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  • Jiaoying Summers Wanted To Be A Comedian, So She Bought A Comedy Club

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    In a true tale of self-determinism, viral comedian Jiaoying Summers made her career in comedy happen through sheer force of will.

    “It was a lot of struggle in the beginning,” the digital content producer recalls. “I bought the club but I had zero experience in running a comedy club. I bought it for myself to get on stage.”
    “It was my first week after the open mic, that I realize it will take me 20 years to get [enough] hours under my belt. I was like, I do not have time to waste. So I bought a comedy club on Melrose like one week after I started doing comedy. It’s crazy – it was a clothing store! It was a for lease on Melrose, and I’m like, this is Melrose, it’s a good location. I went in and they had ugly clothes. I was like, ‘Oh bitch, you should not be selling clothes. I’ll take your lease.’”

    The funny risk taker says the gambit paid off, and her now club The Hollywood Comedy is surviving and thriving.

    “It took me a week to hire some Chinese people to renovate it into a little black box theater,” Summers jokes. “And I start hosting open mics, and back then, we had eight open mics a day. Every hour we have open mic. I host every hour.”

    “Then pandemic came, four months later, everything close down. But I did not feel like I’ll give up comedy after pandemic. So I keep it. I keep selling my jewelry, my purse, to pay the rent. I go there every day to talk to the empty room. But then I get on stage and film myself doing my jokes. I posted them on Instagram, and TikTok, which wasn’t really popular so the [clips] never really did anything. But I realize all this material is about my life, and reliving the pain and vulnerability – and those are the jokes that worked. Those are the jokes that went viral for me.”

    “I got to a million followers on TikTok during the pandemic, and I kind of build my audience. It makes it easier to go out and I start to get in the big clubs because I can sell tickets. I have gotten funny because of the amount of crowd work and stage time I have amassed under my belt. Even in pandemic, I was able to go on stage and post my jokes. I was very lucky to use social media and the social media audience helped me find my voice. They show me what is funny by making clips go viral.”

    Now a headliner, Summers is returning for two nights at Punchline Houston on Friday, September 26 and Saturday September 27. “I love Houston!” the comic exclaims. “I played the Punchline last year around October, and I imported my boyfriend from Austin TX to Los Angeles, so Texas gave me a man. I love Texas.”
    The newest hour for Summers entitled What Spesie Are You? is an exploration of subjects that helped her climb the ranks on TikTok. “It will be my origin story including how I grew up in China and lots of religious trauma but we’ve made it into comedy gold! We laugh about all the things that have happened and what I’ve been a victim of. We use it to showcase my skills and resilience. I think it is going to be really fun to share a lot of things I haven’t shared before. I wanted to open my heart and be vulnerable. I think that is the best place to find good comedy, to say things you are embarrassed of and ashamed of and make it funny. People can connect with me, I think.”

    Turning out new jokes is hard, but turning out new jokes from childhood trauma must be harder. However, for Summers, the gamble of people not connecting with new material is worth the risk of putting herself out there. “It is all how you say it, and the willingness to take that kind of risk,” she surmises. “Because I, unfortunately, am not perfect. You want to showcase yourself as a person who is successful and who has their shit together – but I have two DUIs. I have two divorces. I have two kids and I’m a single mother. I suffer from a bipolar disorder. And I also own a comedy club, that is a mess, but it just keep going. I don’t know when the toilets are broken and I’m paying nine times the water bill. So you try to find beauty in chaos, try to find funny in all this pain.”

    “I think that is where you find the best stuff – when you are bravest to share with your audience. That’s when they know you are also human. They can feel like they can not be so judgmental of themselves and the mistakes they have made. If there is a second chance to make it right and be like, ‘Oh my God, I fucking suck.’ We all suck.”
    While Summers is embracing the suck of being imperfect – she also warns against others trying to turn their tragic backstories into stand-up material too quickly. “I think when I do materials about something traumatic, I have to make sure I have overcome that trauma,” she says. “If I have not overcome that trauma, the audience can feel it. They won’t laugh, they’ll be concerned about you. They know when you are not over it. You can’t talk about it, because you are still grieving inside. Your body is still carrying that pain. You have to go to therapy to really make your peace with it. Onstage, you have to make it funny.”

    Summers speaks with clarity and confidence about her craft, despite her young age. She’s mostly self-taught, and unafraid to suggest that’s the only way to develop as a stand-up. “I tried to take a class,” she says, followed by a slight pause. “There’s something that I should not say, because it makes me a villain but… the best comedians are working. They’re not teaching anyone. I don’t want to be the person who said it, but I’m a Chinese savage, I’m gonna say it!”
    “The best advice I got, the advice I hear from people like Nikki Glaser or Tom Segura or Bobby Lee, the people who are working comedian legends, that was the best advice I got. But in the comedy clubs, [those that] taught, were like these angry comedians who never made it, saying you’ll never make it with an accent, or you can’t wear a dress on stage. If people think you are pretty, they will not listen to your jokes. You need to wear thick glasses like a nerd. They would just give you the most outrageous dumb advice. Are you kidding me? It was like everything that I am is wrong.

    “But every real comedian would just tell me: just be you. Don’t pander to anyone and if they don’t like you, they don’t like you. They won’t like you if you are fake. They may if you are true. Don’t copy other people. If you don’t have a really good teacher, just avoid it.”

    “The best way to be a good comedian is to get on stage. You can just sign up and go on stage every day. You will find your voice because the audience the person who will show you if you are funny or not. Pay attention. Tape your show. Study it. That’s the best advice for young comedians, not the don’t look like this or sound like that. It is very bad for your confidence. For the longest time, I was afraid of myself. My voice, my accent, how big I was on stage. Because I am a very big personality, but I try to make myself small so people can like me. But I never found my voice, I was struggling. Then I was like, fuck everything they said, and that’s when things started happening.”

    Jiaoying Summers’ performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. on Friday, September 26 and 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 27 at Punchline Houston, 1204 Caroline. For more information, visit punchlinehtx.com. $32-69

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    Vic Shuttee

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  • Shahzia Sikander’s “Witness” Inspires Aerial Dance and Visual Art in Testimony

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    When choreographer Toni Valle, the artistic director of 6 Degrees Dance, first heard that Shahzia Sikander’s sculpture “Witness” would be installed at the University of Houston, it didn’t strike her as anything out of the ordinary.


    “We get notifications about everything,” says Valle, a professor in UH’s Kathrine G. McGovern College for the Arts, School of Theatre & Dance. “I didn’t think it was a big deal, one piece of public art that was going to be put on the campus.”


    Soon, however, the statue – a towering 18-foot female figure, golden and floating above the ground, with root-like arms and legs, a hoop skirt, lace collar, and braids shaped into ram horns – caught the attention of right-to-life protestors, who saw the horns as demonic and the jabot at her neck, a nod to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as a symbol of abortion rights.


    As a human rights activist herself, Valle says she had to see the sculpture, one-half of the Pakistani-American visual artist’s exhibition “Havah…to breathe, air, life,” with her own eyes.  


    “I saw it, and it’s beautiful. It is such a testament to women taking up space, because it’s so big,” says Valle. “At that point, I emailed the dean and said, ‘If it ever comes up that you want some art done about this piece…I would love to do something.’”

    The university did commission Valle to create a work inspired by “Witness.” Then, on July 8, 2024, with Valle and longtime collaborator/composer George Heathco deep in the creative process and Hurricane Beryl looming on the horizon, a man with a hammer beheaded the statue.

    “It was too close to our performance for us to incorporate that new material,” says Valle. “We made, at that point, a decision that we were going to do this again as a full evening length with that new information.”

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    6 Degrees company members Shelby Craze and Mia Pham with steel sculptures by Craze.

    Photo by Adri Richey Photography

    This week, Valle, Heathco, and singer-composer Misha Penton will premiere that full-length evening work, Testimony, an aerial dance and visual art installation, from visual artist Shelby Craze, that draws inspiration from Sikander’s work, the subsequent controversy, and eventual vandalism.

    “Though the sculpture was our point of reference, Testimony is also about the much larger picture of how women in general have been silenced,” says Valle. “Personally, what affected me was that this woman made something so amazing. It said, ‘I am here, and you cannot stop me from existing.’ And then someone violently beheaded it. It’s such a metaphor for how violence is often used to silence artists, to silence women, to silence people.”

    Penton, who joined the project after Valle and Heathco had begun work on Testimony, notes that “when voices are suppressed, the only antidote is vocal autonomy.” As such, she recalls telling her collaborators after seeing the first incarnation of Testimony from the audience, “I really feel like the sculpture needs to come to life and wail.”

    For the upcoming performance, Penton will play the character of the sculpture with embodied vocality.

    “I’m interpreting this as an archetypal feminine energy,” explains Penton, who is composing and singing the live voice work in the show. “Everyone in the performance is a facet of the sculpture, and my character serves as a way to focus the energy and also refract it into a prism of a zillion possibilities in a diverse spectrum.”

    Though Penton will embody the statue, Valle says she also wanted Penton’s character to have a human element.

    “My goal always is to bring humanity into a situation,” says Valle. “I want people to see this as the personification of oppressed people, and to be able to see it as human.”

    Penton’s vocalizations will wind in and out and intertwine with Heathco’s original score, which features saxophones, guitars, percussion, and the interplay of lots of voices because, as Heathco notes, “this whole thing started with voices of people having some sort of descent and not wanting to see the statue on campus.”

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    6 Degrees company members Emily Aven and Michelle Reyes.

    Photo by Adri Richey Photography

    Heathco says he decided to bike to the school to visit the statue and take notes, with the ambient sounds he heard inspiring his score in unexpected ways.

    “Sitting in front of the statue this one particular evening, hearing the marching band, hearing the light rail, hearing the mechanical noises, hearing the wind through the trees, the rustling of leaves and students walking by… All these things started to really produce a sound in my head,” says Heathco. “Once I got home that night from the bike ride, the instrumentation was set.”

    Like Heathco, Valle says she also visited the sculpture to take notes and pictures to begin developing the choreography, believing that she could not do justice to Sikander’s detailed work without spending as much time creating movement based on it.

    “All the movement is based on the movement in the sculpture itself,” says Valle. “Rather than trying to put content in the pieces, like this is what Sikander meant, I took what she gave me in movement and size and statuesque breathing – everything about this sculpture almost feels alive to me – and tried to reiterate that in different moments, with a collage that speaks to tiny fragments of the sculpture that then makes this entire whole.”

    Elements of Sikander’s sculpture will appear in the way the dancers will swirl and braid around each other like the roots, and in a bungee piece, where Penton will be lifted off the floor, supported by the other dancers, as the sculpture is supported by its hoop skirt.

    Despite its embedded, heavy themes, all three collaborators agree that anyone can see and enjoy Testimony.

    “My tester is always someone asking, ‘Can I bring my 12-year-old daughter?’ And yes, I think it’s fairly accessible and exciting to watch,” says Valle. “Even if they know nothing about this statue, even if they don’t get anything about this statue, there’s so much embedded in the work that I’m very proud to say I think anybody can come see this show, not get it at all and still like it.”

    That said, Penton does hope that audiences will find Testimony “hopeful and liberating.”

    “We’re not being didactic,” says Penton. “We’re not telling people what to think about anything. I feel like the statue and the character that I’m embodying is hopeful, grounded, powerful, and future-looking in a positive way.”

    Testimony will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 25, through Saturday, September 27, and 5 p.m. Sunday, September 28, at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, visit 6degreesdance.org. $20-$35, with a pay-what-you-can option on September 26.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Akeelah and the Bee’s Heartfelt, Underdog Story Still Resonates at The Ensemble Theatre

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    Spelling bees.


    Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, they were certainly having a moment.


    They were the topic of an Oscar-nominated documentary, the Scripps National Spelling Bee was regularly televised on ESPN, and every year it seemed some odd tic or quirky personality would go viral – or what passed for viral at the time. Remember the kid who fainted and, quite dramatically, stood right up and correctly spelled his word like nothing had happened? I do. And, of course, spelling bees made it to the big screen with the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee.


    Now, almost 20 years later, Cheryl L. West’s 2015 stage adaptation of writer-director Doug Atchison’s film is serving as The Ensemble Theatre’s season opener, and the question is, was it lightning in a bottle or does the story in Akeelah and the Bee still resonate today?


