weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston on New Year's Eve weekend

Shen Yun leaps into town.

Photo courtesy of Shen Yun

Hard to believe, but 2023 is almost here. Those ready to party on New Year's Eve can check out these parties and events. Folks looking for dining options can find reservations here — and nurse those hangovers at New Year's brunch here.

Other fun includes holiday magic courtesy of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and a funny Cirque romp. Shen Yun leaps into town, and plenty of NYE parties — including a sneaker-themed bash — help you ring in 2023.

Enjoy, stay safe, and have a happy new year. Here are your best bets for New Year's Eve weekend.

Thursday, December 29

Trans-Siberian Orchestra presents The Ghosts of Christmas Eve – the Best of TSO & More

Progressive rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra comes to Houston as part of their 2022 winter tour. They will present a completely updated presentation of the multi-generational holiday tradition. The rock opera features enduring fan favorites like "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," "O’ Come All Ye Faithful," "Good King Joy," "Promises To Keep," and "This Christmas Day." They'll also perform a second set containing more of TSO’s greatest hits and fan-pleasers, including “Wizards In Winter,” “A Mad Russian’s Christmas,” and more. 3 pm.

A Magical Cirque Christmas

In this comedic, musical, and magic-filled holiday experience, world-acclaimed performers and cirque artists take audiences back in time, immersing them in the spirit of the season and performing Christmas classics through the decades. There will be jaw-dropping magic, big laughs, holiday music, and stunning acrobatic performances. Acts returning for this season’s tour include Rola Bola performer and unicyclist Jonathan Rinney, juggler Christopher Stoinev, and foot juggling duo Ray Rodriguez Lara and Henry D’Boyd Collado Green. 7:30 pm.

Improv Houston presents Ms. Pat

Patricia Williams (aka Ms. Pat) is a comedian, author, podcaster, and actress who brings a raw, in-your-face, and hilarious perspective to her work. She has appeared on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening, Netflix’s Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy, TV Guide Network’s Standup in Stilettos, Nickelodeon’s Mom’s Night Out, was just featured in the second season of the Netflix stand-up series Degenerates, and can be seen on the Netflix series The Cabin with Bert Kreischer. 8 pm (7:30 and 9:45 pm Friday; 7 and 9:30 pm Saturday).

Friday, December 30

Shen Yun

Shen Yun’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, deeply moving journey. Featuring one of the world’s most ancient and richest dance systems — classical Chinese dance- along with dynamic animated backdrops and all-original orchestral works, Shen Yun opens a portal to a civilization of enchanting beauty and enlightening wisdom. While Shen Yun cannot perform in China today, it’s sharing this precious heritage with the world. 7:30 pm (1 pm Saturday; 2 & 7 pm Sunday).

Quippie (Queer + Hippie) Rise: New Year’s Party

Trade crowded bars for a one-of-a-kind, free-thinking NYE. Groove to conscious creatives, good eats, & love at a sexy venue. Join this 25-and-up night festival for the spiritual baes, the hippie music heads, and the holistic hotties. What should you expect? A ceremonial intention-setting circle, followed by games, light delicious bites, and an open bar to groove the night away. There will also be live tarot card readings, a $100 outfit contest, a champagne toast, live DJs, and oodles more. 8 pm.

The Doo Wop Project in concert

In their epic shows, The Doo Wop Project takes audiences on a journey featuring foundational tunes from the Crests, Belmonts, and Flamingos, through the vocal artistry of Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and The Four Seasons, all the way to doo-wopified versions of modern hits from Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, and Sam Smith. The Doo Wop Project brings unparalleled authenticity of sound and vocal excellence to recreate, and in some cases entirely reimagine, the greatest music in American pop and rock history. 8:30 pm.

Saturday, December 31

The Annie presents A Rat Pack New Year’s Eve Supper Club

Ring-a-ding in 2023 with this oh-so-swinging shindig at The Annie. This will be an evening with live musical entertainment by The Richard Brown Band featuring their Rat Pack. There will be two seatings: at 6 pm for $250 per person and 9:15 pm for $350 per person. Guests can listen to the greatest hits plus other big band tunes, while enjoying a three-course prix-fixe meal by executive chef Robert Del Grande and chef de cuisine Jose Valencia. Reservations are required. 6 pm.

Agenda Houston presents 5015 NYE Sneaker Gala

Ken Haggerty, founder and CEO of Agenda Houston, the city's premiere destination for collectable sneakers and designer streetwear, has teamed up with The Bar 5015 to host this New Year’s Eve gala. Haggerty, a true sneaker aficionado who was recently named one of Houston's 31 most fascinating and viral celebrities of 2022, will have a special customized sneaker bar and sneaker giveaways from his coveted collection. 8 pm.

Theatre Southwest presents Everybody Loves Opal

In John Patrick’s comedy, Opal, a middle-aged recluse, lives in a tumbledown mansion at the edge of the municipal dump. Opal is an optimist, for no matter how mean her lot - or how mean her "friends" - Opal responds with unfailing kindness and an abiding faith in the goodness of human nature. The December 31 performance is part of Theatre Southwest's annual New Year's gala. The show will officially run Friday, January 6 through Saturday, January 21. 8 pm.

Sunday, January 1

New Year’s Day Hangover Brunch at Urban South HTX

Urban South HTX has got the perfect cure-all day planned for your post-NYE shenanigans, Join them for a hangover brunch, as Gastro Craft cooks up a brunch menu of epic proportions. They will also be serving up Michelada Lager and Mimosa Hard Seltzer. And don’t forget sportsball on the TV, a bounce house for the kiddos, and $12 core pitchers for that extra-large, pick-me-up option. 11 am.

Sunday Funday at Chapman & Kirby

Since Chapman & Kirby has a brunch and day party every Sunday, why not spend New Year’s Day over there? At noon through four, they’ll have all the brunch goodies: chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, steak and eggs, etc. If you can’t make it that early, there’s always the day social and late lunch after that. That’s when they’ll serve up burgers, tacos, and short ribs. There will also be DJs, games on the big screens, and more. Noon.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents The Eternal Daughter

An artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past. Featuring a towering, deeply moving performance by Tilda Swinton in dual roles, this new film from acclaimed director Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir, The Souvenir Part II) is a brilliant and captivating exploration of parental relationships and the things people leave behind. 5 pm.

Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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