THORNTON, Colo. — In performance spaces around Denver, laughter mixes with tears as a group of older adults sing, dance, and tell stories that hit close to home for other older adults. This is “Ain’t Done Just Yet,” a one-hour musical revue blending comedy with heartfelt reflection.
Its creator, Russell Lubliner, calls it “a unicorn… there’s no senior entertainment like this anywhere.”
Lubliner’s journey to the stage was far from traditional. In 2020, COVID‑19 shut down his Chicago pizza business in just 26 days.
“I thought to myself, my business shouldn’t define me, and neither should my age,” he said.
With no musical background, Lubliner said he woke up one night and wrote lyrics to the show’s title song: “Ain’t done just yet… we got a lot of juice left.”
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“Ain’t Done Just Yet” creator, Russell Lubliner.
The revue tackles themes like ageism, isolation, and resilience.
“One of the major themes is my aversion to ageism… a lot of the seniors say our families really don’t pay that much attention… you see ageism in TV shows and in general attitudes. That’s unfortunate,” Lubliner explained.
Audience member Edward Galston says it’s more than entertainment — it’s generational connection.
“Bring your grandchildren, bring your adult children even, and let them experience what we went through… it’s very important to pass these feelings on.” He added, “When it’s over, on the ride home, they’ll ask questions… and now that’s educational.”
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Performer Christine Shelton, who plays “Tilly,” a character struggling with dementia, says the role resonates widely.
“Usually there’s someone in the audience who knows someone struggling with dementia,” she said.
For her and other cast members, being part of the show is a mental workout.
“As an older person, memorization and going out of my box a little bit is good for my memory and keeps me sharp… I try.”
The songs are humorous and poignant, but always grounded in truth. One number addresses the loss of communication with family; another reflects a Vietnam veteran’s perspective. Lubliner says the goal is simple: Give older adults a reason to get out of their rooms — and remind them they’re not alone.
“It’s nice to know we share a lot of the same experiences, and that’s where it comes home,” he said.
Lubliner hopes to grow “Ain’t Done Just Yet” into a music video that can be shared with seniors nationwide. Until then, audiences in Colorado will keep enjoying this spirited reminder that getting older doesn’t mean the music has to stop.
You can learn more about “Ain’t Done Just Yet” on their website.
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Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colin Riley
Denver7’s Colin Riley is a multimedia journalist who tells stories impacting all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on transportation and our state’s population of older adults. If you’d like to get in touch with Colin, fill out the form below to send him an email.
After making history as Broadway’s youngest Tony-winning leading actor, Silver Spring native Myles Frost takes the stage closer to home in “Chez Joey,” blending classic musical theater with a bold, modern twist.
Not many people can say they are living their dreams, but Wootton High School graduate Myles Frost is not just anyone.
The 26-year-old native of Silver Spring, Maryland, made history in 2022 by becoming the youngest person to win the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Michael Jackson in “MJ: The Musical” on Broadway in June 2021
Now, Frost is starring in “Chez Joey” at the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage in D.C. through March 15. The musical is co-directed by actor Tony Goldwyn and dancer Savion Glover, and is a reimagining of the 1940 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical “Pal Joey.”
During an interview with WTOP, Frost said that performing close to home feels amazing.
“Having started on Broadway in New York, a lot of my family and close friends weren’t able to make the trip,” Frost said. “I actually think it’s better this way, because I was able to gain so much experience and work ethic. I’m coming home as a more curated performer.”
The journey did not start that long ago. Four years after not having any of the coaches spin their chairs around for him during his time as a contestant on The Voice, Frost was cast as Jackson in “MJ: The Musical.”
The musical’s producers had discovered a video of Frost singing Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” from a high school talent show on YouTube.
“That’s why I feel so bad sometimes. When parents are like, ‘I want my child to do it the way you did it.’ I’m like, ‘good luck,’” Frost said with a laugh. “It just shows that it doesn’t matter what your situation is, that if you’re supposed to be somewhere doing a specific thing, you’re going to get there.”
During Frost’s run in the show, he said he met icons like Stevie Wonder, Madonna and Jackson’s family.
At the time, Frost was 22 and received the same award that legends like Jackie Gleason, Zero Mostel, Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane had taken home; and he did it by beating Billy Crystal and Hugh Jackman.
As big of an accomplishment as that was, there was another group Frost was thrilled he pleased.
“Being accepted by Michael’s fans. I think that’s one of the biggest things because they do not play about Michael,” Frost said.
Now, instead of performing as the King of Pop in the nearly 1,500-seat Neil Simon Theatre in New York City, Frost takes the stage at the Kreeger Theater, which has a little over 500 seats.
“Chez Joey” takes place in Chicago during the 1940s, and Frost portrays Joey Evans, a slick-talking, velvet-voiced singer who has to choose between his heart and his dreams.
“You can insert whomever there, a young Sammy Davis Jr. or a Nicholas Brother,” Frost said. “That’s that time period where all of these legends were born.”
With the show being set in a small club, Frost believes the theater’s size is an advantage.
“I think that intimacy is important because when you sit down, you really feel like you’re entering the atmosphere of the club, and that’s how we’re treating it,” Frost said.
With songs like “Lady is a Tramp,” “What Is a Man” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” the play will feel familiar, but with Frost’s performance, they’ll sound like they came out this century with a bold, fresh twist.
WTOP’s Joe Yasharoff contributed to this report.
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Fun fact: In my house, growing up, The Outsiders was forbidden.
Not because of content, though S.E. Hinton’s 1967 coming-of-age novel has often found itself at the center of efforts to get it banned due to its bad language, portrayals of gang violence, underage smoking and drinking, etc. And, actually, not the book at all. It was Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 Brat Pack-adjacent adaptation that was forbidden, because one scene where Ralph Macchio cut C. Thomas Howell’s hair inspired my four-year-old cousin to swipe a pair of scissors and do the same.
All that to say, walking into the Hobby Center for The Outsiders, here in Houston for just a week as part of Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center’s 2025-2026 season, not all of us were wearing nostalgia-colored glasses. But first, the story, which begins with a young man sitting off to the side, far stage right, writing in a notebook before the lights even go down.
It’s 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, the youngest of three recently orphaned brothers living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The year is 1967, and the town is split in two, divided between the moneyed folk in the west and “the grease to the east.” You could say the two sides fight like cats and dogs, but the Socs (short for socialites) are the aggressors, targeting the Greasers and recently beating up Ponyboy’s best friend, Johnny Cade, and then attacking Ponyboy for venturing west to the Rialto, the only theater showing Cool Hand Luke.
Back home, Ponyboy gets along with tenderhearted middle brother, Sodapop, but bristles under the wary, disapproving eye of Darrel, his oldest brother-turned-parental figure. He and Johnny find acceptance with their fellow Greasers, including the just-released-from-county-lockup alpha of the group, Dallas Winston. Ponyboy also connects with a girl from the Soc side of the tracks, Cherry Valance, which garners him a little more heat from the other Socs. It’s not long before things boil over, with the ongoing fight between the Socs and Greasers turning deadly.
Bonale Fambrini, Tyler Jordan Wesley, and Nolan White in The Outsiders North American Tour. Credit: Matthew Murphy
The Outsiders premiered in 2023, its book by Adam Rapp and Justin Levine, drawn from both the novel and film, with music and lyrics by Zach Chance and Jonathan Clay (collectively known as folk music duo Jamestown Revival) and Levine. It went on to win four Tony Awards a year later, including Best Musical. The awards are a clue to what you’re in for: A familiar emotional core, set to a rootsy score with a midwestern twang, brought to you by a creative team working on a cinematic scale.
Hinton’s themes around identity, belonging, socioeconomic division, and found family are as resonant now as they were almost 60 years ago. Its teen angst is familiar, maybe too familiar at times, but the production’s staging and performances lend it a physical immediacy that keeps it from feeling stale or cliché. It lands, no sentimentality or nostalgia necessary, which is a big credit to the actors.
Nolan White captures Ponyboy’s sensitive, thoughtful nature – “so brainy,” as Sodapop says – while hitting the guilt, fear, and self-blame Ponyboy carries and grounding him in a restlessness and frustration that’s palpable. As Johnny, Banale Fambrini pairs beautifully with White. Fambrini feels impossibly young and unbearably sad as Johnny, a bruised but earnest figure who wears his trauma on his sleeve. Their duets, especially “Far Away From Tulsa” and “Death’s at My Door,” land with real emotional force.
Tyler Jordan Wesley brings swagger, confidence, and a commanding physical presence to Dallas. He’s a vocal powerhouse, too, especially in the act-one closer “Run Run Brother” and the numbers “Trouble” and “Little Brother” in the second act.
