Hopefully, you’re not already burned out on holiday-themed festivities because we’ve got quite a few for you on this week’s best bets. For new film standards to classical masterworks – and a few non-holiday events, too – keep reading for our picks of things to do over the next seven days.
On Thursday, December 14, at 7 p.m. the hundreds of objects that fill almost 6,000 square feet of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s New Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds will serve as inspiration for students and alumni of Houston Community College’s Fashion Design program during the “Fashion Fusion” Runway Show. Under the theme of “Exquisite Elegance: Art of the Islamic Worlds,” the eighth installment of the design competition and fashion show will feature four categories – motifs and mosaics, trinkets and charms, sky and sand, and metallics and mirage – which will be judged to determine the evening’s winners. Standing-room-only admission is free with museum admission (which you can get here), or you can purchase VIP seating (with a complimentary drink) for $25 here.
There’s a region, approximately 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator, “characterized by calm winds, sunny skies, and little or no precipitation.” It’s here, according to legend, where sailors and ships on their way to the New World would stall and, in an effort to conserve water, would “throw the horses they were transporting overboard.” The region, dubbed “horse latitudes,” lends its name to Hope Stone Dance’s final performance, which includes a film and live performance by dancers as well as a look back at Hope Stone’s last 28 years. Horse Latitudes will be presented at 7 and 9 p.m. on Thursday, December 14, at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. Few tickets remain, and can be purchased here for $30.
Peace, Justice, Human Heart and Divine Love – “all strongly characterized in the music” – engage in a “philosophical dialogue” in Antonio Caldara’s “Vaticini di Pace,” which Mercury Chamber Orchestra will present at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, December 14, at The MATCH during Caldara’s Christmas Cantata. The presentation of the 18th-century masterpiece is part of Mercury’s Neighborhood Series, so you can also catch it at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, December 16, at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church; 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, December 16, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and 7 p.m. Sunday, December 17, at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands. Tickets to any performance can be purchased here for $10 to $45. (Or you can access it virtually on December 16 for $20 here.)
Three actor-friends gather together for a holiday production. One wants to perform A Christmas Carol, and the other two absolutely do not. The eventual compromise is to perform a little bit of every holiday classic they can think of – including Dickens – in the final production of Creative Movement Practices second season, Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald and John K. Alvarez’s Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at The MATCH on Thursday, December 14, at 7:30 p.m. The final three performances of this fast-paced comedy are scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, December 15, and Saturday, December 16, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 17. Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $30 and can be purchased here.
On its release in November 2003, the Will Ferrell-led film Elf “was an immediate hit, topping the box office during its second weekend and ultimately grossing about $220 million worldwide.” On Friday, December 15, at 7:30 p.m. you can catch the now “bona fide” seasonal classic in a new way as ELF in Concert comes to Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land. You can watch Ferrell’s character Buddy discover that he’s actually a human who was raised with Santa’s elves and make the decision to travel to New York to find his real father on a 40-foot HD screen while a full symphony orchestra plays the whole score live. Individual tickets to the show can be bought here for $30 to $62.50.
Though that story about King George II giving the “Hallelujah Chorus” of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah a standing ovation is “probably untrue,” it is true that that the “Hallelujah Chorus” is “an iconic piece of music” that’s appeared everywhere from Dumb & Dumber to South Park. It’s also “ingrained as a Christmas tradition” and ‘tis the season. On Friday, December 15, at 7:30 p.m. Conductor Jeannette Sorrell will lead the Houston Symphony in Handel’s Messiah at Jones Hall. The concert will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 16, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, December 17. Tickets to any of the in-hall concerts can be purchased here for $45 to $155. Saturday night’s performance will also be livestreamed, and you can get access here for $20.
Head over to Downtown Houston on Friday, December 15, at 8 p.m. for a screening of the 2003 film Bad Santa as part of the Movies Under the Stars series at Market Square Park. The film, starring Billy Bob Thornton as “an alcoholic, degenerate petty thief, and con artist who poses as a mall Santa to rob all the stores on Christmas Eve,” is a dark comedy that “delves into something more truthful than pretty about the yuletide season.” But still, the message is that though “the holidays can make many people downtrodden, all it takes for anyone to snap out of such a bad headspace is finding the right person or people to give them the support system they need to be happy.” The event is free and you can register here.
If repeated viewings of Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night no longer satisfy the Christmas-loving horror nerd within, check out the Christmas Horror Market Pop Up from 12 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 16, at Eureka Heights Brewery. The market, presented by Houston Horror Film Festival and The Houston Zombie Walk, will feature celebrity meet-and-greets and photo ops (with folks from classic horror series like Halloween, Friday the 13th and The Purge), vendors, artists, filmmakers, an ugly sweater contest and a classic wrestling matchup between Santa Claus and Krampus. You can purchase tickets in advance online here for $10 or you can pay $15 at the door (and note that kids 12 and under enter free).
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
