The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has officially begun, but there’s still plenty to do if you need a break from the cowboy boots and country music. This week, the Theater District Open House returns, a beloved anime franchise gets a symphonic treatment, and a film festival kicks off with a Tribeca favorite. Keep reading for these and more on this week’s list of best bets.
On Thursday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Houston’s commissioning program New/Now will bring three world premieres to the Wortham Theater Center: My Posse’s on Broadway by YUNGCHRIS, a celebration of Houston’s hip-hop and street dance culture; Marlon Simon’s On Different Paths, which attempts to balance elements of classical music and jazz; and Ben Chavez’s Last Day, County Fair, a semi-autobiographical work of original music and storytelling that “tells the story of a young man struggling with his queer identity and his relationship with his parents.” You can read more about the event here. New/Now will be presented a second time on Friday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are “pick your price” and available for either performance here for free to $250.
The complicated relationship between the daughter of civil rights activists and her parents is explored in Christina Anderson’s play, the ripple, the wave that carried me home, which opens at Stages on Thursday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. LaKeisha Rochelle Randle, who plays the daughter in the 90-minute one act, recently described the play to the Houston Press as “a love story,” saying it is “a story of love and its redemptive power for a husband and a wife, for parents and their child and also for folks who are fighting for the rights of others and the love that they must possess for those people in order to, so passionately, do so.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through March 23. Tickets can be purchased here for $56 to $96.
Naruto is “one of the world’s most popular and profitable manga and anime franchises,” and one man who was instrumental in its success is composer Toshio Masuda, who wrote music for the series’ first four seasons. On Friday, March 7, at 7 p.m., you can hear Masuda’s most iconic creations when Naruto: The Symphonic Experience – the anime’s first North American symphonic concert tour – visits the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land. Musicians, under conductors Emily Marshall and Heidi Joosten, will play Masuda’s music during the two-hour live concert while a montage of memorable scenes pulled from 220 episodes of the series is shown on a big, HD screen – and yes, audiences are welcome to sing along. Tickets to the show can be purchased here for $35 to $151.
You can experience one of Richard Strauss’ “best known yet most misunderstood works,” his Friedrich Nietzsche-inspired tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra), on Friday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. when Houston Symphony presents Andrés Conducts Strauss + Brahm’s Violin Concerto at Jones Hall. Conductor Laureate Andrés Orozco-Estrada will lead the Symphony in the program, which will also feature two works by Johannes Brahms and the Houston Symphony debut of Italian violinist Francesca Dego. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m. Tickets to in-hall performances can be purchased here for $53 to $160. Saturday night’s concert will also be livestreamed, and access to the video performance can be purchased here for $20.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will open their “Moonlight Movies” series, where you can enjoy a film on the Glassell School of Art’s sloping roof, on Friday, March 7, at 8 p.m. with a screening of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. The Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling-led film, a winner of six Oscars, is “a lavish song-and-dance musical that dares to swoon the old-fashioned way” with a score that’s been called “such a melodious achievement that there are moments it evokes the bittersweet majesty of George Gershwin.” A headset for sound and popcorn will be provided, with movie-themed cocktails available for purchase. Seating is first-come, first-serve, and the space will open an hour before the film starts. Tickets are available here for $15 to $20.
Comedian Matt Rife, whose last special debuted at #1 on Netflix, will swing by the Toyota Center at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, on his Stay Golden Tour. Rife recently spoke to the Houston Press, and though he noted that “comedians never want to give away too much online,” he shared that audience members will “get an hour of material. You’re going to get an interactive experience as well. I’m most likely going to talk to somebody and have a fun interaction there…It’s a physical experience as much as it is mental and emotional. I’d say for anyone who has never been to a comedy show before, it’s the same as going to a music concert. You’ve gotta hear your favorite musician live.” Tickets to the show can be purchased here for $39 to $60.
For the first time since the pandemic, the Theater District Open House will return with a day’s worth of free performances and family-friendly activities from arts organizations like the Alley Theatre, Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Symphony, Theatre Under the Stars, Performing Arts Houston, and more on Monday, March 10, from noon-5 p.m. Visitors can enjoy a range of on-stage presentations – like stage combat demos at the Alley, a Hamilton workshop at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Sleeping Beauty mini shows by the Houston Ballet, music performances by Mercury Chamber Orchestra, and more – as well hands-on activities, like as arts and crafts, an instrument petting zoo, and costume dress ups. You can see the full schedule here.
Boasting a buzzy premiere at Tribeca, Boca Chica, a film that shines “a light on the insidious child sex trade and the lives it seeks to destroy” within a Dominican community, has been chosen to open this year’s Houston Latino Film Festival at the MATCH on Wednesday, March 12, at 8:30 p.m. The film is Gabriella A. Moses’ feature directorial debut, and Moses will be present for a post-film Q&A, an event that will lead off a lineup of more than 70 short and feature films, panels, workshops, and music events. The festival, now in its 9th year, will continue through March 16, and you can find the full schedule here. Individual tickets are available for $14 for each screening, though all-access badges are also available for $40 to $65, here.