Darrel is a young man prematurely aged by responsibility. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, haunted by the future he’ll never get to have, and Travis Roy Rogers plays him with that bone-tired weariness. His concern for Ponyboy and his suspicion of Dallas’ influence adds tension and depth to his scenes with White. On the flip side is Sodapop, the family’s peacemaker, warmhearted and conciliatory. Corbin Drew Ross gives Sodapop an intentionally slower vocal cadence, which helps to create the impression of a simpler, cartoon-watching kid. But all’s not what it seems, as though he maintains that he dreams of “flying saucers and hamburgers,” Ponyboy reveals Sodapop whimpers in his sleep like a hurt animal.
The relationship between Ponyboy and Cherry is present, but far from a priority. Still, Emma Hearn brings quiet sincerity to her scenes and makes a strong impact with “Hopeless War.” The show’s other notable Soc, Bob, played by Mark Doyle, is the picture of an entitled bully, a perfectly calibrated a-hole.
Nolan White and The Outsiders North American Tour Company. Credit: Matthew Murphy
Director Danya Taymor leans into the story’s cinematic potential and, with such a talented creative crew behind her, the result is an eye-popping sight. Much like Coppola’s film, the production favors gorgeously stylized choices, with heightened imagery woven into the show’s DNA. Roger Ebert saw Coppola’s stylistic approach as a detriment to his film. Taymor’s approach finds a better balance, never losing sight of Hinton’s story while reaching for, and finding, something bold and visceral in the staging.
The set is raw and rundown, a wood plank backdrop that looks like it would give you splinters and a jungle gym of metal bars, perfect for climbing and hanging, swinging and perching. The canvas AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian have created looks grim and industrial but is flexible and ready for the actors and Hana S. Kim’s projections, which, if only momentarily, conjure up a cinema, and then the woods, with a canopy of leaves and branches turning to an open, star-filled sky and later, the vivid color spectrum of a sunrise.
Everyone inhabits this gritty world, so Sarafina Bush’s costumes – letterman jackets and bright cardigans for the Socs, dirty denim and a lack of sleeves for the Greasers – go a long way in establishing the West Side haves and East Side have-nots.
Brian MacDevitt’s lighting design is bold, with sudden blasts of color and stark contrasts. Overhead blues, reds, and blinding whites paint the violence, while headlights and flashlights become storytelling tools from his toolbox. Coupled with Cody Spencer’s sound design, the effects are deafening, immediate, and purposeful, from the crack of punches to the high-pitched ringing that mimics Ponyboy’s disorientation after getting hit. Spencer’s work amplifies the production’s showstopping bouts of brutality, making the physical stakes felt by the audience.
The special effects team, Jeremy Chernick and Lillis Meeh, delivers some of the production’s most striking moments, including a church fire that stands as a gorgeous illusion of orange light and smoke rising from a triangular roof, mimicking flames with eerie precision, and (of course) the rumble in the second act.
Choreographers Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman outdo themselves. The movement of the show is muscular with a lot of pop during numbers, and it ascends to another level during the slippery battleground of the rumble, a transfixing sequence choreographed in rain, shadow, light, and slow motion. It’s a culmination of sorts across all the design elements and it makes the scene, and the production itself, all the more memorable for it.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday through November 23 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit broadwayatthehobbycenter.com or thehobbycenter.org. $55- $265.
It’s National ‘Have a Bad Day’ Day, so be sure to wish your loved ones the worst as you head out the door to check out our best bets. This week, we have the return of a popular film festival, a deep dive into the life of a pioneering political figure, and quite possibly “the finest American play ever written,” according to Edward Albee. Keep reading for these and more.
Writer-director Antonis Tsonis has described his 2024 film Brando With a Glass Eye, about a method actor who attempts armed robbery to make his dream of studying in New York come true, as “layered like a babushka doll with meta-narratives,” acknowledging it’s “bold, risky, maybe even strange.” The film will open the Houston Greek Film Festival at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, November 20, at the MATCH, marking the start of a weekend featuring ten films and almost a dozen shorts. The lineup includes 14 Gulf Coast premieres, three U.S. premieres, and one world premiere. Tickets to the individual screenings are available for $15, with a $30 reception-only ticket available, along with a 5-ticket pass for $60, and a VIP all-access pass for $90. The full schedule can be found here, and tickets can be purchased here.
The story of Barbara Jordan, Texas’ first Black state senator and the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, began right here, in Houston’s Fifth Ward. On Friday, November 21, at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, you can learn more about the pioneer in Angela Lynn Tucker’s documentary The Inquisitor, named for the moniker Jordan earned for her questioning as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during President Richard Nixon’s 1974 Watergate hearings. Stay after the film for a discussion with special guests, including Tucker. Two additional screenings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, November 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 23. Tickets to any of the screenings can be purchased here for $7 to $9.
Contemporary dance, martial arts and tai chi, and Peking opera (the symbolic, stylized, and traditional Chinese performing art) come together in Lai Hung-Chung’s Birdy, a work set to electronic and Chinese classical music that will be performed by Hung Dance at the Wortham Theater Center on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. Lai founded the Taiwanese contemporary dance company, which is named for the Chinese word meaning “soar” – a theme that will also be at play in Birdy – in 2017, and Performing Arts Houston is bringing the ensemble to town as part of the Tudor Family Dance Series to make its Houston debut with the piece. Birdy will be performed a second time on Saturday, November 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to either performance are available here for $44.85 to $79.35.
Visit Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, circa 1901 to 1913, to spend time with the Gibbs and Webb families in Thornton Wilder’s classic 1938 play Our Town, which 4th Wall Theatre Company will open at Spring Street Studios at Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. Skyler Sinclair, who plays Emily Webb in the production, told the Houston Press the play is “almost like a magic trick,” saying that Wilder “lays everything out so beautifully,” resulting in a story that is “universal” and “transcends time.” Sinclair added that, “This play has a message that every human being needs to hear…It asks the audience if you could put a price on your most basic memory of life, what would that be.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through December 20. Tickets are available here for $40 to $70.
Taiwanese twin brothers and percussionists Jen-Ting and Jen-Yu Chien, known as Twincussion, will end their U.S. concert tour at Asia Society Texas Center on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. with Twincussion: ‘Twin Beats’ — Melodies and Rhythms From Taiwan. During the program, presented in partnership with Taiwan Academy, the instrumentalists will play a program that includes new arrangements of Taiwanese folk melodies, such as “Dark Sky (Tian Hei Hei)” and “Longing for the Spring Breeze (Wang Chun Feng)”; a Taipei-flavored take on Wayne Siegel’s 42nd Street Rondo; George Frideric Handel’s Passacaglia, arranged by Johan Halvorsen; Tomasz GoliÅ„ski’s Layered Elements, a piece commissioned by the brothers and premiered in 2018; and more. Tickets can be purchased here for $10 to $30.
Director Hal Prince famously described A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim’s adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, as “whipped cream with knives.” The Sweden-set musical, a romantic farce revolving around a pair of couples, premiered in 1973 and went on to win multiple Tony Awards, including Best Musical – as well as spawn the hit song “Send In the Clowns,” performed since by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Grace Jones – and on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m., you can see it when Opera in the Heights opens a production of the show at Lambert Hall. A Little Night Music will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 23. Tickets are available here for $35 to $85.
In Beautiful Princess Disorder, playwright Kathy Ng’s script specifies the play’s main character, Triangle Person, “to be wearing a very geometric, triangle-shaped head and a no-nonsense navy blue swimsuit” as they wait in “the parking lot of heaven” with other inhabitants – specifically, Mother Teresa and Tilikum, the orca with three fatalities to his name featured in the 2013 documentary Blackfish. You can meet these curious characters on Friday, November 21, at 8 p.m., when The Catastrophic Theatre world premieres Ng’s 75-minute, one-act at the MATCH. Additional performances of the play are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Monday, December 1; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through December 13. Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $40 and can be purchased here.
Clara Marsh as Kitty and Lindsay Ehrhardt as Georgiana in Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley. Credit: Pin Lim, Forest Photography
Wicked: For Good comes out in just a few days, and OMG we’re freaking out! To celebrate the new film, we tuned into NBC, just like every other theatre kid in America, for the performance of Wicked: One Wonderful Night. Whoa, what a magical night! Nothing could have prepared us for the whimsical journey that Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and the rest of the Wicked cast took us on.
Haven’t had a chance to see Wicked: One Wonderful Night? Let us give you the rundown on everything we loved about the night.
Image Courtesy: Verve Records
The Production: Costumes, Lighting, And Choreography!