    The play begins with 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson of Chicago, Illinois, waking up screaming after hearing gunshots outside her window. We quickly learn that Akeelah lives in a tough neighborhood, in an apartment with her mother, an overworked nursing assistant, and her older brother, an unemployed high school dropout, and attends a school, Southside Middle School, where, if the place ever had better days, they are now long gone.


    Akeelah has an aptitude for spelling, a gift she traces back to her late father, but she wants no part of “that spelling thing” because kids at school make fun of her for it. When she wins the school spelling bee, however, the principal, desperate to change the school’s image, sees it as an opportunity. He believes she can go far – to district, then state, and maybe nationals – but she’ll need proper coaching. He encourages her to train with Dr. Joshua Larabee, a professor and former English department head at Northwestern. More importantly, though, Larabee once made it to the National Spelling Bee himself.

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    Bria Washington and Jason E. Carmichael in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.

    Photo by Jordan Guidry

    Though they get off on the wrong foot, Dr. Larabee does agree to coach Akeelah, but the road to the national title in Washington, D.C. proves to be lined with obstacles, the least of which is that Akeelah’s navigating it all behind her mother’s back.

    West’s adaptation premiered at the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company in 2015. As such, though relatively loyal to the 2006 film, it may be even more family-friendly. The big beats are all still present, as are the inherent themes (race and class, inner-city violence, grief, self-worth, the power of community). All together, they add up to a classic underdog story. It’s easy to root for Akeelah because, as conventional and fairly formulaic as the story is, it’s got a lot of heart.

    Director Eileen J. Morris leans into that heart by emphasizing the community around Akeelah, which makes the lively production welcoming like a warm hug. Strong performances from the cast also keep the story from coming across as trite, starting with Bria Washington as Akeelah.


    Washington is a terrific Akeelah. She is child-like in her enthusiasm, and the ease with which she can go from excitable and talkative to overwhelmed with emotion perfectly reflects the balancing act Akeelah often finds herself in as she tries to find her footing in the world. Washington has great chemistry with all of her castmates, but her interactions with Jason E. Carmichael are most memorable.


    Carmichael puts his commanding presence and booming voice to good use as Dr. Larabee who, under the cold exterior and impeccable posture, is revealed to have a secret pain. As they warm up to each other, his relationship with Washington’s Akeelah becomes utterly charming, as in the scene where he introduces a jump rope into her spelling routine.

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    April Wheat, Bria Washington, and Konnor Sheppard in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.

    Photo by Jordan Guidry

    As mom Gail, April Wheat is a foil, but an unintentional one. As such, in Wheat’s hands, she is never unlikable. As Reggie, Akeelah’s brother, Konnor Sheppard is the ideal mix of caring and troubled. Reggie is a sweetheart of a brother, and his relationship with Akeelah is the best drawn of all. Rounding out Akeelah’s initial support system is Kendal Thomas’s Georgia, who is loud in her support of her best friend and flashy in style.

    James West III skillfully plays the perpetually “on it” building super Drunk Willie, a kindly older man who (as his name implies) takes more than his fair share of nips, and Principal Welch, a beleaguered man not afraid to blackmail a child, or plead on bended knee, if it might benefit his school. Joyce Anastasia Murray gets her share of laughs as Batty Ruth, a bigmouthed, nosy neighbor who shares an unexpected past with Drunk Willie.


    When we first meet Joshua Nguyen as Dylan, he is frustratingly arrogant (you know he’s doing it right when the audience can’t help but groan and drop oh god’s when he speaks. Nguyen shows another side of Dylan as the play progresses, especially as Johnny Barton establishes his antagonistic role as Dylan’s Dad, a man who demands nothing less than excellence from his son and is aptly described as “a little Hitler” by Georgia.


    Utility players in the cast include Helen Rios, who plays (among others) Akeelah’s nearly nonverbal schoolmate Izzy, seemingly too shy to speak or lift her head, and an over-polished reporter working nationals; Sannia Bell, as rich girl Trish and two spelling bee competitors (one offensively Texan and the other an early victim of the pressure the kids feel to win); and Aliyah Robinson, whose turn as Ratchet Rhonda, the attitudinal cheerleader who shakes down Akeelah for snacks, outshines her more prim role as a spelling bee judge. Johnny Kelley appears first as jokester Chucky, but settles into the character Javier, a dorky and considerate friend to Akeelah.

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    The cast of The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.

    Photo by Jordan Guidry

    With almost half the cast playing double (or triple or quadruple) duty, Costume Designers/Dressers Dawn Joyce Peterson and Ann Ridley, as well as Sharon Ransom’s hair and makeup, do yeoman’s work distinguishing character. Equally supportive is Liz Freese’s set, which is beautifully decorated with fun Pop Art, comic book-style illustrations, which pop under Kris Phelps’s lighting design.

    Not only did the set have a three-dimensional quality, with its layered levels, the use of the theater’s entrances and exits, aisle, and seats gave the cast even more space to play. It is a nice touch having cast sit in the audience, as during the final, when Akeelah’s camp forms a cheering section on one side of the audience while Dylan’s dad takes a seat on the other.


    Adrian Washington’s sound designs complete the world in both comedic (Reggie’s baby at the district bee) and serious (the ever-present threat of gun violence nearby) ways. They also establish joy, as when musical interludes and dance, with choreography from Monica Josette, erupt on stage. One sound-related quibble is that it seemed to dip in the second act, with the dialogue getting noticeably quieter, but I’ll assume that’s a fluke that will be fixed going forward.

     

    The verdict is that Akeelah and the Bee is designed to make viewers feel good and, in that, it hits the mark. Though it has its overly sappy moments, it’s here to entertain and inspire, which it can do for the right audience – meaning those that are not grinchy about a good time and a happy ending. And these days, who wants to be a grinch about a good time and a happy ending? We can certainly use both wherever we can find them.   

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Rock, Roll & Tutus a Thrilling Mixed Rep at Houston Ballet

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    Few things are as exciting as when Houston Ballet stages a Rock, Roll & Tutus mixed repertory program, and it’s not just because rock music makes an appearance where some think it doesn’t belong. It’s because without fail, the rock ‘n’ roll spirit – with its promise of intimacy and spectacle, subtlety and bravado – will run through every work selected for the program, making for one exciting night at the ballet.

    And last night was no exception.


    The program opened with a bang in the form of Brett Ishida’s what i was thinking while i was waltzing, a Houston Ballet commission that originally premiered during last year’s Margaret Alkek Williams Jubilee of Dance.

    The curtain rises to reveal five couples twirling around the stage like figurines in a music box. Between the women’s blood-red dresses and Ezio Bosso’s über dramatic String Quartet No. 5, music from a live score the Italian composer wrote for a 1927 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, we are immediately struck both visually and sonically. Then, one by one, the women, with arms outstretched and backs arched, appear to be, in turn, waking up, struggling against, and transforming, eventually disappearing into the drapey vermilion of their self-standing skirts only to crawl out, emerging from the cocoon of artifice somewhere darker.

    what i was thinking while i was waltzing is seductive and gripping, unflinching and raw, like an exposed nerve. Ishida’s escape into the subconscious is sensuous and visceral, drawing on precision, slow and dream-like, and varied technique, from pointe work to kip-ups and bridge poses. The partnering is especially breathtaking, with Saul Newport and Brittany Stone delivering standout performances. By the time the women climb back into their dresses and the couples resume their waltz, the curtain closing on a whirl of spinning lifts sweeping across the stage, it was clear: This is a piece you’re guaranteed to want to see again, and again, and again.

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    Houston Ballet First Soloists Tyler Donatelli and Naazir Muhammad in Jacquelyn Long’s Illuminate.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet

    After a brief pause, another work that first premiered at a Margaret Alkek Williams Jubilee of Dance takes the stage. This time, it’s Houston Ballet Soloist Jacquelyn Long’s debut work, Illuminate.

    Set to Oliver Davis’s Frontiers, Concerto for Violin and Strings, Illuminate is like sorbet, a palate cleanser, a refreshing and delightful contrast to the previous work. Choreographed for an ensemble of six, the short dance, set in three movements, is light and airy, and strong in its romanticism. Long displays strong musicality, the steps clean and accessible, with the dancers positively spritely to match the violin part played masterfully by Denise Tarrant.

    If you’re the type to read the program given to you on the way in, you’ll read that themes of ideas and inspiration are embedded in the work, though the dance itself is quite ambiguous, the only real hint to those themes the lightbulb hanging stage left. Illuminate, however, is not at all ambiguous in its joy. It is bright and infectiously happy. Long also knows how to end on a high note, the ending pose with the dancers all reaching toward the light memorable all on its own.

    One 25-minute intermission later, Christopher Bruce’s Rooster undeniably brought the rock star swag to the evening’s program.


    Created in 1991 for Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, and receiving its American premiere right here at Houston Ballet in 1995, Rooster is an irresistibly fun dance for ten, five men and five women, set to eight different songs by The Rolling Stones. Each song is its own little vignette, connected via the repeated gestures and motifs Bruce draws directly from the lyrics.

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    Houston Ballet Principal Connor Walsh, Demi Soloist Jack Wolff and Corps de Ballet Dancer Alejandro Molina León in Christopher Bruce’s Rooster.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    Bruce starts the piece with the bluesy “Little Red Rooster,” and, as the song goes, the “little red rooster is on the prowl.” In this case, it’s Connor Walsh, who appears on stage, strutting, repeatedly fixing his hair and straightening his tie, and generally peacocking around, establishing a recurring theme for the men.


    There seems to be a sexual tug-of-war at play, with the men certainly acting as though the power is on their side, as during “Lady Jane,” as male attention flits from one woman to another. The women, however, occasionally triumph, like during “Not Fade Away,” a punchy number that features a preening Jack Wolff, who certainly tries to embody the demands of Jagger’s words, though he still gets kicked down, stepped on, and eventually carried away.


    Rooster     is filled with memorable performances, including Karina González’s child-like outcast in “As Tears Go By”; the bop of a solo by Alejandro Molina León during “Paint It Black”; and Jessica Collado’s gentle portrayal in “Ruby Tuesday.”


    Following a shorter, 15-minute intermission, the centerpiece of the evening, Vi et animo from Stanton Welch, commenced to impress the audience.

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    Houston Ballet Principals Yuriko Kajiya and Aaron Robison with Artists of Houston Ballet in Stanton Welch’s Vi et Animo.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    After choreographing the first movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for the Margaret Alkek Williams Jubilee of Dance in 2023, Welch expanded the work to encompass all three of Tchaikovsky’s movements, which now debut as part of the mixed rep program. And expanded it is, featuring nearly 50 dancers across its three movements.

    Vi et animo evokes George Balanchine, with its classical vocabulary and a sea of tutus emphasizing the piece’s grandeur. The first movement is characterized by delicate footwork and gorgeous port a bras from the ensemble mixed with spotlight-demanding solos tailor-made for Welch’s dancers. Though all deserved their oohs and ahhs, the power and acrobatics of the men – Eric Best, Naazir Muhammad, and Simone Acri – juxtaposed too perfectly with the broader dance to not deserve a special mention. Welch marries the beautiful lyricism of Tchaikovsky’s second movement with a breakable pas de deux danced by Karina González and Harper Watters, before turning to Sayako Toku and Angelo Greco to lead the corps in a more playful, and quicker, third movement.

    Mixed repertory programs are perfect starter packs for people who aren’t familiar with dance and special treats for those who are. One again, Houston Ballet is offering four contrasting pieces that show the breadth of what the company has to offer, and it’s nothing if not impressive. 

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Best Bets: Stravinsky’s Firebird, Bach’s Divine Comedy and Akeelah and the Bee

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    It’s National Locate an Old Friend Day, and if you find an old friend and would like to make plans for the weekend with them, we’ve got some ideas for you. This week, both a popular movie and a bestselling book come to the stage, a choir all the way from Mexico City stops in for a joint concert, and much more await you, so keep reading for these and all of our picks for best bets.


    Houston Ballet     returns to the Wortham Theater Center on Thursday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. for their latest mixed repertory program: Rock, Roll & Tutus. The program includes Brett Ishida’s Houston Ballet-commissioned what i was thinking while i was waltzing, which first premiered in 2024; Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, set to music by The Rolling Stones; Illuminate, a debut work from Soloist Jacquelyn Long; and an expanded Vi et animo from Artistic Director Stanton Welch. First Soloist Tyler Donatelli told the Houston Press the movements “all have a very grand classical feel…He really pushes the classical technique and is always reaching for more perfection every time, and there’s always something more to give.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Friday, September 26; 1:30 p.m. Saturday, September 27; and 2 p.m. Sundays through September 28. Tickets are available here for $75 to $170.


