The month of February is coming to an end, Mardi Gras is right around the corner, and there is still plenty to enjoy across Houston’s stages and screens. This week, we’ve got huge puppets, a tribute to a fictional secret agent, and the return of a popular musical. Keep reading for these and more in this week’s best bets.
If you’re in need of family-friendly entertainment that will keep the kiddos glued to their seats, you will want to head over to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts tonight, Thursday, February 27, at 6:30 p.m. for Dragons and Mythical Beasts Live, a “puppet-led extravaganza” described as “carefully calibrated” and “heartfelt.” The show, suitable for children aged three and up and created by the team behind Dinosaur World Live, will introduce audiences, via a hero trainer, to a stone troll drawn from Norse mythology and the supernatural baku from Japanese folklore, a unicorn, griffin, the Tooth Fairy, and, of course, dragons with “childlike passion and a hopefulness that light up the show from within.” Tickets can be purchased here for $20 to $55.
The Houston Ballet returns to the Wortham Theater Center stage on Thursday, February 27, at 7:30 p.m. with the company’s latest mixed repertory program, In the Night, featuring the titular In the Night by Jerome Robbins, Celts by Lila York, Maninyas by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch. Houston Ballet Corps member Saul Newport previewed the program for the Houston Press, saying that the pieces “do a beautiful job of blending classical ballet with modern styles — [a mixture of] new and cutting-edge choreography with the same classical form that you would see in Sleeping Beauty but maybe with a modern twist.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. on March 1, 7, and 8, as well as 2 p.m. on March 2 and 9 through March 8. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $159.
A man recalls his time living with his overbearing mother, Amanda, and his fragile sister, Laura, in a small apartment during the 1930s in The Glass Menagerie, a classic play by Tennessee Williams, which you can catch at the Alley Theatre on Thursday, February 27, at 7:30 p.m. Melissa Molano, who plays Laura Wingfield in the production, recently told the Houston Press that “the thing that this family has in common is they’re all dreamers,” though “Tom’s dream is in the future, Amanda dreams of the past, and Laura is just dreaming of a magical world around her.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through March 16. Tickets can be purchased here for $28 to $100.
Fresh off the news that Amazon MGM Studios has taken creative control over the James Bond franchise – and before it heads off into a new future – you can take a sonic trip down memory lane when the Houston Symphony presents 007: James Bond Forever at Jones Hall on Friday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the Symphony and vocalist Lena Hall through music from the films featuring Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent, from 1962’s Dr. No to 2021’s No Time to Die. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 2. Saturday night’s performance will be livestreamed (with access available here for $20), or you can purchase in-hall tickets here for any of the shows for $58 to $165.
Vijay Iyer was a PhD student studying physics at the University of California, Berkeley, in the ‘90s when “classical music training and self-taught jazz piano took him into another world.” He went on to form a trio, which, upon the release of their album Historicity in 2009, prompted The New York Times to declare the arrival of “the great new jazz piano trio.” The trio’s most recent album, last year’s Compassion, has been called “a highlight in Iyer’s long path,” and on Saturday, March 1, at 8 p.m., DACAMERA will welcome the Vijay Iyer Trio – today comprised of Iyer, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey – to Houston for a performance at the Wortham Theater Center. Tickets can be purchased here for $46 to $86.
Whether you’re one of those people who gets fully invested in awards season or just watches for the potential memes and controversy, you must be pretty excited about the 97th Academy Awards. According to AP, this year’s Oscars “has more potential drama than any recent year, with many possible outcomes in the top categories, including best picture, best actor and best actress.” And what better way to spend the evening than with River Oaks Theatre, which will stream the show in their main auditorium on Sunday, March 2, during their Movie Awards Watching Party. Dress for the red carpet, and be ready for games, giveaways, and more. Seating begins at 5:30 p.m. with the show starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are available here for $6.
The musical theatre juggernaut that is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is returning to Houston, courtesy of Broadway at the Hobby Center, when the North American tour stops by on Tuesday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. Drawn from Ron Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton, the Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of one of the nation’s founding fathers, from orphaned immigrant to almost president, with a strong hip-hop and R&B influence. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays through March 23. Some tickets are still available here for $79 to $299 (not including resale tickets). You can also try your luck at the Hamilton digital lottery, which is offering 40 $10 seats for every performance. More information on the lottery can be found here.