Wicked isn’t Wicked without a full production of lights, costumes, and choreography. Wicked: One Wonderful Night took it to the next level! From green and pink ballgowns to truly spellbinding turns and jumps, the night was a full production we couldn’t keep our eyes away from.
‘Dancing Through Life’ with Bowen Yang and Ethan Slater was such a joy to witness, and we were dancing along with them from our living rooms! Can we have more of Bowen and Ethan together, please?
Ariana’s Theatre Kid Came Out
Last year, when Wicked released in theaters, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo proved that theatre kids are simply better at everything. Now, it’s clear as day that Ariana is just a theatre kid like the rest of us who is fulfilling her dream role as Glinda. She’s always turned heads with her talent and charisma up onstage, but her performance during Wicked: One Wonderful Night was simply showstopping.
A Tease Of Wicked: For Good
If Wicked: One Wonderful Night is anything like the upcoming Wicked: For Good film, we’re seated with a large popcorn on opening night. Based on how this live show went, we know we’re going to be crying all the good tears and singing along to our favorite songs from Act II all night long. Ariana and Cynthia gave us a taste of ‘For Good’ and what we might get to hear in the new film. Someone pass the tissues!
Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack
The best part? We get to re-live Wicked: One Wonderful Night again! Wicked: One Wonderful Night is now available for streaming – listen here! All of our favorite moments from ‘The Wizard and I’ to ‘I’m Not That Girl’ get to be replayed again and again from this new soundtrack.
Did you have a chance to catch Wicked: One Wonderful Night? What was your favorite moment from the night? Are you planning to go to the movie theaters on November 21st? Let us know in the comments down below or tell us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
This weekend, we celebrate Día de Muertos, welcome a new month, and acknowledge that tomorrow is National Knock Knock Joke Day. So, get your best one ready to tell whoever you invite to join you at one of our best bets. Keep reading for four days of Korean films, a concert of musical showstoppers, the return of one of the country’s preeminent humorists, and much more.
The police find a young woman standing over the dead body of a man, the author of a novel about a kidnapping. She claims the story is based on her own kidnapping, the author her kidnapper, but refuses to say more unless she can talk to a former classmate-turned-detective in Chun Sun-young’s 2024 thriller A Girl with Closed Eyes, which will open Korean Film Nights at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Thursday, October 30, at 7 p.m. The weekend-long festival returns for the seventh year with a selection of new and cult favorite films from South Korea, including Lee Min-jae’s zombie romcom, Zombie for Sale; the transplant recipients turned superheroes in Kang Hyeong-cheol’s Hi-Five; and Parasite director Bong Joon Ho’s 2009 film, Mother. Tickets to individual screenings are available for $8 to $10, and you can view the full schedule here.
Though known for masterworks like La Boheme and Madame Butterfly, experience three of Giacomo Puccini’s less familiar one-acts – Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi – when Houston Grand Opera presents Il Tritticoat the Wortham Theater Center on Thursday, October 30, at 7 p.m. Soprano Corinne Winters, who plays a role in each, told the Houston Press the program is “like reading short stories,” adding that audiences will find them “just as compelling as an episode of a binge-worthy TV show. Especially in these kinds of operas which are so real and so relatable I think they’re going to get lost in it.” Performances will continue at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, and 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 8; Wednesday, November 12; and Friday, November 14. Tickets are available here for $25 to $367.50.
Carol Channing first delivered “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the 1949 stage production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but it was Marilyn Monroe’s performance in Howard Hawks’ 1953 film version that earned it 12th place on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest works of American movie music. The song will be featured alongside showstoppers from musicals like West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and Cats during From Stage to Screen: Broadway Meets Hollywood at Jones Hall on Friday, October 31, at 7:30 p.m. Conductor Steven Reineke and the Houston Symphony will welcome Broadway stars Elizabeth Stanley and Hugh Panaro for the concert, which will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 2. In-hall tickets are available here for $29 to $141. Saturday night’s performance will be livestreamed, with access available here for $20.
Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a time to honor those who have passed, a tradition celebrated throughout Mexico and parts of Latin America rooted in pre-Columbian beliefs and shaped by the Catholicism introduced by the Spanish in the early 1500s. On Saturday, November 1, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., you can join the celebration during MECA’s 2025 Día de Muertos Festival: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future at the Historic Dow School. The celebration, free and open to the public, includes family-friendly art activities and cultural workshops, authentic Latin American crafts and flavors, and live music and dance performances from acts like Danza Azteca Macuilxochitl, Mexico Folklorico, and Grupo Aliados, as well as a curated exhibition of community ofrendas, or altars. The festival continues on Sunday, November 2, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A magazine contest gave Johann Strauss II the idea for his first and only full-length ballet in 1898. From more than 700 scripts, the winner was Aschenbrödel, which is Cinderella in German. Strauss died before completing the ballet, but not before moving the action to a department store, making the heroine a shop girl, finishing the first act, and sketching out the rest. On Sunday, November 2, at 7 p.m., you can see Stauss’ ballet (finished by composer Josef Bayer) when World Ballet Company presents Cinderella at the Wortham Theater Center, courtesy of Performing Arts Houston. The Los Angeles-based company boasts 40 professional ballet dancers from more than ten countries, hand-painted sets, and over 150 hand-sewn costumes in their touring production. Tickets can be purchased here for $33.90 to $141.25.
The birth of an iconic, eleven-and-a-half-inch-tall blonde doll recounted by Renée Rosen. Rachel Cockerell’s deep dive into her great-grandfather’s role in relocating thousands of Russian Jews to Galveston. Mitch Albom‘s exploration of “love, time, and the ache of second chances.” They are all stories you can learn more about during the Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish Book & Arts Festival, which begins at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston on November 2 and runs through November 15. There are a variety of ticketing options available here, including individual event tickets for $16 to $84, premium tickets for $33 to $50, a book bundle plus ticket option for $32 to $39, access to virtual recordings for $16 to $25, a “Pick 3” subscription for $39 to $59, and a full festival subscription for one ($139 to $193) or two ($278 to $386).
Nick Fradiani as ‘Neil – Then’ with ‘The Noise’ and the Band in A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Credit: Jeremy Daniel
Dr. Charles Steinberg believed that Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” had “transformative powers,” which is why the song became a well-known Fenway Park tradition. It’s one example of the reach Diamond’s music has, as is the success of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, coming to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. Jer, a member of the production’s ensemble dubbed “The Noise,” told the Houston Press, “If you love theatrical magic, I think our show does that so beautifully. We label this as a small intimate play with music.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday through November 9. Tickets can be purchased here for $55 to $265.
Performing Arts Houston will once again bring David Sedaris, the humorist and best-selling author behind books like Calypso, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, to town on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. for An Evening with David Sedaris at Jones Hall. Sedaris, who has a new collection of essays titled The Land and its People set to be published next summer, will read, tell stories, and participate in a Q&A session during the event. After the performance, Sedaris will stick around in the lobby for a book signing. If you’re without a book, or want to pick up a new one, Brazos Bookstore will be on hand with a selection of titles for you to purchase. Tickets to the evening can be purchased here for $33.35 to $113.85.
In 1991, Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial debut novel, American Psycho, was published. It’s a look into the mind of Patrick Bateman, your average 1980s name-dropping, brand-whoring Wall Street greedhead. Raw, scary and often gross, it follows the downward spiral of a yuppie who is a pretentious, misogynistic businessman by day, and a “give me a weapon and I will use it” serial killer by night. As you read it, you feel his descent into madness, and it has become a Gen X cult classic (inspiring a film version in 2000 starring Christian Bale). The original printing still has a special place on my bookshelf, so imagine my excitement to be sitting in the audience at Theater West End for playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s musical adaptation of a story I’ve known for decades.
Director-designer Derek Critzer’s set is impressive, especially for a smaller theater. The array of old televisions playing videos of songs from the time was almost overwhelming, and a vivid reminder of how nightclubs in that era looked. Most surprising were the four sunken tables in the middle of the stage, with platforms built around them like a catwalk. Then I noticed audience members being escorted to those tables. I enjoy immersive theater, but were they there to make the party scenes look more crowded? Would they get spattered with blood? It’s a bold choice.
Halfway through the first song I realized this play’s tone has little in common with the book. Yes, it’ was based on it’s the source material, but this is not the gritty, scary novel I remembered; instead, it was more campy, almost upbeat. Familiar pop songs — including Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” — keep the audience mouthing along to the sounds of sweet nostalgia. However, while some of the original songs by Duncan Sheik are catchy and crammed with pop-culture references, others are obviously just “Killing Time” (a song that was on the original London cast album, but isn’t always included in productions). It felt light and fluffy, like an after-school special where everything’s OK at the end, no matter what happens on the way there.