    In 2006, Akeelah and the Bee, starring Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, and Angela Bassett, proved to be “an underdog tale that manages to inspire without being sappy.” Writer-director Doug Atchison’s film has since been adapted for the stage by Cheryl L. West, and you can catch it at The Ensemble Theatre on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. Bria Washington, who plays the role of Akeelah in the production, recently told BroadwayWorld Houston, “Akeelah’s story feels so universal—it speaks to kids finding their voice, but also to adults remembering the power of resilience. She’s layered, full of internal and external battles, and that challenge excites me as an actor.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, and 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 8, through October 12. Tickets can be purchased here for $35 to $50.

    A classic Russian folklore character that symbolizes “rebirth, beauty, and magic” will take center stage on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. when the Houston Symphony opens its season with Valčuha Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird at Jones Hall. Music Director Juraj Valčuha will lead the orchestra in the concert, which also includes Florent Schmitt’s Psalm 47 and the world premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Houston Symphony-commissioned Liberty Bell, plus special guests Angel Blue; Houston Chamber Choir, under Artistic Director Betsy Cook Weber; and Houston Symphony Chorus, under Director Anthony J. Maglione. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 21, at 2 p.m. Tickets to in-hall performances can be purchased here for $29 to $159. Saturday night’s concert will also be livestreamed, with access to the video performance available here for $20.


    If you’re used to his serious, sacred cantatas, hear another side of Johann Sebastian Bach on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m., when Ars Lyrica Houston opens its season with Bach’s Divine Comedy at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The program will feature three works by Bach, including The Dispute between Phoebus and Pan, which refers to a comical singing contest drawn from a Greek myth, by way of the Roman poet Ovid. Matthew Dirst, the artistic director of Ars Lyrica, has described the secular cantata as “theatrical, tongue in cheek, and it’s filled with clever references to contemporary music taste.” Tickets can be purchased here for $15 to $80. If you can’t attend the performance in person, you can buy a $20 ticket to view the digital livestream here.

    A mumps outbreak at a private school leads to increasingly contentious meetings between the school’s headmaster, four parents on the campus board of directors, and more parents over Zoom in Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, which 4th Wall Theatre Co. will open at Spring Street Studios on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. 4th Wall Artistic Director (and play director) Jennifer Dean told the Houston Press the play will allow audiences to reflect on things like, “What am I doing in my own life that is shutting people down or not taking care of each other?…And that you can’t have dialogue with each other and make progress if we’re not willing to listen to each other’s point of view.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through October 11. Tickets are available here for $25 to $70.

    Be in the room at the Wortham Theater Center for the first time Pride Chorus Houston performs with an international choir at 8 p.m. Saturday, September 20, during Mi Familia. The joint concert, performed with Mexico City-based Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+, will feature a world premiere work and arrangements of music from different Spanish-language icons, such as Diego Torres and Juan Gabriel. Speaking to the Houston Press, David York, the artistic director of Pride Chorus Houston, said of the setlist, “We started looking at these artists as being an accurate representation of what we wanted to say as a pride chorus in an international concert. In a way, we’re representing America and we’re representing Latin culture in our set.” Tickets to the concert are available here for $28.75 to $74.75.

    The Catastrophic Theatre will open its season with dependency, futility, and existential inevitability – i.e., Samuel Beckett – on Friday, September 19, at 8 p.m. at the MATCH when they present Beckett’s Endgame, about one man, blind and unable to stand up, who lords over another man, who is unable to sit down. Catastrophic Co-Artistic Director Jason Nodler, who is directing the play for the third time, told the Houston Press he considers Beckett’s plays “tragic comedies,” adding that they “are not particularly dour. They’re certainly often considered to be about despair, and they really aren’t. None of Beckett’s characters are without hope or they wouldn’t continue.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through October 11. Tickets are pay-what-you-can (with a suggested price of $40) and can be purchased here.


    When American professor Robert Langdon is implicated in the murder of a Louvre curator, he finds himself forced to unravel a mystery hidden in codes and symbols—which happen to be his specialty—in Dan Brown’s bestseller-turned-Hollywood movie and now play, The Da Vinci Code, opening at the Alley Theatre on Wednesday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. Zack Fine, who plays Langdon, recently spoke to the Houston Press about the success of Brown’s story, saying, “He’s done a great job of pulling us into a mystery. And that mystery is specific to Leonardo Da Vinci and Christianity. It pulls at the part of us that goes ‘I think there’s something more underneath what we call the truth.’” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through October 19. Tickets are available here for $36 to $135.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • 16, Going on 72: Kimberly Akimbo at Broadway at the Hobby

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    Odd and quirky, musically smooth, emotionally resonant, wise, and a little raunchy (thanks to Aunt Debra), Kimberly Akimbo has racked up innumerable theater awards from the Tonys, Drama Desks, Off-Broadway Obies (Best Musical, Actress, Supporting Actress, Book, Score, Design). Now we know why.

    If a very prescient A.I. process generated a contemporary hip musical, this would be it; although there’s nothing mechanical about the show. With its great beating heart at center stage (that would be 16-year-old Kimberly), a dysfunctional family straight out of a comic O’Neill drama, an outlaw aunt on the run, and teenagers spilling their angst and hormones across the stage, Kimberly shakes you up in the story’s comedy and pathos.

    Kimberly, you see, suffers from a rare genetic disorder that ages her prematurely, about four-and-half years for every one of ours. She turns 16 at the beginning of the play, which would make her about 72 years old. She’s a granny in kids’ clothes. She goes to high school and has all the conflicting emotions of a teenager. Set that against her whacked-out family (Dad’s a drunk, Mom’s a pregnant hypochondriac, and libido-expressive Aunt Debra who arrives on the lam with another scheme to get rich quick), the tensions sing and dance most proficiently. The obvious moral, a heart breaker naturally, is Live for Today, time is passing, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Live Every Moment.

    The most haunting line comes from “Our Disease,” sung to and by her young school posse (Grace Capeless, Skye Alyssa Friedman, Darron Hayes, Pierce Wheeler – all young pros). They want to get out of New Jersey like a bat out of hell, they can’t wait to grow up and experience life to its fullest. Kimberly tells them in a sort of dream sequence, “Getting older is my affliction, getting older is your cure.” It’s bittersweet and so true.

    Even during the show, Kimberly ages. She has trouble walking near the end, and is admitted to a hospital where we think this show is inevitably going to end in tears. But the creators turn the tables on us, as they do throughout the show, and after the mailbox heist (Aunt Debra’s screwy check-washing plot), she and her nerdy crush Seth go on the adventure she’s been dreaming of for years. No doubt her last car trip, nevertheless she gets her dream. It’s her private Make-a-Wish. And a beautiful high on which to end the show. The show might end with our tears, but they are tears of joy as we smile for her courage, spirit, and grit. She also gets her first kiss. Bliss.

    Adapted from the play by Tony-winner David Lindsay-Abaire (whose lyrics abound with juicy satire as they did in Shrek), with a pop and Broadway pastiche sound supplied by Tony-winner Jeanine Tesoro (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change; Shrek), this musical — brought to Houston by Broadway at the Hobby — leaps into a soft imaginative fantasy that seems most real and down-to-earth.

    click to enlarge

    Ann Morrison, Miguel Gill and Jim Hogan in the National Tour of Kimberly Akimbo.

    Photo by Joan Marcus

    The cast is superlative, as most Broadway tour performers are these days, with special mention to veteran Ann Morrison (the original Mary in Sondheim’s 1981 Merrily We Roll Along) as achingly sympathetic Kimberly; young Miguel Gil as nerd deluxe Seth; Jim Horgan and Laura Woyasz as clueless parents Buddy and Pattie; and, last but not least, scene-stealer Emily Koch as hot-to-trot Aunt Debra. She brings the house down as a criminal Auntie Mame, belting out her anthems “Better” and “How to Wash a Check.” She’s the life force Kimberly desperately needs, although Kimberly turns the tables on her in a most satisfying way at the end. They’re not relatives for nothing.

    The production glides as if oiled under the direction of Jessica Stone, abetted with impressionistic choreography from Danny Mefford, and maestro Leigh Delano’s octet of an orchestra with orchestrations that include lone guitar, ukulele, and cello. It’s pristine and cuts to the heart.

    Only one-and-a-half years from its Broadway closing, I think this show is destined to become a classic. It’s got the bones, the musical chops, and an inspiring, fantastic story that encapsulates teenage longing for something far off on the horizon. It speaks to us all. This is a Kimberly who will not grow old.

    Kimberly Akimbo continues through September 21 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday; 2 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $55-$131.

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    D. L. Groover

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  • Signs, Symbols and Biblical References: The Da Vinci Code Goes On Stage at Alley Theatre

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    The Alley Theatre knew back in July it had a winner on its hands, already adding five performances because of the high demand for The Da Vinci Code opening this week. It is, of course, based on the international bestselling book by Dan Brown and with fond audience memories of the 2006 movie starring Tom Hanks

    Zach Fine (Seascape, The Servant of Two Masters and Pictures from Home) is returning to the Alley to play Robert Langdon, the American professor of religious symbology who just happens to be in Paris when a Louvre curator Jacques Saunière is found murdered in the famous art museum. Langdon becomes the prime suspect when a message left by Saunière directs his granddaughter Sophie Neveu to find Langdon, which the police decide means he’s the culprit.

    Langdon and Neveu (Alley Resident Company member Melissa Molano ) team up, escape and seek to solve the crime in a thriller chock full of cryptic references and biblical interpretation. The trip, of course, is not without its dangers and dangerous characters. They end up not only seeking Saunière ‘s killer but in a search for the truth about Mary Magdalene. And, of course, with a title like The Da Vinci Code, Leonardo DaVinci plays a part as well.

    As anyone knows who’s read the book, author Brown covers a lot of ground in its 682 pages. How did adaptors Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel wrestle that into what Fine describes as “a very brisk two-act?”?

    “The good thing about the book is that it has such good action in it so you can really go from action event to action event,” Fine says. “Some of the historical detail that Dan Brown adds in the book, you don’t get as much of that in the play.” The result, he says, goes pretty quickly.

    Describing his character, Fine says: “Intrepid,  passionate,  balanced, a truth seeker and someone who is a bit more comfortable with books than people. A deep lover of history and in particular the symbols that are important for culture and for history. The passion for the way symbols in art and literature and religion have impacted us and help us create meaning.

    “There’s some comedy in that because he’s not someone who’s comfortable in an action movie.   He’s not Indiana Jones. He  really has to step in another part of himself that he never expected to experience before. He’s an adventurer intellectually not physically.”

    Other cast members include Resident Acting Company Members Elizabeth Bunch as Vernet, Michelle Elaine as Collet, Dylan Godwin as Rémy, Chris Hutchison as Silas and Christopher Salazar as Bezu Fache. Also: Kevin Cooney as Jacques Sanuière, Victor J. Flores as Philip, Susan Koozin (Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d) as Sister Sandrine, and Todd Waite (Resident Acting Company Member Emeritus) as Sir Leigh Teabing. Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose directs.

    Of special note: This will be Chris Hutchison’s 100th production at the Alley.

    Brown’s book was first published in spring of 2003. Asked why it continues in its many forms to interest people, Fine says: “In a simple way I think like Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle a great mystery stays with us for a long time because it pulls the audience forward.

    “He’s done a great job of pulling us into a mystery. And that mystery is specific to Leonardo Da Vinci and and Christianity. It pulls at the part of us that goes ‘I think there’s something more underneath what we call the truth.’ It pulls at some big themes and good mysteries pull us into that part of our intuition that there’s something more, but I don’t know what it is.  It does a really effective job of just drawing us in. It engages in puzzle solving and I think puzzles are just endlessly intriguing for people. There’s a sense that there’s an order to the universe at times; there’s an order behind what feels like chaos.”

    Another major factor in the book is all the places Langdon and Neveu travel in their quest. How can that be represented on the Alley stage?

    “You’re going to be thrilled by it. This production is going to be using cutting edge scenic design, projections, sound and lighting to capture these iconic locations like the Louvre and cathedrals. We’re going to move all around the world. It’s going to be a showcase for how amazing the Alley Theatre is. It will utilize  the full spectrum of resources and artists on every level. It’s going to be even better than the movie. You can quote me on that.”

