weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

Pretty Woman charms audiences with a red-hot musical.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

The first weekend of 2023 offers some feel-good fun in theater, music, and comedy starring some familiar names.

Fans of the romcom classic Pretty Woman will delight in the red-hot musical that's in town. Fans of David and Bowie and Elvis can celebrate the stars at a show honoring them both. And, fans of Elton John and Billy Joel can jam at a Houston Symphony show of the pair's greatest hits.

Plus, some funny folk stage some serious comedy this weekend. Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, January 5

The Riot presents "Live LAUGH Love" Comedians on Relationships

We’re nowhere near Valentine’s Day, but you can still head over to the legendary Rudyard's comedy room to catch comedians share their dating experiences and answer your questions about relationships. The club features comedy shows with the funniest comedians you've seen on Netflix, HBO, Comedy Central, at the Comedy Store and Comedy Cellar. They also serve tasty food, draught beer, wine, Delta-8, and cocktails in an intimate and casual setting. 7 pm.

Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center: Pretty Woman

Based on one of Hollywood’s most beloved romantic stories of all time, this stage-musical version of the 1990 movie that made Julia Roberts a star springs to life with a powerhouse creative team led by two-time, Tony-winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell. The production features an original score by Grammy winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance & a book by Garry Marshall, the movie’s late director, and screenwriter J. F. Lawton. 7:30 pm (8 pm Friday; 2 and 8 pm Saturday; 2 and 7:30 pm Sunday).

ISHIDA presents Stirs up still things

Stirs up still things includes world premieres by ISHIDA based on original poetic narratives and works by emerging and renowned, international choreographers. “Among dim shapes” follows an intimate relationship and the ghosts they carry, triggered by archetypal patterns. The program also includes a new creation by Swedish dancer, film director, and choreographer John Wannehag (formerly with Tanzmainz), and a new work by award-winning, British-Finnish choreographer Kristian Lever. 8 pm (2 pm Sunday).

Friday, January 6

Vitacca Vocational School for Dance presents Winter Works

This Friday and Saturday, Vitacca Vocational School for Dance presents this two-act performance, featuring Vitacca Studio Company dancers in a restaged excerpt of La Bayadere and original contemporary works. These works are created by 2022-23 guest artists Greg Dolbashian, Jess Hendricks, Sean Aaron Carmon, Garrett Smith and Kelly Ann Vitacca. 7 pm.

Improv Houston presents Bill Bellamy

Using his experiences growing up in Newark, former MTV VJ (and creator of the phrase “booty call”) Bill Bellamy started doing stand-up while he was a student at Rutgers University. Bellamy quickly discovered how much he enjoyed making people laugh, and began honing his skills at small comedy clubs around the country and was soon making waves in clubs and on shows like HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. 7:30 and 9:45 pm (7 and 9 pm Saturday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Houston Symphony presents The Music of Elton John and Billy Joel

From “Rocket Man” to “Piano Man,” the iconic hits of two classic rock legends come alive in this special concert. Piano-and-vocal talent Michael Cavanaugh — handpicked by Billy Joel to recreate his music in the Broadway musical Movin’ Out — delivers electrifying renditions of the songs you know and love, including “Tiny Dancer,” “Uptown Girl,” “Your Song,” “New York State of Mind,” “Saturday Night’s Alright,” and many more. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, January 7

Community Artists' Collective presents Morgan Newton: "When I Think of Home" opening reception

The Community Artists’ Collective opens the new year with a solo exhibition by local artist Morgan Newton. The paintings included in this exhibition mark a stylistic shift that conveys the aesthetic and spiritual blossoming of Newton’s pursuit to internalize familial notions of home and cultivate home within herself. Newton centers Black female figures as symbols for her life experiences, in idealized, chromatic and in some cases, fantastically celestial environments to suggest the infinite potential of the nurtured self. Through Saturday, February 4. 2 pm.

Splice Records presents 14th Annual BowiElvis Fest

Yes, there will be many David Bowie-related events popping off this weekend. But, of course, the Continental Club and Splice Records will have its annual birthday party for Bowie and Elvis Presley, two of the most beloved and influential artists of the previous century. This year’s fest will feature music by Swimwear Department, Pecos Hank, Brian Scartocci, and Henry & the Invisibles. 6:30 pm.

The Museum of FIne Arts, Houston presents The Conformist

When a member of Mussolini’s secret police and his new bride travel to Paris for their honeymoon, Marcello plans to assassinate his former college professor, an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But Marcello’s political and romantic loyalties are tested when he meets the professor’s alluring young wife. A commentary on Fascism and beauty alike, Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 masterpiece is acclaimed for its sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography. 7 pm (2 pm Sunday).