At first, Chris Monell’s portrayal of Patrick Bateman was off-putting; he initially seemed flat and dull for such a complex character (though he certainly had the body for it). About 30 minutes in, Monell found his footing and became the Bateman that I had always imagined. During the second half, when things took a much darker turn, Monell really brought it home, bravely spending most of the final act onstage wearing nothing but tighty-whities and fake blood.
The supporting cast is a valuable asset, many playing multiple roles. Will Sippel (as Luis) and Noah Howard (playing three different roles) both do a great job of making smaller lines hit the mark. Woodrow Helms’ portrayal of Tim Price is a standout, with charm and humor bringing layers of personality to the drab beginning. As Paul Owen, Harvey Evens is captivating until his end. The female cast is also compelling. Laurel Hatfield, as spoiled, ditzy socialite Evelyn Williams, is perfectly cringy in the role. Jordan Grant, as Jean, the shy, quiet secretary in love with her boss, is delightful while giving the show a hint of humanity. Unfortunately, the women were overshadowed — which makes sense, as Bateman only sees women as accessories or future victims. Or both.
Despite a few sound mishaps, music director Justin Adams and sound engineer Lance Lebonte do a good job bringing the show to life. Chris Payen’s choreography is strong, with distinctive robotic movements, though it sometimes distracted from the action on the slim front stage, pulling focus from the actors to the people dancing around them. The costumes by Maria and Ana Tew were also on point. It had to be challenging to find the proper 1980s attire for such a large cast, especially with all the designer name-dropping that runs throughout the show. I particularly enjoyed a few very subtle details, like when Bateman’s pockets were coming out of his sweatpants or his shirt was untucked in the back, showing he wasn’t as put together as he liked to pretend.
All in all, American Psycho at Theater West End is a fun experience. Once I realized that I was in for an over-the-top version of the original, I strapped in and enjoyed the ride. Critzer’s direction, with assistant director Hunter Rogers, is edgy and confident, just like the material; the use of a knife as Bateman’s phone was inspired, and holding the business cards at genital level showed the desperate need for all these men to have the biggest … ego.
This show embodies the gluttony and greed of the ’80s, featuring a wicked twist and some comments about the “great” Donald Trump. Full of people who want to be the same as their peers, but just a little bit superior. It holds up because nothing has actually changed. It’s a kill-or-be-killed world. But the show is suitable for a laugh as we decide which choice we’re making.
Catch Me If You Can: The Musical, coming to The Colony Theatre.
The Colony Theatre (Heather Provost, Producing Artistic Director) has announced a new production of Catch Me If You Can, the musical, in 2026. With music by Marc Shaiman, book by Terrence McNally, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, ten- time Artios Award-winner Michael Donovan, director of The Colony’s smash hit The Wedding Singer this past summer, is set to direct. The original Broadway production of Catch Me If You Can ran in 2011, receiving four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical and winning one (Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Norbert Leo Butz).
Based on the hit DreamWorks motion picture and the incredible true story that inspired it, Catch Me If You Can is a high-flying, splashy Broadway musical that tells the story of Frank W. Abagnale, Jr., a teenager who runs away from home in search of the glamorous life. With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged checks, Frank successfully poses as a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. But when Frank’s lies catch the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty, Carl chases Frank to the end … and finds something he never expected.
Said Colony Theatre Producing Artistic Director Heather Provost, “We’re thrilled to bring this wildly entertaining, high-energy musical to our stage. At The Colony, we’re drawn to shows that dazzle the senses while speaking to the heart, and this show does both in spectacular fashion. It’s an incredible, character-driven story brought to life through the kind of vibrant theatricality we love sharing with our audiences. This production promises to be one of our most joyful yet.”
Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Casting news and design team will be announced later.
The Colony Theatre is located at 555 N. Third Street (between Cypress and Magnolia) in Burbank, 91502.
It’s Conflict Resolution Day, and if you want to celebrate after making up with your loved one, consider celebrating while taking in one of our best bet picks. This week, we’ve got a play by a Tony-nominated playwright, Houston musical talent on display, and a family-friendly festival. Keep reading for these and more below.
Back in June, audiences got a sneak peek at Dominique Morisseau’s Mud Row when Stages read scenes from Morisseau’s work during the Fade to Black Festival. Stages will officially open their production of the Tony-nominated, MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient’s play about two generations of sisters, one pair living during the civil rights era and the other in the present day, on Thursday, October 16, at 7 p.m. The play has been described as “well-written” and “mystery-filled,” as well as a “fast-paced, two-hour drama” that “is an entertaining and heart-touching story with universal themes that most families can relate to.” Performances will continue at 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through November 2. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $124.
Conductor Christian Reif will lead pianist Hélène Grimaud and the Houston Symphony in George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, a work described as “even more ambitious than” his famous Rhapsody in Blue, during Gershwin & Grimaud: Jazz Meets Symphony at Jones Hall on Friday, October 17, at 7:30 p.m. Julia Perry’s A Short Piece for Orchestra will kick off the evening, which also includes Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2. Weill, of course, is well-known for composing popular standards like “Mack the Knife,” written with Bertolt Brecht for 1928’s The Threepenny Opera. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, October 19. Tickets for the in-hall performances are available here for $29 to $142. Saturday night’s show will also be livestreamed, and you can purchase access here for $20.
Walter Smith III opens DACAMERA’s jazz series this weekend. Credit: Travis Bailey
DACAMERA will launch its jazz series on Friday, October 17, at 8 p.m. with a little hometown talent as the organization presents the Walter Smith III Quartet in concert at the Wortham Theater Center. Smith’s most recent album, three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not, pays tribute to the Bayou City, the saxophonist’s hometown, with tracks like “610 Loop,” a reference to the interstate that divides the inner city from the outer surrounding areas; “Montrose Nocturne,” alluding to the former location of his high school alma mater, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and “Lone Star.” Smith will be joined by fellow Houstonians, pianist Jason Moran and drummer Kendrick Scott, and the aforementioned Virgin Islands-born bassist Reuben Rogers. Tickets are available here for $53.50 to $101.
For Reformation Day in 1725, a Protestant Christian holiday that celebrates Martin Luther affixing his Ninety-five Theses to a church door in 1517 and sparking the Reformation, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79. The cantata, whose title translates to The Lord God is a sun and shield, was written for the Feast of Reformation, and on Saturday, October 18, at 3 p.m., you can hear it performed by Bach Society Houston during Oktoberfest Vespers at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Following the performance, stick around for an Oktoberfest-inspired outdoor community gathering that promises bratwurst and beer, as well as more music from a brass band. The event is free, but RSVPs are requested, and donations are welcome.
Aperio, Music of the Americas, will open its 20th season with Southern Revival, a program of American music focusing on nostalgia and collective memory, on Friday, October 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the MATCH. The ensemble, conducted by Marlon Chen, will perform a program that includes Shawn Okpebholo‘s Two Black Churches, Andante Moderato from Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 1, and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which pulls its text from James Agee’s A Death In The Family. It’s been said that Barber “contributed to Agee’s poem in prose a perfect setting,” noting that “it possesses an immediate sense of childhood memories; the singing line is a natural translation of words into music.” Tickets are available here for $15 to $35.
Head over to The Water Works for KBR Kids Day. Credit: Meridith Kohut
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of Buffalo Bayou Park’s transformation from “neglected waterway into Houston’s oasis,” and you can gather the whole family to celebrate during KBR Kids Day, a fall family festival scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 19, at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park. A family bike ride with Bike Freedom Academy will start the day, which includes music and dance performances, birds of prey shows, story time with the Houston Public Library, guided walking tours led by Urban Paths, face painting, and a Halloween costume parade (so be sure to don your silliest or spookiest getup). Food and drinks will also be available for purchase from food trucks and other vendors. The event is free, and you can register here.
Theatre Under The Stars is staging a spelling bee starting on Tuesday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m., when The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opens at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Gemini Quintos, who will play speller Marcy Park in the production, recently told the Houston Press that playing a child is “a fun challenge,” saying, “We all have to play children, which sounds easy, just act like a kid. But really, we have to tap into this part of ourselves that is really self-conscious and really vulnerable and really unsure of ourselves.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sunday through November 2. Tickets can be purchased here for $46 to $195.
Get ready for a “glorious, toe-tapping, razzle-dazzling” (Deadline) time with Some Like It Hot, the hit Tony® and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical. Set in Prohibition era, this fast-paced comedy follows two musicians who take up new identities and go on the run after witnessing a mob hit.