    Performances are scheduled for September 19 through October 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. Opening night is Wednesday, September 24. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org.$36-$135.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Pride Chorus Houston and Mexico City Neighbors Unite in Mi Familia

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    Last year, Pride Chorus Houston traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses) held its quadrennial festival, the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ choruses in the world.


    There, they encountered their Mexico City-based counterpart, Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+.


    “We were blown away by them,” says David York, now in his third season as artistic director of Pride Chorus Houston, one of the nation’s oldest gay choruses in the United States. “And I’m happy to report that they were really pleased with what they saw in us as well.”


    Casual conversations turned to friendship, and now, just over a year later, the two choruses will perform together for the first time during Mi Familia, a joint concert at the Wortham Theater Center on September 20 before the Houston chorus travels to Mexico City for two additional performances on November 28 and 29.


    The concert marks the first time Pride Chorus Houston will perform with an international choir, and York says audiences are in for a treat when they see Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+.


    “They are a very extravagant and flamboyant chorus, so they’re bringing lots of energy, very colorful costumes, and their own brand of fabulous,” says York.


    According to York, the Mexico City chorus is bringing their tried-and-true hits, with the current setlist including pieces with titles like “Pamela Anderson” – “The English translation to the first part of ‘Pamela Anderson’: ‘I love you so much / I watched your documentary yesterday’ and then it goes into details about that,” shares York – and “Muerte por Tetaso,” or “Death by Titslap.”


    “Isn’t that fun?” adds York. “That’s very campy.”


    When it came time to decide on the material Houston Pride Chorus would contribute to the show, York says popular Latin artists like Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Shakira, and Bad Bunny all came up.


    “We started looking at these artists as being an accurate representation of what we wanted to say as a pride chorus in an international concert. In a way, we’re representing America and we’re representing Latin culture in our set,” says York.


    Representation proved to be a bit trickier for his chorus, as York realized that the Mexico City chorus is more of a monoculture, meaning that almost all the members are Mexican by heritage.


    “In the Houston Pride Chorus, we have a significant percentage, probably 15 percent of our chorus is Hispanic or Latino, and some of them are from Mexico, but a lot of them are not. They come from Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, El Salvador – all these different Spanish-speaking countries are represented by Pride Chorus, so our experience of Latin culture is different than theirs,” explains York.


    The setlist Houston Pride Chorus decided on will also feature “tailor-made” arrangements from different Spanish-language icons, including “Color Esperanza” by Argentine Diego Torres and a medley of music by Mexican superstar Juan Gabriel.


    “While Juan Gabriel never publicly came out as gay, it’s a well-known secret, so we claim him. We are representing him loud and proud at the end of our concert,” says York.


    A highlight of the program will be the premiere of a new piece of music composed by York and the artistic director of Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+, Enrique Dunn.


    “There’s a fair amount of attention around immigration in our chorus, and why people came to the United States, and what their relationship with their family is like, and as we talked about that, that’s where we stumbled onto the idea of Mi Familia. That is a common theme for Mexico City Chorus to sing about and us as well,” says York.


    The idea resulted in a piece with four movements, with a melody and sweet refrain woven into each movement: “This is my family / just as we are / separated by distance / united by love.”


    The members of each chorus were asked for interesting ways to express these thoughts using experiences from their personal lives or by creating fictionalized stories. The suggestions York and Dunn received were narrowed down to four, with each artistic director setting two for the piece.


    The movements York set are titled “No Sabo,” a grammatically incorrect term used to refer to children from Spanish-speaking families who don’t speak Spanish, and “Lullaby.”


    “One of the choristers is a no sabo kid, and he wrote this beautiful story about his relationship with his grandmother, who is from Peru,” explains York. “He’d come home from school. She talked to him in Spanish; he would talk to her in English. They had about 50 common words in their vocabulary, and it was the same conversation every day.”


    Another chorister, who wrote “a really lovely, poignant lyric about what it is to be a parent,” inspired “Lullaby,” which is about two fathers, parents to three adopted children, two of whom are from Mexico.


    “The current political situation is risky for them,” says York. “The children are citizens, but they aren’t American-born citizens, and so that created some fear in their family.”


    York says the melody and lyrics will be altered in both movements to reflect each story. “In the ‘No Sabo’ lyric, it’s ‘This is my family / just as it is / separated by language / united by love.’ And in the one about the fathers, it’s ‘This is my family / just as we are / separated by fear / united by love.’”


    Dunn set the last two stories, and York describes both movements as “very grand and epic.” One is titled “Fronteras,” or “Borders,” a non-narrative movement about two trans women who both receive the medical treatment they need in Mexico but find their ability to connect compromised by challenges at the border.


    “It’s a very complex idea, and [Dunn] captures the emotion of it really powerfully,” says York. “And then the last one is called ‘Recuerdo,’ and it talks about connecting with loved ones of the departed, people who are not here anymore.”


    Though the political climate has changed drastically since York and Dunn began discussing a potential collaboration last year, York says he wants to minimize political confrontation in every aspect of the concert.


    “By and large, we’re all acutely aware of the oppression that is being thrown at, if not individually, then to people we love, people close to us, and people we care about,” says York. “We don’t need to frame that. We don’t need to resolve it. We don’t need to advocate for or against it. All we need to do is be family, to be a unified voice for the healing power of love and music, and just let that emotional experience be the tincture and the recipe for how we survive this incredibly complex and turbulent time.”


    Mi Familia is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, September 20, at Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. The concert will be translated with English and Spanish surtitles. For more information, visit pridechorus.org. $28.75-$74.75.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • End Game at Catastrophic Theatre: Despair Not. There is Hope and Comedy in This Samuel Beckett Work.

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    Hamm is blind, paralyzed, and can’t stand. Despite this, he’s the one who sets the rules in his living quarters in a post apocalyptic world. Clov, who cannot sit down because of crippl9ing pains in his legs, is his ever present attendant and a very tired one.

    Completing the household are Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s parents who have no legs at all and live in garbage bins filled with sand. They lost them in a tandem bicycling accident.

    It’s all part of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame which Catastrophic Theatre co-Artistic Director Jason Nodler will be directing for the third time when it opens this weekend at the MATCH. And no, Nodler insists, Beckett’s plays (Waiting for Godot, Happy Days) are not about despair, but hope.

    “Even in Waiting for Godot,  Didi and Gogo show up every day on this road as for what they’re waiting for, we know this is a mystery. But they continue to return in spite of any distress they might experience. That’s also true of the characters in Endgame,” Nodler says.

    “His plays are not particularly dour. They’re certainly often considered to be about despair and they really aren’t. None of Beckett’s characters are without hope or they wouldn’t continue.”

    “They’re not tragedies but tragic comedies. Clov is probably ready for his servitude to Hamm to be over with, but “just because someone is ready for something to end, that’s not despair when it doesn’t,” Nodler says.

    “Hamm and Clov talk about how they’re handling the ending. What will come at the end. Clov is suffering quite a lot and has a sort of romanticism about the ending because he’s performed the same routine everyday at the orders of Hamm and he seems ready for things to end. That’s not despairing because he keeps doing it. He doesn’t leave. At the end of the play there’s an open question about this.

    “The difference with Hamm is he’s ready for things to end, but not quite yet.”

    Nodler compares what happens in Endgame to a game of chess. “You have a certain number of pieces left on the board and you’re essentially moving them around and you’re avoiding the end of the game. You’re putting it off. And that’s what I think we do quite a lot in life.”

    At this point, Nodler catches himself, saying: “And now I’m talking about the play like it’s a very very serious thing.”

    Actually, Beckett was a big fan of silent movie comedians, Nodler says. “There was no one that Beckett loved better than the silent film comics like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keeton.”

    Beckett wrote Endgame over several years and there are radically different drafts, Nodler says. He believes it is a wonderful start for anyone who hasn’t seen a Beckett play, calling it the funniest one he did. “There are laughs all over the place.”

    Catastrophic Theatre attracts a lot of what Nodler calls “non-traditional theater audiences,” many of whom find things to like about it that they may not have embraced in other more realistic theaters. Nodler is not against Houston’s more traditional theaters, in fact, he celebrates them, sees and respects their work. But part of the reason they have the pay-what-you-can philosophy is to attract people who might otherwise never go to the theater and discover it has something that speaks to them, just as he found when he was 13 years old.

    Performances are scheduled for September 19 through October 11 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or matchouston.org. Pay what you can.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Purlie Victorious Still Triumphs at Main Street Theater

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    Despite Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch garnering some famous fans after opening in 1961, folks like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Eleanor Roosevelt, and eventual film and musical adaptations, the play didn’t get a Broadway revival until 2023.

    The revival proved the play still had plenty to say, so much so that it’s now the first production of Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season, and it’s a doozy.


    But first.


    The play begins in the recent past with the titular Purlie Victorious Judson returning home after a 20-year absence. Purlie’s family home sits on a Georgia cotton plantation owned by the bullwhip-carrying, Confederacy-loving Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, who keeps the Black cotton pickers in debt to keep them working for him, a practice Purlie sees akin to slavery. But Purlie’s back with a plan, the “all-consuming passion” of his life now to buy Big Bethel, a rundown barn that was once a church, and return it to its glory so he can preach freedom in the cotton patch. As Purlie says, “Freedom is my business.”

    To get Big Bethel, though, Purlie needs money; specifically, the $500 inheritance Cotchipee owes his late cousin Bee. Enter Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a young woman Purlie’s recruited from Alabama to impersonate Cousin Bee. Though Purlie has a supporter in his sister-in-law, Missy, his brother, Gitlow, is afraid Purlie’s scheme will land them all in jail, a risk he is loath to take as Cotchipee recently named him “Deputy for the Colored.” On top of that, Lutiebelle looks nothing like Bee, nor does she have Bee’s education. But for this, Purlie’s got an ace up his sleeve: “White folks can’t tell one of us from another by the head!” he declares.

    click to enlarge

    Kendrick “KayB” Brown, TiMOThY ERiC, Wykesha King, and Krystal Uchem in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography

    It’s hardly a spoiler to say things don’t go exactly to plan in Purlie Victorious, a still stinging satire that proves to be resonant today, 64 years after it originally premiered. It’s both a testament to Davis’s writing and, unfortunately, an indictment of our society. The dialogue is witty and memorable, with lines like, “Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of White folks,” eliciting knowing hums from members of the audience.

    Director Errol Anthony Wilks keeps the show moving and accessible, though his choice to lean fully into the comedy is at times at the expense of letting the play’s more serious beats breathe (Lutiebelle laundry-listing her best traits for a second time following an encounter with Cotchipee, for example). Davis’s characters are sketched in broad strokes from stereotypic archetypes, but subversive in places and bold in others, and Wilks and the cast are skillful at playing those notes. And there’s no one more bold than Purlie himself.


    Davis not only wrote Purlie Victorious, he originated the role, and you can tell it’s a part he wrote for himself it’s so good. Purlie is a hero, quick and clever, and wonderfully verbose. And TiMOThY ERiC, recent co-winner of the Houston Theatre Award for Best Actor, wears the role of Purlie like a second skin.


    “Something about Purlie always wound up the white folk,” says Missy, and embodied by ERiC, it’s easy to see the threat he poses, his delivery convincing, captivating, and wildly entertaining. It’s fully on display in the second act, as Purlie is in full sermonizing mode as he recounts his alleged confrontation with Cotchipee, traversing the stage and holding court in a way that’s got the other characters and the audience hanging on every word. He’s just as good at slipping in some quieter one-liners (“First chance I get I’m gonna burn the damn thing down,” Purlie says of his childhood home).


    If there’s one thing, it’s that at moments, the louder ERiC gets, the more likely we are to miss a word here and there, some bits just lost to the ether.


    (The sound design, by Jon Harvey, is otherwise stellar, from the place-defining banjo-picking played during transitions, to the crystal clarity of the off-stage dialogue, and the ambience, chicken clucks and dog barks heard under scenes adding weight to the world of the plantation.)

    click to enlarge

    Seán Patrick Judge and Domenico Leona in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography

    From the moment she arrives at the farmhouse, breathless and wide-eyed, Krystal Uchem endears as Lutiebelle, a young woman proud of who she is even when she’s being criticized (such as when Purlie insults her name, saying, among other things, it means “cheap labor in Swahili”). Uchem plays the physicality of the role well, from the way she sits to eat, leaning forward with her legs akimbo, emphasizing her youthfulness, to half-hunched and hobbling, unaccustomed to heels, as she tries in vain to be Cousin Bee.