Sunday, January 8

Italian Cultural & Community Center presents Festa della Befana 2023

Come learn about this Italian holiday tradition with your family. Children will receive sweets from Befana when she comes to visit. L a Befana is an old, kind woman who flies by broomstick on the night of January 5, dropping off goodies for kids to wake up to. According to the legend, the three kings asked her to come with them to bring gifts to baby Jesus. Now, she flies on her broomstick and brings treats to children each year on Three Kings' Day. 3 pm.

Leonard "Lowdown" Brown and Jonn Richardson Play Lucky's Guitar at Emmit's Place

Do you know the story of Lucky Peterson and his ostrich-covered guitar? If you don’t, read it here. And, after that, you can check out this very special, afternoon event. At the request of the current owners, both Leonard “Lowdown” Brown and Jonn Richardson will be playing this custom, ostrich-covered guitar before it is lovingly returned home to Lucky Peterson’s family. A wonderful story of this guitar and its journey home – 15 years in the making. 5 pm.

The Gumbo Jam

It’s time once again to get all funky and well-fed, at this Louisiana-inspired jam session with a serious food menu. This session is home to all things hip-hop and jazz. Singers, rappers, poets, musicians and, of course, horn players from all over come to party in the loose, laid-back vibe of Matthew Hartnett & The Gumbo All-Stars. If you like to dance, eat good food, and hear great music, this is the place. And, yes, there will be hookahs! 8 pm.

entertainment weekend events

Movie Review

New Pixar film Elio is fun but falls short of Disney's top tier

Photo courtesy of Pixar

Elio (Yonas Kibreab) and Glordon (Remy Edgerly) in Elio.

Pixar has done a ton of different things in the 28 feature films they’ve released over the past 30 years, but the one they’d never done is deal with aliens (and, no, the alien toys in Toy Story don’t count). Now they’re going where many storytellers have gone before, but in their own unique way, in the new film Elio.

Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) is a space fanatic who has recently lost both of his parents in an unnamed event. His Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) is now his guardian, and because she happens to be a member of the U.S. Space Force, Elio finds himself tantalizingly close to communications from space. With a desire to be abducted by aliens for both curiosity and sentimental reasons, Elio sends a message into space, hoping for some kind of response.

He gets that and more when a ship full of multiple types of beings takes him into space, believing him to be a leader instead of a child. An encounter with a hostile force led by Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) gives Elio both a new friend, Grigon’s son Glordon (Remy Edgerly), and responsibility for maintaining peace during an unexpected galactic crisis.

Pixar has not typically followed the route of many Disney movies of giving their child protagonist the trauma of dead parents, and doing so here is the first of a few minor missteps. Having Olga be his mom instead of his aunt would have altered their dynamic, but only slightly. While Elio is shown to miss his parents, his major focus is on making contact with aliens. Since the film only briefly deals with his grief, it would have been better served by excising it altogether.

For the most part, the film is goofy, with Elio’s enthusiasm for aliens matched by the oddness of the creatures he meets in space. The filmmakers - there are three credited directors and three credited writers - seem to have taken inspiration from sea creatures and Pixar’s own history, as the main bad guy emulates Mike and Sully’s boss from Monsters, Inc. Almost every character in the film is heightened to a degree that makes for funny situations, but not as much sentimentality as other Pixar offerings.

Surprisingly, especially since the film ends with a voiceover from notable astronomer Carl Sagan, the filmmakers play fast and loose with real-life science. Elio’s journeys to and from the alien spaceship are treated as close-to-instantaneous trips, even involving portals directly to Earth. The idea of the story doesn’t allow them to delve into things like relativistic time dilation, but there still could have been other scientific references to keep the story aboveboard.

There are very few stars to be found among the film’s voice cast other than Saldaña and Garrett, who are each fine if unmemorable. Kibreab and Edgerly are given many more scenes than anyone else, and they each do a great job of bringing out both the joy and naivete of their characters. Some lesser-known actors like Jameela Jamil, Atsuko Okatsuka, and Brendan Hunt show up in minor roles, but they don’t stand out in any way.

The story and characters in Elio are sweet and fun, but the film as a whole falls well short of the top tier Pixar movies. The filmmakers could have gone many different directions with a story about a boy who wants to be abducted by aliens, and the way they chose ended up being innocuous and less than compelling.

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Elio opens in theaters on June 20.

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