Their cross-country journey brings them face to face with a dazzling singer with dreams of stardom, who captures one of their hearts, while the other catches the eye of a wealthy suitor set on finding true love. Still under disguise, they must find a way to untangle their messes and stay alive from the gangsters hot on their tail!
With a book by Tony®-winner Matthew López (The Inheritance) and Amber Ruffin, vibrant musical score crafted by the Hairspray team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and Tony®-winning choreography from director Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls, Aladdin), Some Like It Hot is a fresh adaptation that is “a super-sized all out song-and-dance spectacular” (The New York Times)!
Recommended for ages 12+. Please be advised that children under the age of 5 will not be admitted into the theatre.
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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 10/5/25. Open to legal U.S. residents, 18+, living within the viewing area/DMA of KGO-TV (San Francisco). Prize includes two tickets to the show on 10/21/25. See Official Rules at www.abc7news.com for full details incl. eligibility & restrictions. Void where prohibited. Sponsored by KGO Television, Inc.
If you’re still trying to decide what to do this coming week, look no further. Below you will find our picks for the best bets over the next seven days. We’ve got a Tony Award-winning musical stopping by on its national tour, a stage legend visiting Miller Outdoor Theatre, and much more. So, keep reading before you finalize any plans.
Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha will make his Miller Outdoor Theatre debut on Friday, September 12, at 8 p.m. when the orchestra drops in for Valčuha Conducts West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein himself “extracted nine sections” from the score to his hit Broadway musical to create Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which will be joined on the program by dances from Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia, originally commissioned in 1941 to be a ballet “based on Argentine country life”; Mexican composer Silvestre Reveultas’s Sensemayá, based on a poem inspired by “an Afro-Cuban snake sacrificial ritual”; and Maurice Ravel’s rousing crowd-pleaser Boléro. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, September 11. Or, as always, you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
Performing Arts Houston is bringing Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, September 14, at 7:30 p.m. to play a one-night-only set of classic jazz, big band tunes, and American Songbook standards. The actor, well known for roles in films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and Wicked, has been playing with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – so named for a family friend who lived to be 100 – for 30 years, with their most recent album, Still Blooming, featuring appearances from folks like Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Scarlett Johansson, coming out this past spring. In previous shows, Goldblum has been noted for his commentary, “a merry blend of comedy and jazz,” and “his singing voice.” Limited tickets remain and are available here for $49 to $149.
Paul Hope Cabarets will present their first concert of the season on Monday.
Photo by Tasha Gorel, Natasha Nivan Productions
For some folks, lightning doesn’t strike twice, but on Monday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m., you can celebrate those memorable musical one-offs when Paul Hope Cabarets presents One Hit Wonders and Minor Music Makers at Ovations Night Club. During the program, you can expect to hear songs like Bob Merrill’s “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” from the 1961 musical Carnival, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, and Meredith Willson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” from the 1957 musical The Music Man, among many other recognizable works. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 22, and Monday, October 6. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $26.50 to $41.80.
It’s National Bow Tie Day, and in the spirit of the made-up day, why not add a snazzy little accent piece to your ensemble as we mark the transition from August to September? You can add a little style to your wardrobe as you head out to any of our best bets. This week, we have world premiere stage and dance works, a night of famous showtunes, a sumo tournament, and more. Keep reading to see all of our picks for the best things to do this coming week.
Broadway fans will want to go to Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday at 8 p.m. for Broadway on the Hill, a night of popular songs from hit shows. The lineup of talent, all hailing from Houston, includes Anthony Boggess-Glover, who you may have caught last year in shows at The Ensemble Theatre; DeQuina Moore, who played the Hobby Center’s Founders Club last month; and Ashley Támar, a Grammy nominee who appeared on Broadway in Motown the Musical. Jarvis B. Manning Jr., known for Broadway shows like Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations; Jennafer Newberry, who performed in Wicked on Broadway and the touring production; and Mikey Wolfe, a local singer-songwriter, round out the lineup. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, August 28. Or you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
Experience the first collaboration between Group Acorde and interdisciplinary artist Jasmine Hearn on Friday, August 29, at 8 p.m. during REpurpose at Houston Met Dance. The evening will feature the premiere of “A cave in the moon,” a duet danced to an original sound score for bass and cello by Group Acorde Musical Director Thomas Helton and performed on a set of recycled materials designed by former Houston Ballet first soloist Allison Miller. Roberta Paixão Cortes, one of the founding members of Group Acorde, recently discussed the performance and Hearn’s “unique voice” with the Houston Presshere. Tickets are $20 and are still available here for opening night and a performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, August 30. If available, tickets can be bought at the door, but advance purchase is recommended as each performance is limited to 25 seats.
Mercury Chamber Orchestra will open its season with Handel and Vivaldi this weekend at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
Photo by Ben Doyle
In 1717, George Frideric Handel debuted Water Music, three suites commissioned for a royal boat trip down the Thames – and King George I loved it so much, according to guest Louis Frederick Bonet, he had it “played three times in all, twice before and once after supper, even though each performance lasted an hour.” You can hear Water Music on Saturday, August 30, at 8 p.m. when Mercury Chamber Orchestra opens its 25th season with Handel & Vivaldi, a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Joining Handel on the program is Antonio Vivaldi, with the ensemble also set to play his Concerto for Four Violins in B minor and “Summer” from The Four Seasons. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, August 29, or you can plan to sit on the Hill, where no ticket is required.
When Aaron Alon tells people that his latest musical, The Chosen Ones, which Thunderclap Productions is days away from world premiering at the MATCH, is set in a conversion therapy summer camp, he often gets the same reaction.
“I get a lot of, ‘Wait. That’s still a thing?’” says Alon. “There’s this lack of awareness about it.”
But the seed for the show was planted while Alon volunteered with Hatch, an LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults group run out of The Montrose Center. It’s an experience he describes as “amazing.”
“One of the really impressive things about Hatch is in their, at that time, 25-year history, they never lost a kid to suicide. Not one,” says Alon. In particular, Alon recalls how former Hatch leader Deb Murphy, whom he counts as one of his best friends to this day, would greet new “hatchlings.”
“One thing that she always did is when kids would walk in the door, she would say, ‘Welcome home.’ It was such a powerful reminder of the power of community and what it means to just be seen and accepted for who you are,” says Alon. “I heard so many stories from young people, and listening to how much they had struggled and what this organization meant to them really cemented some of the ideas in me that led to this musical.”
Alon says the experience made him “a great champion” of the concept of “family of choice,” which he carried over into The Chosen Ones. The musical focuses on six LGBTQ+ teens in a conversion therapy summer camp led by an “ex-gay” pastor.
“Despite how horrible this place might be for them, there’s still something really beautiful about coming together with other people who share these LGBTQ identities,” says Alon.
According to Alon, director-choreographer Aisha Ussery did “beautiful work” in helping to individuate the six teens, as have the actors.
Director Aisha Ussery in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“Each of them has found little quirks about their characters that are not in the script that have just brought these people to life. It’s been really amazing thing to watch,” says Alon. “I think it’s easy to lump people together – ‘Oh, queer kids’ – but every one of them has their own background and story and inner life, and I really wanted to try to capture that. I think one of the powerful things about musicals is that you can, because you’re able to give each of them not only a different speaking voice, but a completely different musical style.”
As the story is primarily about six teenagers, five cast members are current college undergraduates: Nicole Campos, Abraham “Abe” Garcia, Isaac A. Gonzalez, and Sarah Rivers from Sam Houston State University and Santiago Pena from the University of Houston.
“They’re incredible performers, and they’ve brought so much to this work. And,” Alon adds, “I think it’s just more believable because they are very close to the ages of the characters they’re playing.”
Amaan Atkins, who recently earned a Master of Music at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music; Ashley Duplechien, a member of the Houston Grand Opera chorus since 2014; and Tyler Galindo, who previously starred in Thunderclap’s production of Melville & Hawthorne, round out the cast.
Alon says the casting process was challenging, with one role needing to be cast three times after the first two actors were forced to drop out prior to rehearsals. “Somehow, despite all the chaos of replacing actors and trying to work this all out, we ended up with an astonishing cast.”
The hardest role to cast, Alon says, was Jo.
“Jo is, first of all, a baritone role, and it’s hard to find young men in musical theater. There’s a dearth of them,” says Alon. “It’s also hard because it’s a trans role. The actor who plays it is not trans, but finding someone in the current cultural climate who’s willing to take that on is hard, let alone finding one who’s also an incredibly strong actor, singer, and baritone.”
The role eventually went to Garcia, who Alon says is primarily an actor.