    Wykesha King is a force as Missy, as quick to challenge Purlie as she is to see the value in what he’s trying to do. As her husband, Gitlow, Kendrick “KayB” Brown is more of a foil to Purlie. Gitlow plays the game, sensible in his subservience and willing to say anything Cotchipee wants to hear, though behind Cotchipee’s back, it’s a different, and hilarious, story.


    Seán Patrick Judge is quite the presence as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Stalking onto the set and dressed in all white, we know exactly who he is before he even starts ranting, raving, and dropping some vile ideas about race. Cotchipee has support from The Sheriff, played with on-the-nose ineptitude by Jim Salners, but not his son, Charlie, whom he calls a “disgrace to the Southland.” Domenico Leona, as Charlie, proves to be an ally to Purlie and co., influenced obviously by his sweet relationship with Andrea Boronell-Hunter’s Idella. Idella, who works for Cotchipee, raised Charlie as her own, and it’s apparent how close they are in just how lost she sounds when Charlie goes missing.


    James V. Thomas’s wood-paneled set, with props design and set dressing by Rodney Walsworth, is both a good base and nimble. The sparse furnishings and flippable walls are quickly altered to indicate new locations as needed, with the angles and lines that dominate the space adding a compelling and relevant visual. The set, as well as Macy Lyne’s period-evocative costumes, are all warmly lit by Edgar Guajardo.

    Put it all together, and you have a lively, energetic production with heart and conviction. Perfect to open a 50th anniversary season.  


    Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Smooth Moves from Lionwoman’s Dancing Lessons

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    Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons, now playing at Match via Lionwoman Productions TX, is what you’d call Sweet.

    This pleasant rom-com takes a very serious subject, Asperger’s syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder now considered within the autistic spectrum, and treats it with a light touch. It works, like some modern day fairy tale, although the emotional changes come a touch too quick.

    Ever (Brad Goertz, in a phenomenally sympathetic portrayal) wants to dance at his own awards ceremony but is seriously concerned over having to touch somebody. “I don’t like to be touched,” he yells out to Senga (Katrina Ellsworth), a Broadway dancer who’s suffered a possible career-ending accident after a car smashed into her on the sidewalk. Living in the same apartment building, he has a proposal for her and a huge payout if she teaches him how to dance without attracting unwanted attention. One hour is all he demands of her.

    Naturally she is skeptical of this strange man who says whatever is on his mind no matter the consequences. He’s not kidding, he just can’t control himself. Germain’s soft comedy builds from this, and the dialogue is paced with many non sequiturs and twists as Ever misinterprets or reads everything at face value. It’s rather charming, because you know these two will open up each other and eventually find a kind of peace, if not romance, through this odd-couple pairing.

    With short scenes – his lectures at the university, her phone calls from her aunt, and some dance moves – they do eventually warm to each other. Of course, we expect this from the get-go. They probe, jab at each other, discover layers. What’s the point of a rom-com if these two disparate people can’t get together?

    There are two very fine scenes in which Germain finds the sweet spot. Ever is ready if not absolutely comfortable for an attempt at a physical example of a handshake, then an air kiss, and finally a hug. He has a physical reaction to Senga that he can’t control. “You excited me,” he says bashfully while turned against the wall. “Mentally?,” Senga asks. “No, lower,” he confesses. The bedroom scene soon follows. Senga blows the dust off a condom and in darkness, except for a flashlight, they connect. Whether this would ever happen to someone with Asperger’s I couldn’t say, but the audience is primed for this. We root for it. There were appreciative “ahhs” from the row behind me.

    Director Michelle Britton keeps the comedy and the pathos on a comfy edge. Only 90 minutes without intermission, the play flows. Edgar Guajardo’s studio apartment set and lighting design is first-rate, and the sound design from Hayley Christensen is spot-on.

    Ellsworth, who looks like a dancer, is astringent from the start but softens near the end. Granted, her character is facing life-threatening surgery for her shattered knee and she’s allergic to anesthesia, so she’s allowed to be a bit brittle, but then there’s her family dysfunction that’s treated a bit perfunctorily to add to her problems. She seems more damaged than Ever.

    But it’s Goertz who holds this play together and gives it its heart. What a committed performance. Known as the Tyrannosaurus Nerd, with his shirt buttoned up to the neck, his eyes dart around the room or look down whenever he makes contact with Senga; he moves in spurts, uncomfortable in everyday movement; he talks in an unnatural cadence, always thinking ahead of what he wants to say, or blurting out what he’s thinking. It’s a very finely etched performance, utterly believable and thoroughly empathetic.

    What doesn’t work so well is the character of the Dancer (Adrienne Shearer) who is the avatar of Senga. Either before or after various scenes, she dances Senga’s emotional state. Why is she here? Germain already tells us what Senga is feeling, we don’t need some superfluous layer to tell us again. The best use of the Dancer is after the sex scene, when she appears with wide smile and red boa to perform a Jules Feifferesque “Dance to Spring.” The audience got it.

    As the second production from Lionwoman (last season’s intriguing Jacobean historical drama Playhouse Creatures was the company’s premiere), Dancing Lessons is an hors d’oeurve. We want more from them. Any new Houston theater company is welcomed. Come back soon.

    Dancing Lessons continues through September 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays; 6 p.m. Sunday, September 14; 7:30 p.m. Monday, September 15; and 2 p.m. Saturday, September 20 at Lionwoman Productions at MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit matchhouston.org. $25-$35.

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  • Best Bets: Lea Salonga, Dancing Lessons, and Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra

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    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.


    In need of a dance teacher, a man with Asperger syndrome hires an injured Broadway dancer in Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons, which will mark Lionwoman Productions’ second season at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 12, at the MATCH. Houston actor Brad Goertz told Houston Life the play “explores a lot of the common traits that many people with Asperger’s may have. There’s a lot of directness and honesty and candid behavior that is common with that that creates a lot of comedy.” Performances are scheduled through September 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and September 15, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, with a second Sunday performance at 6 p.m. on September 14 and a second Saturday performance at 2 p.m. on September 20. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $35.

    click to enlarge

    Timothy Eric in Purlie Victorious at Main Street Theater.

    Photo by Ricornel Productions

    A traveling preacher in the Jim Crow South sets out to save his hometown church, free the cotton pickers working under the abusive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, and recover some money in Ossie Davis’s 1961 play Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch, which will open Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season on Saturday, September 13, at 7:30 p.m. Director Errol Anthony Wilks told the Houston Press that the play is “a farce, a comedy” and “all the actors get in on the fun onstage,” but added, “I dare say that there’re going to be times that the only thing that’s going to be comfortable about this piece of art is the seats that you’re sitting in.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12. Tickets are available here for $45 to $64.

    Whether you know her as musical theater royalty from classic performances in shows like Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, or from her status as the singing voice behind two Disney princesses, you’re sure to enjoy the vocal prowess on stage when Lea Salonga performs at Miller Outdoor Theatre on Saturday, September 13, at 8 p.m. The star is bringing her Stage, Screen & Everything In Between tour to Houston, courtesy of Asia Society Texas, and has said of the tour, “I just want folks to come, sit in the dark for a couple of hours with me, and we’ll just have a wonderful, wonderful time.” Like all performances at Miller, the show is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, September 12. Or you can sit on the no-ticket-required Hill.


    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.

    click to enlarge

    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.

    Fifteen going on 16 isn’t as exciting for Kimberly Levaco as for other teens, because she has a rare genetic condition that causes her to rapidly age in the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo, which will open on Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m., courtesy of Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center. Ann Morrison, who is playing the role of Kimberly on the national tour, told the Houston Press the character is “very optimistic no matter what’s going on,” and that the musical’s message is “life is short so just enjoy the ride. Make positive choices with your life not negative ones.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday through September 21. Tickets can be purchased here for $55 to $131.


    Houston-based choreographer Cynthia Garcia will debut her own dance take on the Mexican game lotería at the MATCH on Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m., when she and The Pilot Dance Project present El Baile de Loteria, a series of ten short dances that double as a game of lotería that will win one lucky audience member a prize. Garcia recently told the Houston Press that one lotería card inspired her to create a dance in honor of her grandfather, which “then went on from there like, ‘Okay, what other cards are found in this game? How can I bring those cards to life through movement?’” El Baile de Loteria will be performed a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17. Tickets to either performance can be purchased here for $15 to $20.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Tony Award Winner Kimberly Akimbo Heads for the Hobby Center

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    When the curtain goes up, Kimberly Akimbo stands center stage holding a pair of ice skates and a necklace. There is no sound — rare for the start of a musical — until after she takes a bite of her necklace (it’s candy) and the music begins.

    In Kimberly Akimbo, a 15 year-old girl is about to turn 16, usually important for a teenager but not one that should fill anyone with dread.  Unless you’re suffering from a rare genetic condition that causes you to age four-and-a-half times the usual pace.

    Broadway veteran Ann Morrison is now on national tour as the title character which she says is the perfect role for her because “I really don’t have to do much acting. I am 70 with the mind of a 16-year-old.” The musical while on Broadway won five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

    Morrison loves the attention-getting start and, in fact, all the details that go into Kimberly’s persona. “She’s very optimistic no matter what’s going on. And even though there’s a possibility that her life expectancy may be up — they don’t really live much longer than 16 — who knows?”

    In the opening scene, Kimberly “looks like the lunch lady dressed like a 16 year old,” Morrison says. She’s just moved to a new town in suburban New Jersey and clearly other students don’t know what to make of her. Since high school students are not always the kindest to others they consider odd, Kimberly has a tough start.

     On top of that, “Kimberly has a very dysfunctional family,” Morison says. “Her mother and father mean well but they don’t always make good choices.”

    “Even though her family’s dysfunctional, you can’t help to love them even though you want to smack them around a little,” she says, laughing. “And there may be a felony charge coming up.”

    But she soon begins forging what Morrison describes as a wonderful relationship with 16-year-old neuro divergent Seth.

    Besides her parents and Seth, she has four characters who are part of a show choir and “an aunt that’s crazy nuts,” Morrison says. “Everyone in the show is a misfit. They all have to find each other and to figure out how to be in the world with each other.” The show is set in the late ’90s which means no cell phones to quickly contact one another and clear up any misunderstandings.

    The show has musical theater royalty at its helm. Book and Lyrics are by Tony and Pulitzer Prize-Winner David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Tony Award-Winner Jeanine Tesori and it’s based on the play by Lindsay-Abaire. Tony Award nominee Jessica Stone directs with choreography by Danny Mefford.

    Added to that lineup is Morrison who among other things, played Mary Flynn in the legendary original Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway. She has acted on and off Broadway and in the West End. She has performed in various solo actor shows and through her theater company, Sarasota Productions, she teaches 16- and 17-year-old how to create their own one-person shows.  “They have a solo play that helps them get into college.”

    Asked about how she got into theater, Morrison responds:  “I was dragged into the theater kicking and screaming.  Kicking like a chorus dancer and screaming like Ethel Merman.”  A perfect response soundin glike a punch line from vaudeville except her father was a university professor and her mother was involved in a variety of performance arts who between them “wrote three musicals, three ballets, one opera, art songs.”

    Why should people come to this musical?

     “When audiences leave they just feel so good about themselves,” Morrison says. “And right now, why not go see something like that? The message is: life is short so just enjoy the ride. Make positive choices with your life not negative ones.”

    Performances are scheduled for September 16-21 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $55-$131.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Popular Game Comes to Life on the Dance Floor in El Baile de Loteria

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    Cynthia
    Garcia, a Houston-based choreographer born and raised in El Paso, Texas, has
    been playing lotería since she was a child.

    “I used
    to play a lot during church bazaars,” she recalls.

    Often
    described as Mexican bingo, lotería originated in Italy before arriving in
    Mexico in the 18th century. Though similar to bingo, instead of a card with numbers
    and letters, players receive a tabla, or board, with images of characters,
    animals, and objects. Today, it’s common to see the game’s traditional pictograms
    replaced with imagery from pop culture and daily life, like editions that
    feature characters from Star Wars or the Disney-Pixar film Coco,
    or millennial and Y2K versions – all of which Garcia owns.

