It’s officially National Storytelling Week, but it’s always storytelling time around these parts and you can find plenty of stories in this week’s best bets. From classic tales to important truths uncovered, keep reading for our picks of the top things to do this week in Houston.
A fish-out-of-water finds himself in middle-of-nowhere Georgia circa 1984 and pretends he doesn’t understand English in Larry Shue’s play The Foreigner, which opens at A.D. Players on Friday, January 31, at 7:30 p.m. Director Kevin Crouch recently told the Houston Press that though Shue’s show is “ridiculous and absurd and silly,” it isn’t “a bunch of one liners strung together. There is depth in his humor. There’s humanity in the play. There’s a genuine interest in the play about what it means to be human, what it means to be seen. What it means to belong. By having the characters ask those questions audiences can see and feel themselves.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through February 23. Tickets are available here for $25 to $75.
On Friday, January 31, at 7:30 p.m., Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein’s Romeo and Juliet-inspired classic West Side Story comes to the Wortham Theater Center courtesy of Houston Grand Opera. Kyle Coffman, who will make his HGO debut as Jets leader Riff, recently told the Houston Press he thinks the show is “one of the great American works of art,” saying it “has something for everyone in a way. It has action and violence, excitement in that way. It’s got a great love story and social themes that resonate today. I think it’s one of the best musicals ever written. It’s worth seeing live.” Additional performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sunday through February 15. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $255.
Celebrate the Year of the Snake on Saturday, February 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Asia Society Texas during Lunar New Year 2025. The day-long event, inspired by Lunar New Year traditions across Asia, will feature free fun for all ages, including games and crafts, Chinese calligraphy, and photo booths, as well as lion dance performances. Huaxing Arts Group will also be present to present Spring Festival: Splendor of Huaxing, a ticketed program of Chinese dance and music. Plenty of vendors will be on hand peddling their wares – art, apparel, gifts, and – of course – food and drink. You can enjoy the festivities for free, but you must register here. Access to ticketed performances is also available here for $12.
If you enjoyed Tina: The Tina Turner Musical when its North American tour stopped in Houston last year, you won’t want to miss the woman who originated the titular role – and took home a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for it – Adrienne Warren, when she performs at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, February 1, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Hobby Center’s Beyond Broadway series. Before the triple-threat performer heads back to Broadway this spring to star opposite Nick Jonas in The Last Five Years, Warren will treat Houstonians to a one-night only performance. Tickets to the show can be purchased here for $42.40 to $247, including a VIP ticket option that includes premium seating and a post-show meet & greet.
Choreographer Dwight Rhoden selected ten songs from Songs of Surrender, U2’s 2023 album of “stripped-down, usually acoustic renditions of songs from throughout their career” – including classics like “With or Without You,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” and “Vertigo” – for a dance work called For Crying Out Loud, which will close the program when Rhoden’s Complexions Contemporary Ballet stops by Jones Hall on Saturday, February 1, at 7:30 p.m. The company, co-founded with Desmond Richardson, will celebrate 30 years of works across the program, beginning with Ave Maria from 1995 and also featuring Gone from 2000, Mercy from 2009 (with music by Hans Zimmer), and Deeply and This Time, With Feeling, both from 2024. Tickets for the program, presented by Performing Arts Houston, can be purchased here for $19 to $109.
Sugarcane, the 2024 film directed by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, begins with the discovery of unmarked graves at St. Joseph’s Mission in British Columbia. From there, the “impactful, multistranded documentary weaves together a dogged investigation into the horrific crimes perpetrated against generations of Indigenous children at a residential school run by the Catholic church in Canada, with accounts of the trickle-down of damage, from grandparents to parents to children.” On Sunday, February 2, at 2 p.m., the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will screen the “extremely difficult” to watch but “must-see” film, which is currently nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Oscars. Tickets to the screening can be purchased here for $7 to $9.
Two classic songwriting teams will get the spotlight on Monday, February 3, at 7:30 p.m., when Paul Hope Cabarets presents From Baghdad to Baseball at Ovations Night Club. The first, Robert Wright and George Forrest, enjoyed a musical partnership that lasted more than 70 years and produced shows like Song of Norway and Kismet. The second duo’s time together was tragically cut short, but still Richard Adler and Jerry Ross created back-to-back hits with The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. You can hear memorable tunes from each pair sung by talented performers under music director Steven Jones and emceed by Hope. The show will be performed twice more at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 10, and Monday, February 17. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $30 to $40.
