St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and if you don’t yet have plans for this holiday weekend, we’ve got you covered. This week, we’ve got a classic fairytale ballet, a documentary about Art Deco’s “bad girl,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and more. Keep reading for our picks on how to best spend your time this week.
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, check out Irish Film Night at River Oaks Theatre on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. when local athletic club the Houston Gaels presents Kneecap. Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap is a film about the titular (and real) three-member hip-hop group who “play themselves in this liberally fictionalized reimagining of their origin story set in Belfast, Northern Ireland.” The film, which was Ireland’s official Oscar submission, has been described as a “gleefully chaotic quasi-biopic” that’s “combination of the profane and the political, the riotous humour and punchy editing makes for one of the more energising viewing experiences of the year, and possibly one of the funniest” of 2024. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., and tickets to the screening can be purchased here for $21.
A classic fairytale will grace the stage of the Wortham Theater Center on Thursday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. when the Houston Ballet opens The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Ben Stevenson. Soloist Aoi Fujiwara, who will dance the role of Aurora, a princess cursed to sleep until awakened by a prince’s kiss, recently told the Houston Press that the “ballet is one of the most popular classical ballets,” adding that “technically it’s hard, especially for girls.” One of those technically difficult and always anticipated parts of the ballet is the Rose Adagio, in which Aurora balances on one leg as she moves from one potential suitor to the next. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays; 1:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 23. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $167.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby celebrates its one-hundredth anniversary this year, and in the last century, the English class standard has seen adaptations on the stage and screen as well as served as an oft-turned-to source of inspiration for Taylor Swift. On Friday, March 14, at 7 p.m., World Ballet Company’s production of Fitzgerald’s classic will visit the Wortham Theater Center for two nights. The Jazz Age-set ballet, choreographed by Ilya Zhivoy for the Los Angeles-based company, tells the story of millionaire Jay Gatsby and his obsession with socialite Daisy Buchanan through the eyes of Daisy’s cousin Nick Carraway. The ballet will be performed a second time on Saturday, March 15, at 7 p.m. Tickets to either performance can be purchased here for $45 to $125.
Fairytale magic and more can be found over at Jones Hall, too, as the Houston Symphony presents Korngold’s Violin Concerto & Cinderella on Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. Violinist Simone Lamsma will join the Symphony on Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, and it’s been said that the “soloist is called on to display an extreme virtuosity throughout, with much of the solo line set in the highest range, where the violin, alone of all instruments, can sing with its pure, angelic voice.” The concert will be performed again on Saturday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 16, at 2 p.m. In-hall tickets for any of the shows can be purchased here for $38 and $110. Saturday night’s performance will also be livestreamed, and access is available here for $20.
The New York Times dubbed her Art Deco’s “bad girl,” and on Saturday, March 15, at 5 p.m., you can learn more about Tamara de Lempicka when the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, screens Julie Rubio’s 2024 documentary The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & the Art of Survival. Alison de Lima Greene, the coordinating curator of the museum’s de Lempicka retrospective, told the Houston Press that de Lempicka “was super aware on how to manipulate glamour to her best advantage,” adding that “she knew the power of the arresting gaze…She wanted a woman to be liberated and modern, but also mysterious.” The documentary will be screened again on Saturday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for either screening can be purchased here for $7 to $9. The exhibit will run through May 26.
We are halfway through Women’s History Month, and if you have not yet properly celebrated, you can do so at Discovery Green on Saturday, March 15, from 6 to 10 p.m. during Girls on the Green. The free, family-friendly festivities promise music by DJ Carina Lopez, crafts and activities from Girlstart, photo ops, and a panel discussion with astronaut Jeanette Epps, rocket scientist Monica Lee, and Chevron Houston’s Amber Tierce hosted by Discovery Green board member Staci LaToison, who is also the founder of Dream Big Ventures. Following the discussion, you can enjoy a screening of Hidden Figures, the 2016 film – based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly – tells the story of three African American women, known as human computers, who were instrumental in helping NASA get astronauts to the moon.
Three months after premiering on Broadway, Death of a Salesman won playwright Arthur Miller a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in May 1949. The play, the first “to dramatize this punishing—and particularly American—interplay of panic and achievement,” introduced audiences to traveling salesman Willy Loman, a character in whom “Miller was able to bring both the desperation and the aspiration of American life together.” On Saturday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m., Rec Room Arts will open Miller’s groundbreaking play, “where past and present coalesce in a lyrical dramatic arc” to show how Willy’s obsession with success and the American Dream ultimately lead to his downfall. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays until April 5. Tickets are available here for $20 to $45.
Genre-spanning composer and sitarist Anoushka Shankar, daughter of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar, will bring her newest live show to the Wortham Theater Center on Wednesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m., courtesy of Performing Arts Houston. Shankar’s stop in Houston will come only days after the release of Chapter III: We Return to Light, the final EP in a trilogy of albums inspired by England, California, and India – i.e., the places she was raised. Of her music and the idea that Westerners may be intimidated by it, the 11-time Grammy nominee has said, “The first thing I always say to people is ‘Just relax. Just listen.’ It will speak to you, or it won’t.” Tickets to the performance can be purchased here for $29 to $109.