    On
    September 16 and 17, Garcia will premiere her own take on the game in the form
    of a dance concert, El Baile de
    Loteria    , an evening-length work presented by the artistic team of The Pilot Dance Project, at the MATCH.

    “I think
    what makes lotería so special is that you don’t have to speak Spanish to play
    the game. You have all these bright, vibrant, colorful cards to look at instead
    of trying to figure out how to pronounce a certain card,” says Garcia.

    In lotería,
    an emcee pulls a card from the deck and, if a player has the corresponding
    image on their tabla, the player marks it off, historically with a pinto bean.
    A player wins when they mark off all the pictures in a row, a column, diagonally,
    all four corners, or even the whole card, depending on the game, and shouts, “Loteria!”

    For El
    Baile de Loteria    , audience members will receive a program that doubles as a
    tabla, and an emcee will lead the evening so they too can play along. At the
    end of the night, one lucky winner will take home a prize put together by a
    very special person.

    “My mom,
    bless her heart,” says Garcia. “She’s donated a lot of stuff for the prize bags
    we’re giving out each night.”

    Garcia
    began working on El Baile de Loteria in 2023. Though she
    can’t point to an “aha moment” when she realized she wanted to create a dance
    around the game, she says the process started before rehearsals for the World
    Dance Extravaganza at San Jacinto College, where she serves as an adjunct
    professor. The dance concert focused on world dance forms or pieces that explored personal culture or family
    history, and Garcia found herself thinking about one lotería card in particular
    – El soldado, or the soldier.

    “It
    really stood out because it reminded me a lot of my grandfather, who was a
    prisoner of war in World War II. I thought, ‘How cool would it be to create a
    piece that’s titled after this card, this lotería card?’” recalls Garcia. “I
    then went on from there like, ‘Okay, what other cards are found in this game?
    How can I bring those cards to life through movement?’”

    Today, the
    short dance Garcia created to honor her grandfather’s memory has grown into a
    series of ten dance works, each three to five minutes long, that make up El Baile
    de Loteria    . If you’re familiar with the game, you’re
    sure to recognize some of the more popular cards represented among the piece’s 15 different characters, such as El borracho
    (the drunk), La rosa (the rose), and La sirena (the mermaid).

    click to enlarge

    The Pilot Dance Project will present Cynthia Garcia’s El Baile de Loteria this month.

    Photo by Lynn Lane

    “When I
    choreograph, I like to tell a story. So, I feel like I’ve had to create a lot
    of stories for all these characters, and that does involve a lot of motifs to connect
    the movement to the character and the card,” says Garcia.

    La rosa, for example, evokes the life and death of a
    rose, with motifs that represent thorns, wilting, and dying. In El soldado,
    Garcia says she’s using strict, erect movements to get a “militaristic feel,” while
    also incorporating elements of her grandfather’s experience as a prisoner of
    war.

    “He
    wasn’t tortured, but he had very poor sleeping conditions,” says Garcia. “There
    was no roof over their heads. It was very cold, and they didn’t have a lot of
    warm clothing, so my grandfather’s feet ended up getting frostbite while he was
    a prisoner of war. As long as I had known him, his feet were purple, and so my
    dancer wears purple socks to represent that.”

    Inspiration
    also came from unexpected places. For one card, La bota, or the boot, it
    came from a dancer who, unfortunately, fractured her ankle and had to withdraw
    from the piece.

    “She was
    in a boot, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there it is. What if I create a dance
    about how dancers sometimes get injured and how all they want to do is keep
    moving? What does that look like in terms of a story? Who is this character?
    How can we develop this character who has a boot on their ankle and create a
    dance out of it? That could be La bota.’”

    As a musically
    driven choreographer, Garcia adds that she likes music to be one of the first steps
    in the process.

    “Sometimes
    it’s just as simple as looking for music about certain characters found in the
    game,” she says, pointing to the Vicente Fernández song, “El Adiós del Soldado,”
    featured in El soldado. “And sometimes I just go down a rabbit hole and
    see what I can find.”

    After
    considering different songs and sounds of the ocean for La sirena,
    Garcia chose a “haunting sea shanty,” which gives the piece “a darker edge.”

    “When
    you look at the La sirena card, it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s a mermaid. She’s
    cute.’ But I tried to find different takes on these characters. So, La sirena
    is a little more of a darker tale of a mermaid,” explains Garcia.

    Latinx theatre
    company TEATRX contributed the idea that inspires El Baile de Loteria’s final, sixteenth
    character: the emcee El Gritón, who is drawn from a mythological figure that
    doesn’t appear in the game.

    “El Gritón de Medianoche is almost like a
    cryptid kind of character. We want to bring this character to life as part of the
    emcee who will come out at the beginning, introduce the show, explain to the
    audience how the game works [and] a
    little bit of history on it,” says Garcia. “[The character] then will come out
    every so often in between pieces to make sure that the audience is playing
    along, give some comedic banter and just tie the whole thing together.”

    The emcee character will guide the audience
    through the experience, which is another reason Garcia says they wanted to
    bring the character into the story. “Most importantly, I want the audience to
    have fun and feel like they’re participating in this game.”

    Performances of El Baile de Loteria are
    scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 16, and Wednesday, September 17, at
    the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, please call 713-521-4533 or visit matchouston.org.
    $15-$20.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Purlie Victorious: A Comedy With Serious Subjects Set in the ’50s Jim Crow Era

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    Purlie Victorious — its full title is Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch — is about to make its regional premiere at Main Street Theater, telling the story of a traveling preacher returning to his hometown with two missions in mind.

    He hopes to save the community’s church and free the cotton pickers working on Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s land. Toss in a lost $500 inheritance that he’d like to recover and you have the comedy (with serious subjects) written by the late actor and writer Ossie Davis. Davis had the title role when it went on the Broadway stage in 1961 with his wife, Ruby Dee, playing opposite him as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins who among other duties, pretends to be a dead woman.

    What complicates the entire endeavor is that Purlie and company are dealing with Jim Crow era laws and attitudes.

    Director and Texas Southern University professor Errol Wilks, who most recently directed Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word for Main Street, calls Purlie Victorious “a wonderful piece of American literature.” And although it’s set in the 1950s, Wilks says some of the same attitudes are present today.

    Wilks describes Purlie (played by Timothy Eric who just shared 2025 Best Actor honors in the Houston Theater Awards with Brandon Morgan for their Topdog/Underdog performances) as “an idealist who thinks he can lead his people to some kind of promised land.” Central to the story is Cap’n Cotchipee (Seán Patrick Judge) and his unwillingness to part with ways of the past.

    “He’s the owner of all the people there, so to speak, because he runs a cotton farm and the people who work on it have to buy everything from the commissary. He keeps them in perpetual debt so they can’t leave,” Wilks explains. In addition, he abuses and bullies his own son, who doesn’t agree with his father’s treatment of his workers.

    A relative has left $500 to Purlie’s cousin. Unfortunately, the cousin has died. “[Purlie] wants to bamboozle the Captain to get the money that was left for his cousin. He  recruits this young lady, Lutiebelle (Krystal Uchem, also a 2025 Houston Theater Awards winner, in her case for Best Costumes) to come home with him to try to fool the Captain to believe she’s the cousin,” Wilks says.

    Even though there is very serious subject matter, Wilks says, ” it is a farce, a comedy.  He (Davis) gives us some beautiful words and all the actors get in on the fun onstage.” Other cast members include Andrea Boronell-Hunter, Kendrick “KayB” Brown, Wykesha King, Domenico Leona and Jim Salners.

    At the same time, however, Wilks says, “Let’s not forget that there are uncomfortable images subliminally as well as overtly in this play and I dare say that there’re going to be times that the only thing that’s going to be comfortable about this piece of art is the seats that you’re sitting in.”

    In 2023, Purlie Victorious had a Broadway revival and starred Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton) in the title role. Main Street Theater chose it as the season opener for its 50th anniversary season.

    In the Main Street production, there are eight cast members, several of whom Wilks has either worked with before or seen on stage many times. He hadn’t worked with Leona before but says Leona contacted him, saying “I love that play. I want to be Charlie.”

    Wilks says he wanted Seán Patrick Judge because of his height and acting ability.  “When I looked at the play — he’s tall and I want him to tower over everyone on stage. That’s a symbolism of race relations in that you have this giant who has hovered over everyone spewing hate and derision. I’ve seen him on stage and he’s an incredible talent. As soon as he walks on stage you’ll see the wisdom of my choice.”

    Wilks thinks Purlie is an idealist truly concerned for his people. “Whether or not he’s going about it in the right way. we don’t know. We have to see how it plays out. I think he’s a good man; he wants good for his people and for his family. He wants to eradicate some of the bad that has happened to his people.”

    “I would really sincerely love to thank Main Street Theater because this is their 50th anniversary and they chose this play and this particular director to helm it,” Wilks says. “I’m really keen on making sure we convey the messages that are there as well as the fun stuff that is there.””

    Performances are scheduled for September 13 through October 12 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Michael Yo Talks Taking His Comedy Clean and Living His Game Show Dreams

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    It’s really all coming together for stand-up Michael Yo as he hits the big 5-0.

    “I released a special [Snack Daddy], I just shot another Dry Bar special that’s gonna come out and I’m 50 – yes, I’m 50!” the Houston-born comedian says with zeal. “People can’t tell ‘cause I’m half black and Asian – Black don’t crack, and Asian don’t raisin! I tell people I’m 137 years old.”

    “But yeah, the 5-0,” Yo says wistfully ahead of Friday September 13 date at House of Blues. “Not to get too deep, but it’s a weird thing, because I am 50 but if we were to hang out, you would never think I’m 50. I don’t feel it! Literally I feel like I’m in my 20s. It’s a weird thing where I don’t even feel my age. I think when we were growing up, when you say someone who is 50 – they LOOKED 50. Even go back to look at old sitcoms, where the parents are supposed to be 35 but they look like 60? Now we know how to take care of ourselves, we eat healthy and all this. But I feel the best I’ve ever felt in my life: mentally, physically, in material and family. It’s all clicking together.”
    Despite his rapid fire recording pace, Yo promises new stories and jokes for his Issa Truuue! Tour. “100 percent new material,” he affirms. “and that’s the stress of it. Stand up is just part of me. I tell me I can’t live without my family, or stand up. Like literally it is my right arm. No matter how tired I am, if there is a comedy club around, I will go to it. Me and my wife will go on vacation, and if the kids go to sleep early, I will look for the closest comedy club. Just to go up – which annoys my wife a lot! It is just part of me. There is no pressure because I love it. If you love what you do.”

    “Now I will admit, unlike a singer who can sing a couple of hit songs for the rest of their life – [with comedy] after they see it once live, they don’t want to see it again. That’s what makes it so hard to be a stand up comedian. But since I talk about my life so much, it has become so easy to find my voice and different angles on things. Crazy things happen every single day – between my kids, my wife, my parents are ridiculous, you know? I talk to them all the time, so I always got material coming in.”

    Speaking of family, Yo’s young family is growing up – and the lingering thought remains: what happens when his kids are old enough to watch the jokes he’s told about them? “Now more than I ever, I have to be more careful because they actually understand what I am saying,” he explains, charting his thinking on the looming subject and explaining an announcement for his upcoming material. “I’m more of a family comedian now, I’m going the clean route and not cursing and all that, because I want my kids to be able to watch my comedy. But at the same time – you still gotta be able to make jokes about them.

    “So how do you do that where if they see it, but don’t totally understand it yet? So you kinda make a choice that they’ll understand it later in life, and get over it. It’s that weird things because I talk about the balance between my daughter and son, and the different things they do. But I don’t want them to ever see it and say, ‘aw, my dad thinks I’m this’ because it is just jokes. So even though I don’t curse in my stand up, I still don’t really let them watch anything I do because they won’t understand it – but probably when they’re teenagers like 15 and 16 is the first time they’ll see my stand up.”
    Some may call it re-branding, other may merely observe it as a natural evolution: but Yo pivoting to a clean-only perspective may not surprise longtime followers of his work. “The thing is – I’ve never cursed that much.”

    “[Not to say] this is a religious moment in my life, but eight months ago I was just like: I’m gonna dedicate my stand up, and really everything I do, because I’ve always been a believer in God, but I just said that I don’t need to curse. I’m just gonna make this change that going forward, all my comedy is gonna be clean. Right now, I have people who are 40 or 50 years old, bring their 21 or 22 year old kids to my shows. And it’s always been like that because I don’t really curse, but man, I want to be open to everybody coming.”