Isaac A. Gonzalez (Daniel) and Abraham “Abe” Garcia (Jo) in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“Doing a musical is brand new to him. It’s also a show that includes choreography, and he’s disabled, but the director was able to find ways of making the choreography effective that still worked for the way his body works,” says Alon. “And I was so excited by that, because it is fundamentally, in some ways, a show about diversity, and that enlarged that scope in a really beautiful way.
“I will be shocked if people are not in tears in at least two of his scenes. I’ve seen the show a whole bunch of times at this point, and I still find myself tearing up because he brings so much beauty and authenticity to the role.”
If there is a bad guy in the story, Alon says it is Pastor Noah, the ex-gay minister who leads the camp, played by Galindo. But he’s no two-dimensional villain.
“I’ve met some terrible people in my life, but I’ve never met a person who gets up in the morning, rubs their hands together and says, ‘How can I commit evil today?’” says Alon. “Conversion therapy is a wide and unregulated practice, so there are people who truly torture these kids unambiguously, but there are lots of people who really believe they’re doing good work in helping these young people.”
Alon adds, “Oftentimes, the people who do the greatest harm are people who believe they’re doing good things, and I think Pastor Noah is one of those people.”
“Blissfully unaware” is how Alon describes Pastor Noah, as well as a “little bit of a windbag” who “leans into the ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ line” and can say very hurtful and insensitive things – though he doesn’t see them that way.
“There are some things that I did write into the character that I think will rub some people the wrong way, and that’s intentional,” explains Alon, who notes, “Sometimes the kids call him on it. They’re not having it.”
Still, audiences will see Noah “struggling with his own attempts to reject his own homosexual feelings,” which will be brought to the fore by Matt, an attractive (and straight) member of the grounds team who gets paired up with Noah as prayer partners.
Ashley Duplechien (Iris), Abraham “Abe” Garcia (Jo), Isaac A. Gonzalez (Daniel), Sarah Rivers (Billie), and Nicole Campos (Alex) in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“This man really kicks some stuff up for him. They’re getting together, they’re praying, they’re talking – they form this intimacy between them. I do want audiences to care about Noah and to see him as a person who’s trying to do good…I think that makes him a more interesting character and makes it a more interesting story.”
For Alon, there are multiple reasons for audiences, whether part of the LGBTQIA+ community or not, to check out The Chosen Ones.
“If young queer people come see the show, I’m hoping that they find some hope in this idea that you can find your people. They can find that family of choice, and that, as awful as their childhoods may be, they are worth surviving because something better is out there. And once you’re an adult, you really can seek it out,” says Alon.
Since starting work on the musical, Alon says he’s met several people who are survivors of conversion therapy camps and found that they don’t share much about it. He hopes The Chosen Ones helps give them a voice.
“I hope that people who have suffered through this can see themselves reflected a bit in this story. I hope that they see themselves reflected, and they see that people do care and are giving this a voice. Because I do think it’s been a largely silent epidemic in a way.”
“When [Exodus] disbanded, these other groups didn’t go away, but they became much harder to track. So, I don’t think we really know how many of these conversion therapy camps are around the country. The last I checked, it was illegal in 22 states, plus D.C., so in a majority of U.S. states, it’s still legal. I want people to know that this is still happening, because I think there’s a lot of suffering happening in silence,” says Alon.
Though Alon is unsure if people who support, or are on the fence about, conversion therapy will see the show, he says he would love to see The Chosen Ones move the needle on the subject. As a self-proclaimed “data nerd,” Alon says he’s hopeful as most research supports the idea that “we form our beliefs emotionally and then justify them after the fact intellectually.”
“I like reading studies, and I like digging into facts and doing deep research, but when we really want to move people, usually it’s going to be through their hearts more than their minds,” says Alon. “If we really want to move people, I do think we have to come at it through their hearts, and I hope that this story has a chance of doing that, because these are not queer youth in America as a category. These are six unique, beautiful people who deserve to be seen and loved for who they are.”
Performances are scheduled for August 28 through September 6 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and September 1, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and September 6 at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit thunderclapproductions.com or thechosenonesmusical.com. $15-25. The August 28 preview performance is pay-what-you can with a $1 minimum.
The Chosen Ones contains adult language, descriptions of sexual acts, and content relating to conversion therapy, self-harm/suicide, homophobia, and transphobia. It is recommended for teens and adults.
If the idea of a show put on by an all-lawyer theater company leaves you just a bit skeptical, don’t worry. Attorney Tara Taheri has heard it before.
“Some people say, ‘Oh my gosh, that just sounds so boring. You’re just going to watch a bunch of lawyers on stage? What can possibly be fun about that?’” says Taheri, who serves as one of the executive producers, as well as media chair and cast member, of Night Court. “I always say this, and I really feel this way: Our shows are so entertaining for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. We poke fun at lawyers, pop culture, politics, and Houston stories.”
Night Court has been staging original musical comedies annually for more than 30 years and, along the way, has raised more than $1.6 million for local charities providing free legal services to Houstonians in need. This week, the musical comedy theater troupe will present its 2025 production, titled Law’s Anatomy, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
A creative production committee determines each production’s theme, and a certain long-running, Shonda Rhimes-created ABC medical drama won out for this year’s show.
“I think for a couple of years there’s been a desire to do like a doctor-lawyer-type of Grey’s Anatomy theme,” says Taheri. “But, of course, the show is extended with so many other characters and themes.”
During Law’s Anatomy, audience members will check into the fictional Houston Hope Hospital, where, for the sake of transparency, lawyers are accompanying doctors while they make their rounds.
“The thing about doctors and lawyers is that they have a lot in common to begin with. They both take oaths. Doctors pledge first, do no harm. And lawyers pledge first, admit no harm,” jokes Taheri.
Because of the setting, there will be some surgeries on stage as well as a trial scene. And like all of Night Court’s productions, the show will include an orchestra and musical performances featuring parodies of popular songs from artists like the Bee Gees to Chappell Roan. It also includes plenty of lawyer gags.
“It’s full of those, and they’re well written. They’re funny. We really do make fun of ourselves. You have to,” says Taheri.
In the show, Taheri will play a character called Med Mal Maggie – as in, Medical Malpractice Maggie.
“I am searching for doctors to sue in the hospital. I am watching every single move they make so I can file lawsuits,” says Taheri. “I get to give the doctors a hard time.”
Playing an antagonist is familiar to Taheri, who last played Stranger Things villain Vecna in 2023’s production, The Law Files. Though it’s not intentional, and Taheri says she doesn’t know how she’s cast until close to the show, she does see it as a positive.
“It’s a really good area to grow as an actor,” says Taheri, adding, “Being angry and nasty takes a lot of energy. That’s what I’ve learned.”
Taheri says Law’s Anatomy will feature new, and semi-new, blood in the cast and creative team in several ways.
New members make up almost half the cast for the first time, which Taheri describes as “an anomaly.” And three of those new cast members, Taheri says, are her own associates.
“I did help recruit quite a bit,” explains. “I reached out to law schools and really made a push to get new blood. I was happy with the outcome.”
Also, when the troupe hits the stage, it will be after two years away (due to a leadership change that left Night Court unable to mount a production in 2024) and with Judy Frow back at the helm as director. Frow spent over 25 years with Night Court before stepping down as director after its 2022 show.
“Believe it or not, she is back this year, and we’re so happy to have her. We also have our music director back,” says Taheri. “So, I think putting everything together and having somewhat new, but returning directors has been really interesting and exciting. They really do know Night Court. They know how it operates, and they’re just extremely talented.”
Night Court’s commitment to charity remains unchanged, however, with proceeds from this year’s show set to go to Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, Child Advocates, The Children’s Assessment Center Children’s Court Services Program, Foster Care Advocacy Center, Houston Volunteer Lawyers, Lone Star Legal Aid Military Veterans Unit, and the South Texas College of Law Houston Legal Clinics.
If you do happen to be a lawyer and need another reason to check out Law’s Anatomy, you can now earn two-and-a-half hours of ethics continuing legal education credit, up from the two hours offered to lawyers since 2015.
And if you’re not a lawyer, Taheri has a simple invitation to extend.
“Come out and have a great time,” says Taheri. “Enjoy yourself. Laugh with us, sing with us, and have a fun night out while benefiting some amazing charities.”
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 20, through Saturday, August 23, at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For information, call 713-315-2525 or visit nightcourt.org or thehobbycenter.org. $45-$49.
But not just any man-eating plant, we’re talking about the infamous Audrey II of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors, now taking root at Theatre Under the Stars in a brand-new production of the oft-beloved musical.
