knowles comes home for weeklong performance series

Solange Knowles is coming home.

From June 10-20, the Grammy-award winner and her artist collective, Saint Heron, will present six distinctive performances as part of Eldorado Ballroom Houston at three renowned venues: Eldorado Ballroom, Jones Hall, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The Houston native launched the Eldorado Ballroom series in 2023 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a tribute to her hometown. Since that initial performance, Knowles has reimagined Eldorado Ballroom, including a performance at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles in October 2024. Now, Knowles is bringing the series to its inspiration and namesake.

Eldorado Ballroom Houston serves as a reflection and time to honor pioneering Black artists, while also showcasing current creatives. Houston takes center stage with a forward-looking celebration of its musical roots, spotlighting Chopped and Screwed's lasting influence and the creative impact of the city’s Nigerian and African communities.

The series also honors Black folk and Zydeco music, Black female classical composers, devotional gospel traditions, and contemporary performance art.

Several artists will represent Bayou City during the weeklong event, including musicians from the Houston Symphony, interdisciplinary Houston-born artist Autumn Knight, Nigerian-American artist and Houston native Dozie Kanu, and Houston-based sound selectors HYPERFEMME and Big Ace.

“We’re thrilled to work with Solange and Saint Heron to present her vision right here in her hometown,” said Performing Arts Houston president and CEO Meg Booth in a statement. “Collaborating with Solange, Saint Heron, and Project Row Houses to shine a light on the Eldorado’s legacy of inspiring Black creativity and community with so many great artists is an enormous honor.”

In addition, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will host two free screenings of Saint Heron’s film Monuments are Here. The film centers on Gene “Shady the Great” Thomas, a vocalist for Parliament Funkadelic.

“Project Row Houses appreciates that Solange makes sure our community is always part of her story,” Wilson said. “Solange has given us another great gift with this event — the opportunity to work with Performing Arts Houston. We look forward to exceptional artists from around the world empowering people and enriching our community through engagement, art, and direct action.”

Fans were first introduced to Saint Heron in 2013, when Solange Knowles released a compilation album of the same name through her record label. What began as a digital hub for amplifying Black artistry in music and culture has since evolved into an institution encompassing a studio, creative agency, library, and art gallery.

“We could not be more excited about Solange Knowles' return to Third Ward and the Eldorado Ballroom at Project Row Houses,” said Danielle Burns Wilson, Project Row House’s executive director. “She is so much a part of this building's history — her creative energy has reverberated in the ballroom's air since A Seat at the Table. Now, she'll be back to deepen that connection and supercharge the energy in this historic venue.”

Courtesy of Performing Arts Houston

Solange Knowles is coming home for six performances in June.

Knowles has remained connected to her roots through generous donations to Project Row Houses and nine simultaneous screenings across the Third Ward of her 2019 short film, When I Get Home.

Early access is now open for Performing Arts Houston members. General admission opens at 10 am on April 22 at performingartshouston.org/eldorado.

On Dissonance (An Evening of Classical, Symphonic, and Opera Works); Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 pm; Jones Hall
Type of Guest; Wednesday, June 11 at 7:30 pm; Eldorado Ballroom
Monuments Are Here; Thursday, June 12 at 5 pm & 7:30 pm; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Paper in My Shoe; Saturday, June 14 at 7:30 pm; Eldorado Ballroom
Glory to Glory (A Revival for Spiritual and Devotional Work); Sunday, June 15 at 6:30 pm; Jones Hall
Go Slow; Friday, June 20; Location TBD

performing-arts celebrities eldorado ballroom solange knowles

Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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