    As if the universe desired to affirm his shift in direction, Yo says it was nearly instant when a new door opened that led to the realization of a life-long dream. “Right when I started doing [clean material] 8 months ago, literally 3 months later, I got the call for Scrambled Up, a game show. I’ve been wanting to host a game show all my life! They told me, and I was so excited I hung up and told my wife and started crying. But then he called back and said I forgot to tell you, but you’re shooting 160 episodes! In 4 weeks! So I’ve been shooting 8-9 episodes per day. [And] after doing that for 12 hours, to still go up onstage and practice has been a lot. But great things are happening.”

    “They say it’s really not on your time, it’s on God’s time. I really believe that. I’ve worked so hard, like I was the person who would shoot all the pilots and be told that you’re not famous enough – you may be great or the best host, but you’re not famous enough. But now I’ve got my shot and I feel like everything is happening for a reason. 5-6 years ago, when I had the opportunity, I wasn’t as good as I was now.”
    Dreams fulfilled begat more dreams it seems, as Yo is forthcoming about another bucket list item for his career: the classic American sitcom. “My dream, since my stand up is so successful right now, I would love to do my own sitcom about my life. People know that. I see the reaction live, they love the stories and I would love to bring that to a sitcom.

    “But it’s a thing where I’m really trying to break more into acting but also balance it with family. On this game show, I’ve been away from my family for like 6 weeks. I’ll fly from Atlanta to Las Vegas every weekend to see them. It’s a lot, but it’s also, you have to do what you have to do. So I have to balance everything with family first and those opportunities go around them. Because even if your kids say they understand, all they’re going to remember the times you were gone. Not the time you’re there. I try to limit that as much as a possible.”

    While other passions come and go, Yo stands strong with his true professional love: stand-up. “My friend told me the greatest thing,” he says. “If you tell a joke about your family and they laugh, that means they’ve identified with it because they’ve got through exactly what you’ve gone through. If you say a joke nobody laughs to, you’ve not related to anybody. That’s why I love comedy, man. It’s a superpower! Just you on stage making somebody laugh for an hour. It’s the best job. If I had to rank it, it would be comedy, by far. Above acting, above hosting a game show, because without comedy, professionally I would be so miserable. I love it that much.”
    With this tour, Yo says he aims to honor his parents – and even gave his mother the title quote. “My mom is ruthless and so blunt and will just say the most cruel things to people, then say ‘Issa true!’ I remember I was hanging out with my mom, and this was like two weeks ago, and she was looking at a person and she said ‘Wow, they have nice teeth and a long face.’ And I just said, ‘Oh my God mom – you can’t say that!’ And she says, ‘Why? Issa true.’ So that’s my mom, she keeps saying things she should not be saying and this whole tour is dedicated to my parents and my mom especially.”

    “But the great things is everybody has a person in their family, whether they’re white, Asian, black, Hispanic, that talks like that. I think that’s why my comedy relates – because yes, my mom is Asian and my dad is black, but so many people after the show go: my Dad is like your dad, or my Mom is like your mom? When it comes down to it, we all got crazy people in our family.”

    Fans of Yo should be eating well for the foreseeable future. Between his tour, his game show, and his most recent specials dropped on YouTube, there is plenty of content to fill the hours. “People can watch Snack Daddy and my last one (I Never Thought) now. I never thought I’d self-produce it, but I got tired of waiting for people to say yes, and to give me a platform, so I did it myself.

    On the trend of comedians turning to self-distribution over waiting for Netflix money, Yo has powerful insights. “Why wait for someone to give you an opportunity when you can make it yourself? Now with cameras and stuff – before it would take $200,000 or $300,000 to shoot a special. You can shoot a special now that is the same quality for 15 grand. And you own it! And you license it! And you make money from everything. So yeah, I think it’s great comedians can control their own destinies. When it comes down to it, there will always be people that will say no. But what got me through the tough times were those 300 or 400 people in the audience who laughed and said yes.”

    Yo’s performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on September 13 at House of Blues, 1204 Caroline. For information, call 888-402-5837 or visit houseofblues.com/houston. $29-49.

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    Vic Shuttee

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  • Singing Sicko: American Psycho from Houston Broadway Theatre

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    Houston Broadway Theatre’s inaugural production last July, 2024, Next to Normal, might have been a one-off. But what a one-off! Superlative in every aspect – design, performance, emotional wallop – it surprised us with its Broadway caliber excellence. Who is this new company in town, where have they been, and when are we to have the privilege of seeing them again?

    Well, the wait is over, and Houston Broadway Theatre has knocked us silly with another theatrical slap in the face. In a startling presentation, this young company has given us a most superior show in the revised cult musical, American Psycho.

    Be warned, this 2013 musical, with music and lyrics by Spring Awakening’s Tony Award-winner Duncan Sheik and book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, is adapted, as if you didn’t know, from Bret Easton Ellis’ scandalous 1991 novel about Wall Street investment banker Patrick Bateman (Robert Lenzi) who just happens to be a serial killer during his off hours from the office. Don’t take the kiddies nor your Aunt Fanny who might swoon at the simulated sex and copious gore. I must admit, the sex scenes, albeit misogynistic, are rendered a bit harmless since all participants keep their underwear on. But it is nevertheless suggestive in the extreme. Unless she’s a cougar, keep grandma at home.

    After a successful premiere run in London, the show opened on Broadway in 2016 and immediately flopped. In limbo for years, the creators, forever faithful to their vision, revisited Psycho and through skillful botox and much creative surgery have resuscitated the musical into the form now on stage at Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center. The body is beautiful.

    Manhattan. The late 1980s. It was a time of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous corruption, bedecked in Armani, English loafers made from ostrich hide, and fine silk bespoke neckties. These young masters of the universe dined at Nobu or Lutece, their hard gym-toned bodies splooted over by young nubile women, already bought, or later paid, for their attentiveness. The men were glorified at work, at leisure, and in bed.

    Inside the gilt bubble that encased them, morality was an alien concept, anathema, it didn’t apply. The view, all surface and no depth, sparkled wherever they looked, mesmerizing, seductive. Whatever it took, make that deal, get that deal, succeed whether you ruin your associates or betray your friends. Just do it.

    Patrick Bateman’s compass has been broken for years. Like his co-workers, he lives for immediate pleasure, for another snort of cocaine or an easy lay. Everyone, everything, is a commodity up for sale or for the taking. They talk of exfoliants, the sharp cut of a suit, whether tassels on shoes are proper business attire, the shapely legs on a secretary, the cologne on a business card. They obsess over their gym workouts in “Hardbody,” yet they can’t differentiate between any of them.

    With its relentless product placement, its too easy joke on Trump’s “The Art of the Deal,” American Psycho is an almost comic allegory on money and greed, the pursuit of mindless excess, rampant consumerism, first-world privilege, and the numbing down of personal interactions. The killing spree begins, but is it for real? Or have American values been so debased that they send Patrick on a psychic spiral into hell? Is this all delusional?

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    Robert Lenzi has power to spare in the role of Patrick Bateman, the Wall Street investment banker.

    Photo by Lynn Lane

    The leads are fantastic. I assume every audition required a valid gym membership, for the cast is wondrously chiseled. Lenzi has power to spare, whether chopping off legs or hacking his rival to death with an ax. Thankfully, the nail gun crucifixion gets a cursory mention. While insufferable Patrick rattles off his ‘80s luxury possessions like his Rolex, Ralph Lauren underwear, his 30-inch Toshiba TV, his Walkman, we actually begin to warm to him. He crumbles from the inside, and we understand a bit why he’s so possessed, so fragile. Could we be driven mad, too, by the constant “Selling Out” that is presented so seductively in Jason H. Thompson’s video projections? We’re lured into this fantasy world just like Patrick. Don’t we want this stuff, too?

    The 18-member cast is first-rate with kudos going to Chiara Trentalange as unrequited love interest Jean; Paul Schwensen as obnoxious Paul Owen; Owen Claire Smith as Evelyn, Patrick’s fiancee and Hampton’s Housewife deluxe; Jacquelyne Paige as Courtney, oblivious girlfriend to gay Luis (Ivan Moreno) who’s in love with Patrick; Tyce Green (who produced The Who’s Tommy on Broadway) as Timothy Price, entitled scion of Patrick’s investment firm Price & Price. Then there’s Kaye Tuckerman as zonked-out Mrs. Bateman, a delicious cameo role that Tuckerman eats alive, with dangling cigarette or martini glass firmly in hand. She appears and disappears regularly, but each time bequeaths a little gem of a performance.

    The quartet of a band (Michael Ferrara, Beto González, Steve Martin and Joe Beam, all responsible for the powerhouse arrangements) sounds like a DJ’s gig on steroids. Hope Easterbrook’s choreography recalls the ‘80s dance moves with perfection – remember voguing?. Tim Mackabee’s cubist set design, all gray, black, and white, is Broadway caliber; as are Colleen Grady’s psychedelic costumes of luxury suits and underground club wear; while Robert J. Aguilar’s lighting conjures Patrick’s interior hellscapes with pin-spot accuracy. The entire production soars with professionalism under Joe Calarco’s knife-sharp direction.

    The show has been softened, certainly from the book and its iterations in London and Broadway. It’s more accessible, more fun, yet still chilling in its condemnation of wretched excess and overweening pride. Listen to the women harmonizing in “You Are What You Wear,” a litany describing designer clothes that make the woman. “I want blackened, charred mahi mahi. Works so well with Isaac Mizrahi… But let’s be clear, there’s nothing ironic about our love of Manolo Blahnik.” This catalog song would have Stephen Sondheim salivating.

    American Psycho is still a cult show, but one not to be missed. Not when Houston Broadway Theatre sinks its highly polished teeth into it. If this is the producer’s Houston launch to get the production back to London and Broadway again, I think they’ve found the perfect road to success.

    Note: HBT must have deep moneybags. Look at the incredible physical production which would be lauded on any Broadway stage, but take a gander at their glossy playbill. No inexpensive xerox page, but a magazine worthy of GQ with ads for Rolex, Absolute vodka, Cricketeer and Flusser suitings, Clinique skin care, Crown Royal, and Lamborghini, all in the style of Patrick Bateman’s power world. Brilliant marketing…and expensive. Just what this show extols and exposes.

    American Psycho continues through September 14. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Zilkha Hall at The Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $33.80-$148.20.

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    D. L. Groover

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  • Flawless Onegin Opens Houston Ballet Season

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    For the first time since 2008, Houston Ballet has mounted a production of John Cranko’s Onegin. After seeing the show, the only real question is, why so long?


    The ballet opens with the young country girl Tatiana, nose in a book and thoroughly uninterested in the preparations for her upcoming birthday festivities. As more girls gather, they decide to play a game, where supposedly one sees their future love in a mirror. While peering into the mirror, Tatiana catches a glimpse of Onegin, a friend of Olga’s fiancé Lensky, who is visiting from St. Petersburg. Tatiana is immediately enamored with this stranger, but Onegin shows little interest in her or anything else. Undeterred, Tatiana pens a love letter to Onegin that night and dreams of them together.


    Unfortunately for Tatiana, the letter has the opposite of its desired effect; the letter only annoys Onegin, who cruelly rips it up at her birthday party. Making things worse, Onegin turns his attention to Olga, flirting with her and stealing her away, repeatedly, to dance – none of which escapes Lensky’s increasingly offended eye.

    Honor insulted and pushed too far, Lensky challenges Onegin to a duel that leaves Lensky dead and Onegin horrified. It’s years before Onegin sees Tatiana again, and when he does, it’s in St. Petersburg, where Tatiana is now married to a prince. This time, however, Onegin is a little older, a little grayer, and very much in love with Tatiana.


    Though certainly not the first adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s 19th-century poem-novel, Eugene Onegin, Cranko’s 1965 ballet has proved to be one for the ages. It’s emotionally moving, resonant, and incredibly accessible. Though the show has a clear emphasis on acting and storytelling, Cranko devised some passages of dance and pas de deux that are not to be missed. The acting though…

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    Houston Ballet Principal Connor Walsh as Onegin in John Cranko’s Onegin.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    Houston Ballet is made of not only world-class dancers, but acting powerhouses, which is crucial to a ballet that requires a lot of character work, like Onegin. As usual, the company shines in works like these, and Onegin is no different. (It’s worth noting that aside from our main characters, there are also many funny little character moments throughout the group scenes to entertain you, like Kellen Hornbuckle’s angry pout across the stage or Riley McMurray’s partner indecision.) Across the board, the ensemble impresses, particularly during the first act.