The show centers around a little florist shop on Skid Row with a big problem – no customers. At the end of another sale-less day, the owner, Mr. Mushnik, tells his two employees, Seymour and Audrey, not to bother coming in the next day; he’s shutting it down. In an effort to change his mind, Audrey tells Mr. Mushnik about a “strange and interesting” plant Seymour found during a total eclipse of the sun, which she believes might attract business. The plant is like nothing they’ve ever seen before, and though he thinks it’s some kind of flytrap, Seymour can’t find anything like it in his books. Regardless, the plan works. The plant, which Seymour names Audrey II, immediately draws in customers. Business booms and Seymour becomes something of a celebrity for discovering a new breed of plant life.
But there’s a new problem. Audrey II tends to grow and then wilt, and nothing Seymour does seems to help. It’s not until Seymour pricks his finger on a rose’s thorn that he gets a clue as to what the plant wants. It turns out Audrey II wants blood. “It must be blood and it must be fresh,” says Audrey II, which has inexplicably started talking. Now, with the fate of the shop, his crush on Audrey I, and his own future on the line, Seymour has to decide just how far he’ll go to feed the plant’s ever-increasing hunger.
Let it never be forgotten that the grotesquely absurd plot of Little Shop of Horrors isn’t just musical theater homage to the sci-fi B-movies of the mid-20th century, it’s literally based on a Roger Corman film from 1960 – a film that’s origin basically boils down to Corman and writer Charles B. Griffith drunkenly spit-balling ideas until Griffith was like, “How about a man-eating plant?”
Kiara Caridad as Chiffon, Sarah Sachi as Ronnette, and Simone Gundy as Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors.
Photo by Melissa Taylor
Yes, how about a man-eating plant? Menken and Ashman eventually got their talented hands on the material, with Little Shop of Horrors opening off-off-Broadway back in 1982. Since then, Audrey II and co. have made their way to Broadway proper, the West End, and the big screen, as well as multiple revivals, tours, and local productions. There was also a short-lived Fox Kids cartoon that probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day without the success of the musical and its subsequent film adaptation.
It’s not hard to see why the musical has had so much success over the years, but if you want a prime example, head over to the Hobby Center ASAP because you won’t find a more perfect production of Little Shop of Horrors than what’s over at Theatre Under the Stars right now. Director Melissa Rain Anderson’s production leans right into the campy absurdity and humor, and it moves at lightning speed. Seriously, it’s blink and you’ll be wishing you could turn the clock back two hours to watch it again.
Alan Menken’s score, here under the skillful direction of Dr. John Cornelius, is rooted in 1960s pop, overwhelmingly upbeat and catchy with plenty of numbers you might find yourself humming on the way home. Kiara Caridad, Simone Gundy, and Sarah Sachi provide the production’s vocal through line as a Greek chorus meets Supremes-style girl group. The vocally gifted trio narrate, provide a bit of commentary, and egg on the characters just a bit through their lush harmonies and soulful deliveries in songs across the production. They set the tone of the show during the “Prologue,” carry the show’s great opener “Downtown (Skid Row)” and add depth to “Dentist.”
Playing against the music’s bubbly guise is Howard Ashman’s darker lyrics, which are mediated through the performances of the cast – and a knockout cast it is.
Rob Riordan is flawless as a nerdy loser or, as Mr. Mushnik calls Seymour, a “twerp of a klutz.” He is sweetly downtrodden and oh-so-easy to root for, as is Mary Kate Moore’s low-self-esteem-having Audrey. Moore is earnest and vulnerable, and delivers a memorably wistful rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Dan De Luca brings a superbly unhinged energy to show as semi-sadist Dr. Orin Scrivello D.D.S., complete with a drawn-out, exhaled delivery of all his lines and an insane, nitrous oxide-induced insane.
Mark Ivy as Mr. Mushnik and Rob Riordan as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors.
Photo by Melissa Taylor
Mark Ivy’s Mushnik is over-the-top and scheming, which all culminates in the terribly fun “Mushnik and Son.” It, of course, includes the “Mushnik and Son” tango, brilliantly imagined by choreographer Monica Josette and executed to perfection by Ivy and Riordan. Josette nailed every bit of movement in the musical, from Caridad, Gundy, and Sachi’s synched up moves to a conga line here, and a shimmy there.
As it is meant to be, Audrey II is a scene-stealer. From little bud that adorably tries to bite and seems to bop along to the music to growing menace that slowly overruns the florist shop, Audrey II (precisely manipulated by Turell Robins) steals focus from the get – and it gets even better when the plant talks. Voiced by Dion Simmons Grier, the plant is whiny and demanding, disturbingly sensual, and, in short, the worst little devil to have on your shoulder.
The action all plays out on a rotating set by Paul Wonsek (with additional designs by Ryan McGettigan). It sits against a backdrop of tenement buildings with the perfect amount of urban decay – broken out and boarded up windows, ratty posters, and folks sleeping on the streets. Slotting perfectly into Wonsek’s world are Colleen Grady’s clear-eyed costumes, from Seymour’s little sweater vest to Orin’s leather chest harness. And it’s all lit by John Spencer’s always attention-grabbing, sometimes psychedelic designs.
One thing that helps any show is the audience, and I have to say that last night’s audience was along for every second of the ride. They were quick to laugh, quick to applaud, and clearly there to have a good time. And that’s exactly what Theatre Under the Stars gave us – a great time.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sunday, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through November 3 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8801 or visit tuts.com. $34.50-$138.50.
There comes a time in most parents’ lives when you find yourself in a place so outside your comfort zone – one not taught in any pre-natal classes. You find yourself in a baby music class.
For some the baby music class (whatever preference or brand you choose to go with, likelihood if it’s your first baby, you’ll attend several) is a place of joy – it’s been your lifelong dream to be in a room where it’s not just cool, but positively encouraged to sing out as loud as your heart desires. But for many people, it can be an uncomfortable place, mumbling words it’s just assumed you know to a million nursery rhymes while getting the hand actions repeatedly wrong. Oh, and if you’re there with a young baby, chances are you’ll miss the majority of the class when the baby does a poo-nami or falls asleep (despite the fact you’d spent the last two hours trying to get them to sleep before the class.
Experts Featured in This Article
Jessica Rolph is CEO and co-founder of Lovevery, a company focused on healthy brain development for children under five.
It can find yourself, by the time you get home, wondering if it’s all really worth it? Well, rest assured, baby and toddler development experts say music can be important for young children, for lots of reasons.
With that in mind – and if you’d rather take the many verses of Wheels on the Bus while safely at home – renowned toy company Lovevery have launched The Music Set (available from 17 October), a musical version of their award-winning play kits, containing everything from jingle bracelets to concertinas. Ahead of the launch we asked Lovevry CEO Jessica Rolph to explain why music can be so beneficial to small children.
How Can Music Help Children’s Learning and Wellbeing?
School readiness: “Early exposure to music has been shown to improve many school readiness skills like language, math, and executive function,” says Rolph. “Studies show that playing music can also boost reasoning skills, as your child learns to translate abstract ideas-like notes on a sheet of music-into sounds, rhythms, and songs.”
Behaviour: “Engaging with music may also help preschoolers think before they act,” adds Rolph. “Following directions is a big part of music-your child learns to start and stop, play loudly or quietly, and make the right sound by hitting this note and not that one. This musical play can help strengthen your child’s inhibition-an executive function that includes skills like impulse control and emotional regulation.”
Movement: “And music gets children moving!” says Rolph. “Music gives them a chance to practice both gross motor control and proprioception – the understanding of where their body is in space.”
Language: “Your child engages with early language skills every time you read them a bedtime story or point out words when you go about your day. Look for similar ways to incorporate music.”
Rhiannon Evans is the interim content director at PS UK. Rhiannon has been a journalist for 17 years, starting at local newspapers before moving to work for Heat magazine and Grazia. As a senior editor at Grazia, she helped launch parenting brand The Juggle, worked across brand partnerships, and launched the “Grazia Life Advice” podcast. An NCE-qualified journalist (yes, with a 120-words-per-minute shorthand), she has written for The Guardian, Vice and Refinery29.
NEW YORK, October 8, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Recently, Heartikal, which is a new and cutting-edge musical brand of China, has announced a strategic partnership with Amazing Musicals, a musical production company. Together, they will promote the exchange and integration between Chinese and American musical culture.
Heartikal, along with its development layout and industry resource reserves in China and the United States, aims to introduce more outstanding Broadway musicals into China, while also building a bridge for the incubation and international expansion of original Chinese musicals.
