We’re moving into a new month this week, and keeping in mind the upcoming April showers that will allegedly bring May flowers, we’ve got plenty of things to do that are rain or shine and/or indoors. Keep reading for this week’s list of best bets.
In Paul Slade Smith’s play, The Outsider, the man who wants it least becomes governor and you can find out what happens next when Mighty Acorn Productions and WCO Productions present the show at the MATCH on Thursday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. Director Frances Limoncelli recently described the play as “a hilarious comedy” that makes “fun of American politics without bringing parties into it,” adding that it’s actually “a very uplifting and loving send-up of American politics” and should be “a relief for audiences who are probably pretty worn out with just how upsetting, angry, and divisive American politics has been in recent years.” Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and April 1 and 3; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays through April 7. Tickets can be purchased here for $35.
Some call it “camp,” and it “frequently shows up on those so-bad-it’s-good lists,” but Berry Gordy’s Black cinema classic, 1975’s Mahogany starring Diana Ross, also “offers some serious cultural insights.” And as Houston Museum for African American Culture film curator Jasmine Jones recently told the Houston Chronicle, the film is “pretty well-loved in the [Black] community.” On Thursday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. HMAAC and Houston Cinema Arts Society will screen the film – a “rags-to-chiffon-to-self-discovery story” about “a gritty gamine from the Detroit hood who is mesmerized by the transformative power of fashion” – at the DeLUXE Theater. Tickets can be purchased here and are priced on a sliding scale starting at $10, and don’t forget to don your best 1970s-era fashion for the occasion.
Language stands as a barrier between father and son in Don X. Nguyen’s play, The World is Not Silent, which you can catch at the Alley Theatre this Thursday, March, 28 at 7:30 p.m. Nguyen’s family fled Vietnam for Nebraska when he was three years old, and of the “semi-autobiographical play,” Nguyen told the Houston Press that he and his father have always had a “communication gap,” which resulted in Nguyen penning a multilingual show – with English, Vietnamese, American Sign Language and Vietnamese Sign Language – that is “full of humor and warmth.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and 7 p.m. Sundays, through April 14. Tickets can be purchased here for $43 to $75.
The French Cultures Festival continues and makes a stop at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this weekend with three screenings of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain). The “unconventional romantic comedy sees Amélie – played wonderfully by Audrey Tautou – encounter a series of fellow oddballs, and provides glimpses into the curious lives of others while celebrating the unique charm of France's capital city,” and it “captured the hearts of audiences upon release.” Since then, “its rich legacy continues, having inspired a musical, and even the name of a newly-discovered species of frog.” The first screening is set for Friday, March 29, at 7 p.m. Two additional screenings are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, and 5 p.m. Sunday, March 31. Tickets to the screenings can be purchased here for $7 to $9.
Linda Ronstadt – who “became a pop icon in the 1970s, reigning over the radio and dethroning rock heavyweights like Elton John and Led Zeppelin on the charts” – may be retired from performing, but on Friday, March 29, at 8 p.m. you can still hear some of her most classics songs during the Ronstadt Revue Featuring Gesenia at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Gesenia will perform songs like “You’re No Good” and “Blue Bayou” during the free performance, and you can get reserve your free tickets here starting at 10 a.m. on March 28. As always, seating on the Hill is ticketless and, if you can’t make it out, you can watch the show on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.
Not only is Romeo and Juliet “the most ambitious” of Sergei Prokofiev’s “non-operatic scores,” it is arguably Prokofiev’s “most loved score today.” On Friday, March 29, at 8 p.m., Houston Symphony will present selections from the score during Romeo and Juliet + Dvořák’s Cello Concerto at Jones Hall. Conductor Xian Zhang will lead the Symphony in Prokofiev as well as Dorothy Chang’s Northern Star, and cellist Brinton Averil Smith will join to take on Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. The concert will be performed a second time on Saturday, March 30, at 8 p.m. Tickets for either in-hall performance can be purchased here for $36 to $120. If you can’t make it, Saturday night’s show will also be livestreamed and access can be purchased here for $20.
Two men in a fictious Texas town fight over the use of the N-word in Thomas Meloncon’s Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word, a world premiere that will officially open at Main Street Theater on Saturday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. The author and associate professor at Texas Southern University recently told the Houston Press that he hopes “we come to a better understanding of this word, a word that has been used as a weapon of mass destruction both internally and externally.” Though opening night is sold out, performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays (with no performance scheduled on March 31) through April 21. Tickets for the production can be purchased here for $35 to $59.
Get ready for an evening of Latin American music on Saturday, March 30, at 8 p.m. during Romance! Produced by the Houston Latin American Philharmonic Orchestra at Miller Outdoor Theatre. This performance marks the third year that the Houston Latin American Philharmonic Orchestra, comprised of 50 musicians and under the lead of Glenn Garrido, stops by Miller. You can get reserve your free tickets here starting at 10 a.m. on March 29, or you can head for the ticketless seating on the Hill.