    There’s the fanciful play of the women’s group and the high-jumping, knee-dropping men, whose choreography is flavored with bits that harken back to Russian folk dance and simply fun to watch. And, of course, there’s a frolicking, rollicking group dance toward the end of the first scene of Act I, which culminates in the coupled-up ensemble crossing the stage, this way and then that, the women in leaping jetés with support from their partners. It’s as exciting a display as one can see and well deserving of the enthusiastic round of applause it elicited.


    As the titular character, Connor Walsh strikes quite the imposing figure. Onegin appears dressed in all black, back ramrod straight and nose turned up, the expression on his face that of a man in the midst of an existential crisis and not panicked by it, but resigned. But though the show bears his character’s name, make no mistake about it: This ballet is all about Tatiana, a role beautifully played by Karina González.


    As Tatiana, González brilliantly captures both the girlish longing in Tatiana’s youth – exhibited with heartbreaking clarity during her Act II solo, her eyes repeatedly straying to Onegin, begging for his attention and visibly disheartened when it’s not received – and the harder-earned maturity of her adulthood. She takes the first step toward that maturity at the close of the second act, the tables turned as she is now the one standing up straight and looking at Onegin head-on, rose-colored glasses off, as he falls apart following his duel with Lensky.

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    Houston Ballet Principals Karina González as Tatiana and Connor Walsh as Onegin in John Cranko’s Onegin.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    González’s success at playing the naïve country girl is apparent in Act III, when Tatiana and Onegin meet again, though this time he is the one begging for her affections. Desperation spills from Walsh, contorting his face and coloring every sweep and pass across the stage as Onegin tests Tatiana’s resolve. At one point, he literally holds her back as she takes giant, trudging steps forward only to fall back into his arms after each. It’s a far cry from Tatiana and Onegin’s slight and distracted (on Onegin’s part) partnering earlier, though reminiscent, and even further from the mirror pas de deux, where the two come together with equal passion to a frenzied score.

    (Famously, for reasons, Cranko was unable to use the music Tchaikovsky composed for the operatic adaptation, so instead Kurt-Heinz Stolze culled works from Tchaikovsky’s oeuvre, all of which were masterfully played by Houston Ballet Orchestra under Conductor Simon Thew.)


    The mirror pas de deux is almost aggressively physical, with Walsh lifting, sliding, carrying, catching, and spinning González all around the stage. It’s dramatic and exciting, especially in moments such as when González dives into his arms or when Walsh lifts her high and straight above his head. Considering Tatiana’s dream at the start, the moment when she finally banishes Onegin from her life for good hits especially hard. On González’s crumpled face and trembling body, it’s clear Tatiana still loves him and rejects him at a cost, but it’s all the meaningful for it.

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    Houston Ballet Soloist Sayako Toku as Olga and Principal Angelo Greco as Lensky with Artists of Houston Ballet in John Cranko’s Onegin.

    Photo by Alana Campbell (2025). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    Sayako Toku danced the role of Tatiana’s sister, Olga, with a spring in every step. As Olga, Toku is so light one thinks she may float away. That head-in-the-clouds quality might help explain why she couldn’t see how dismissing her fiancé might be big trouble later. But before things go wrong, Toku dances a sweet, exuberant pas de deux with Angelo Greco’s Lensky. Greco also has a moody, thoughtful solo as he mentally prepares for the duel, an unexpected but lovely emotional beat for the audience.

    Finally, Syvert Lorenz Garcia played Prince Gremin, who is mostly ignored by the Onegin-obsessed Tatiana before returning in Act III as her husband. Together they dance a rather stately pas de deux which, though devoid of passion, is not without connection or affection. It’s a line he and González traversed well.


    It would be a crime not to mention how easy on the eyes this production is. Santo Loquasto’s sets and costumes are gorgeous, from the country dresses and gold-toned garden and pavilion, with its flower-adorned chandeliers, in the first two acts, to the opulence of the blood-red ballroom and Tatiana’s matching dress in the third. The stick-thin trees that populate the garden return in a much more sinister fashion in the second act, the moodiness enhanced by James F. Ingalls’s often dramatic lighting choices.


    As far as season-openers go, it’s hard to imagine Houston Ballet choosing a better one. Cranko’s show is a classic, and the production is flawless. So, what else do you need to know?

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • The Last Yiddish Speaker a Timely and Scary Warning

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    In a little wooden house in upstate New York, three crosses decorate the wall. They are centrally placed, impossible to ignore, and perfect to obscure the fact that the residents of this little house are, in fact, Jewish.


    In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker, the year is 2029, eight years after the successful attack on the U.S. Capital on January 6, 2021. In the years following the insurrection, there have been brutal and concerted efforts to “get rid of the wrong kind of people.” For those left, home inspections are the norm. We learn of a wall that may now exist between the U.S. and Canada, a repopulation mandate, and a recent edict that forbids women from going to college.


    Paul and his daughter Sarah, who goes by the name Mary, have fled their New York City home. They are now living in Granville and passing as Christian. Paul, a former city planner, now works at the local Walmart. Sarah is a high school senior, struggling to hide who she is and what she believes amongst the people of her new town and especially in front of her 17-year-old boyfriend John, a Granville local and inspector, tasked with searching Sarah’s home with a gun at his side.


    Complicating matters is a mysterious woman who is dropped off at Paul and Sarah’s doorstep, a well-worn suitcase in her hand and a note pinned to her shawl.


    “This is your Great Aunt Chava. It’s your turn to hide her. Good luck.”


    For Laufer, Chava is a touch of magical realism in her worthy, and sadly necessary, addition to a subgenre of dark and dystopian works, warnings in the form of intellectual exercises in alternate history by folks like Sinclair Lewis and Philip K. Dick. We learn that Chava is 1,000 years old – “give or take” – and traces her own history back to the Crusades. She has since found herself everywhere from Kentucky to Yemen, encountering Nazis, Cossacks, and the Ku Klux Klan. She quite literally gets dropped “wherever something bad is happening to the Jews.”

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    Olivia Knight and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.

    Photo by Gentle Bear Photography

    The Last Yiddish Speaker is aching and funny, and thought-provoking above all else. And this production, from Mildred’s Umbrella in collaboration with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, is directed by Rhett Martinez with perfectly paced precision. Martinez navigates the play’s potentially tricky tone with ease, letting us feel the weight of this world and its stakes without overwhelming us.


    And whether by necessity or design, Martinez’s traverse staging is quite clever and dynamic. Edgar Guajardo’s set is woody and rustic and perfectly evoking its rural locale, as do Samantha Hyman’s costumes. The set runs from wall to wall, audience members looking on from either side. Guajardo favors bold lighting choices, the color blue particularly prominent, likely for its moody feel and symbolic meaning.

    Equally moody and ominous is Guajardo’s sound design. Several sound cues, however, were interestingly abrupt and (if intentional) unnecessarily distracting. And if there’s one thing you wouldn’t want to risk distracting from, it’s the terrific performances from Martinez’s four-actor ensemble.


    Deborah Hope is a treasure, so it should be no surprise that she can play a character carrying the weight of an entire culture, its history, and language, on her proverbial back. Hope carries not only that weight, but Chava’s own – centuries of husbands and children long gone – in her hunched-over shoulders and little, shuffling steps, in eyes too knowing and sudden bouts of weakness and breathlessness that suggest she’s not immune to its effects. But most affecting is the way Hope balances “ancient being with a magical charge” with “Great Aunt Chava,” a motherly figure with such warmth, an irresistible twinkle in her eye, and a wicked sense of humor that leads to an incredibly funny exchange between Chava, Sarah, and a translation app.


    (It’s worth mentioning, though probably unnecessary, that I’m no expert on Yiddish. But I was thoroughly convinced and impressed, so props to Dr. Mina Graur, the production’s Yiddish consultant.)

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    Austin Brady and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.

    Photo by Gentle Bear Photography

    As Sarah, Olivia Knight is electric. Sarah is whip-smart and understandably bristling at the restrictions she’s forced to live under. Even when she pushes farther than she should, risking her own life and that of her father, it’s painfully clear why and where she’s coming from. (There’s a particular monologue about a Hawaiian bird that is bound to bring tears to your eyes.) The heart of the play is Sarah’s growing connection with Chava, and Knight’s scenes with Hope are incredibly sweet and tender. Knight also has a great rapport with Jason Duga, who plays Sarah’s father, Paul. 

    Paul is frustrating by design. He is disconnected from Judaism and motivated by fear, his only real goal (protecting his daughter in the best way he can see) making him a foil to Sarah and, albeit briefly, a threat to Chava. His fear colors his exasperated back-and-forths with Sarah and his ingratiating comments to John and eventually explodes in his outbursts. Duga, however, is excellent at keeping Paul from slipping into one-note territory. Though his desperation may be at the fore, he never lets us lose sight of the internal conflicts that have brought him here.


    The fourth member of this ensemble is Austin Brady, who tackles the role of John, Sarah’s small-town boyfriend. John reads as smarmy at the top, with Brady’s approach to him noticeably more performative than his castmates. It may have been to up the suspense on just how sincere John’s love for Sarah would prove to be when push came to shove. Still, Brady excelled in matching Knight’s energy and in portraying John’s growing discomfort as Sarah continually challenged him.


    To say that The Last Yiddish Speaker is timely doesn’t quite do it justice, as we’re living in a moment where the timeline could still easily branch off in a direction like the one Laufer envisions in her play. It adds a certain bit of unease, but it’s that tension that tells you just how necessary works like this are and makes it more than worth seeing.

    Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. Sundays through September 21 at the Joe Frank Theatre, Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, 5601 South Braeswood. For more information, call 713-729-3200 or visit mildredsumbrella.com. $18-$29.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Mixed Rep of Rock, Roll & Tutus at Houston Ballet

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    When First Soloist Tyler Donatelli dances in all three of the ballets in Houston Ballet’s Rock, Roll & Tutus mixed rep program one of those is especially special — the first time her friend and colleague Soloist Jacquelyn Long will be debuting her own choreographed work during the regular season. Long’s Illuminate features dancers in neo classical movements, Donatelli says. “It’s bright and spritely. It’s about  the joy of dance and having fun with your friends and the cast is all my friends as well.

    Set to the music of Oliver Davis’ Frontiers, the ballet has three movements, Donatelli says. “We really try to make it special for her and put our mark on it.”

    Donatelli is also dancing in Rooster by Christopher Bruce to eight tracks by The Rolling Stones including: “Little Red Rooster,” As Tears Go By,  Paint it Black and Sympathy For The Devil.” This will be the third time Houston Ballet performs Rooster which it premiered in 1991 and then performed again in 2012.

    “Rooster is kind of more jazzy. It’s kind of that rock and roll vibe,” Donatelli says. She describes her role as that of “a cool girl persona. It’s very grounded. I really love Christopher’s movements and how they connect to each other. It really gives a groovy feel.”

    The third part of the mixed repertory offerings of the program is Vi et animo by Houston Ballet’s Artistic Director Stanton Welch. This requires most of the company to be on stage.

    “He did the first movement two years ago and this year he added two movements,” Donatelli says.

    “They all have a very grand classical feel. In the first movement I’m in a tutu, second and third movement I’m in a romantic tutu. He really pushes the classical technique and is always reaching for more perfection every time and there’s always something more to give. I really enjoy it because you feel you’ve accomplished something at the end of it.”

    This is Donatelli’s twelfth season with Houston Ballet. “I always have felt that the community of dancers here is really something special. I think we all work together as a team really well.  I like how we’re all dedicated to making the choreographers’ visions come to life. I know that’s a huge goal here and I really like that aspect of the environment.”

    As for this particular mix of ballets, Donatelli says:

    “I think it’s a great opener for the season because you get to see everyone together doing different kinds of moves.”

    Performances are scheduled for September 18-28 at 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 18;
    7:30 p.m. on Saturday September 20 and Friday and Saturday September 26 – 27; 1:30 p.m. on Saturday September 27; and 2 p.m. on Sunday September 28 at the Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For more information, call 713-227-2787. or visit houstonballet.org. $75-$170.

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    Margaret Downing

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