The collaboration with Amazing Musicals was formed due to Heartikal’s appreciation for Amazing Musicals’ extensive production experience and the potential for upgrading its works. The two parties will first jointly produce and premiere the musical “The Hidden Side” in Shanghai, China on October 11, which is a stage work adapted from the novel written by the famous writer Yigua.
Heartikal will not only support the performance of “The Hidden Side” in China but has also begun to promote its export to the U.S., aiming to offer American audiences a unique Chinese musical experience, while also enriching the cultural life of local Chinese and international students and deepening the emotional ties between them.
In the future, Heartikal will also assist Amazing Musicals’ other well-received work “The King’s Table” to upgrade its production and go overseas again. This partnership will continue to explore the cross-border potential of musical art. In addition, Heartikal will remain committed to nurturing young musical talent in both countries and contribute to the prosperity of the musical industry.
This strategic cooperation marks another significant step for Heartikal in promoting the international exchange of musicals, and it is anticipated to open a new chapter in the musical field.
Not since the glorified days of Flo Ziegfeld has the staircase been used so proficiently as it is by director Matt Hume in Rec Room Arts’ stupendously affecting production of Spring Awakening.
Actors strut down Stefän Azizi’s wooden scaffolding or backtrack up into the dark infinite space; the young students sit ramrod straight at church, then lounge with insouciant indifference after an insufferable sermon; they assemble at the sides, watching, commenting, as the action proceeds on the steps in front of them; they bound down to the wooden bench in front, jump up and confront us; ghosts appear upstage then slowly meander downward, sometimes in sync, sometimes in syncopation. The stairs are the characters’ playground, its confessional, a hayloft, a hidden glen in the nearby woods, a stifling schoolroom. In the intimate space of Rec Room, the staircase unfolds the teen angst in multiple ways, all right and true.
This 2007 Tony-winning musical from Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics) enlarges the drama while ironically keeping it smaller. We are close to the anguish, the pain, the forbidden fruit of nascent sexual desire, and the innocence of these youths as they break into adulthood without any help from the elders there to guide them. They’re on their own, and the results can be devastating. Not even the strongest among them survives without scars. Remember the fallen is young Melchior’s motto as this musical ends. In the haunting “Those You’ve Known,” he is joined by the dead Moritz and Wendla. “I’ll walk now with them/I’ll call on their names/And I’ll see their thoughts are known/Not gone/Not gone.”
Adapted from Frank Wedekind’s 1891 prescient, scandalous, and oft-censored drama, subtitled A Children’s Tragedy, this is one beautiful musical, exquisitely staged, and wondrously performed.
Potent, searing, aching, with wisps of wry sex innuendo, these displaced and frustrated German teens find love and acceptance among their own. Unfortunately, the solidarity goes only so far under the harsh repression of parents, church, and school. You can hear the heartbreak in Sheik’s plaintive soft-pop ballads, such as Wendla’s “Mama Who Bore Me,” Martha’s song of abuse “The Dark I Know Well,” and Moritz’s plea for understanding “Don’t Do Sadness;” and the throbbing disappointment in his hard-rock anthems, “The Bitch of Living” and Melchior’s “Totally Fucked.” Sater’s lyrics are among the best of any contemporary musical, always straight to the heart in a “manner poetical,” as the great lyricist from the previous century, W.S. Gilbert, might have penned. In the ensemble piece, “My Junk,” listen to the downtown beat: “In the midst of this nothing, this mess of a life/Still, there’s this one thing: just to see you go by/It’s almost like loving’, sad as that is/May not be cool, but it’s so where I live.”
Director Hune and choreographer Julia Krohn keep the kids bouncing in thwarted passion, twitching in anticipation of what they know nothing about except for their raging hormones. This new world of their own bodies is alien but so seductive. When randy Hänchen (Marco Camacho, always glinting) puts the make on buttoned-down Ernst (Austin Colburn, he of strong voice) in the reprise of “The Word of Your Body,” repressed gay sexuality gets amped to 11. Then the entire ensemble is infected with this strange mood, grinding and feeling their way to forbidden territory. It’s toe-tapping sex, set to an arpeggio of tinkling harmonium.
The cast is exceptional, and all but Megan Mottu (Martha) are making Rec Room debuts, although many have been seen previously on various Houston stages. But here they truly shine. Adam Kral, as too-smart-for-his-age Melchior, has the clean look of innocence and a clear tenor voice to prove it. Shannon Hoffman, as virginal Wendla who still believes babies arrive from storks, has recently graduated from Kinder HSPVA but already has the chops of a pro. Young Cameron O’Neil, as painfully neurotic Moritz, blows you away with his searing intensity, piercing desperation, and utter sincerity. Moritz may be possessed, but O’Neil’s mop of copper curls catches Azizi’s lights like a halo. Most definitely, he’s an actor to watch for in the future.
Timothy Eric, who plays all the Adult Men, needs no introduction after winning the 2023 Houston Press Best Actor Award for Main Street’s Stagolee and the Funeral of A Dangerous Word. His powerful presence on stage is testament enough. Kayla Meins is a stand-out in her professional debut as battered and street savvy Ilse, who tries to save Moritz. Her song, “Blue Wind,” and the lead vocal in the ensemble finale, “The Song of Purple Summer,”are poignantly rendered. The remaining cast includes Elena Coates (Adult Women), Nonie Hilliard (Thea), Camryn Nunley (Georg), Dariel Silva (Otto), and Jacqueline Vasquez (Anna). Troopers all.
Much of the musical’s spirit derives from the spirited band, upstage right, led by musical director John Amar on piano and harmonium, Bonnie Diggs on violin, and Jesse Ward on guitar. Percussion is listed as Adam Kral, Nonie Hilliard, Kayla Meins, Camryn Nunley, and Cameron O’Neil. Hey, wait a minute, they’re the actors. Did each of them, when not on stage, rush to the elevated orchestral pit to pitch in? I’m confused. However this feat was accomplished, the sound is gloriously full – perhaps too full —when the singers, unmiked, get trampled under the rock, soft or not.
Wedekind’s play was a revelation and a scandal when it premiered in Berlin under famed German director Max Reinhardt in 1906. Playing on Broadway 100 years later as a musical play, Spring Awakening still stuns with its in-your-face audacity. Under Hune and the magicians at Rec Room Arts, the musical sings with renewed, unbridled life. Teen spirit is eternal. It’s also catching. Pay attention, you may feel something.
Spring Awakening. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays through September 28. Rec Room Arts, 100 Jackson Street. For more information, call 713-588-9403 or visit recroomarts.org. $5-$50.
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — A week before the Minnesota State fair begins, story, song and dance come together on stage inside the 4-H building after just 8 days.
Teen 4-Hers from across Minnesota write, build sets, make costumes, run music and tech, and rehearse this year’s state fair Arts-In musical, “Wonder Full.”
“We just cram it all in, work really hard, have some fun,” said Kirstin Delp, Minnesota 4-H State Arts-In Director.
Delp has directed the show at the state fair for over 20 years and she performed on the same stage as a student participant in the 80s.
There are 51 4Hers participating in Arts-In this year representing 18 different counties and all levels of experience. A couple members of the band have just started playing instruments.
Our bass player has never played an instrument, he doesn’t read music but he said on his registration form that he wanted to learn how to play bass guitar and we had a need and so we decided to teach him,” said Delp.
While the performers and band rehearse, Delp’s daughter Johanna is hard at work with a needle in her hand.
This is her final year of Arts-In.
“The first day I’m always a little nervous. How are we going to make this many costumes,” said Johanna Delp.
She’s improved on a lot of skills during her five years of Arts-In.
“Communication and public speaking. If you asked me even just last year, I probably would say no to being interviewed like this but it’s my last year and I think that I’ve grown so much and my confidence and all that I was up for the challenge,” said Johanna Delp.
Johanna’s teammates also point to the soft skills they’re picking up and the safety to be yourself.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at teaching and my patience has always been expanded,” said Joshua Nicholson.
“Everybody here is like a small community,” said Xiaomi Hollins.
Important lessons these teens will take with them into adulthood.
“Along the way we’re teaching about leadership, about teamwork, and about goal setting. Those are things that some people go on in the arts, but some people just take one of those pieces and live that out in their own lives,” said Kirstin Delp.
The 4-H Arts-In musical is performed 3 to 4 times daily in the 4-H building during the Minnesota State Fair.
The Phoenix Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Michael Barnard brings a fresh but faithful take to the classic Kander and Ebb musical “Cabaret” to the stage, now in its final week, through Sept. 1. The musical has long since been revered as a classic tale of friendship, endurance and the dangers of ignoring a changing political climate, something scarily apropos for modern times…
