The brand new 12 months brings a flurry of nice theater this month. Broadway lovers will get fairly a deal with as we’ve acquired three touring blockbuster musicals making Houston stops this month, whereas HGO brings us one of many grandest classical musicals of all of them, West Facet Story. Together with all that music, Houston theater fills our new 12 months with comedies, romance, dramatic native historical past, and marriage recommendation from our favourite wild nun.
Ebook of Mormon introduced by Broadway at Interest Middle (January 7-12)
Begin 2025 with a hilarious bang, as one of the vital outrageous musicals to grace a Broadway stage makes a missionary cease in Houston. Although undoubtedly not for teenagers or the faint of comedian coronary heart, the musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Frozen songwriter and EGOT winner Robert Lopez, went on to win a number of Tony awards. The specific language-laced comedy does have loads of coronary heart because it follows the adventures of a mismatched pair of Mormon missionaries, despatched midway internationally to unfold the nice phrase in tune.
Fade To Black Studying Sequence at MATCH (January 9-12)
From its founding in 2012, the Fade To Black Play Pageant has made a nationwide identify for itself by giving African-American playwrights throughout the nation a stage and keen viewers to showcase new and in-progress work. This 12 months’s competition will showcase eight new 10-minute performs written by distinctive voices across the nation, together with Houston and Texas playwrights.
December a Love Years within the Making at Alley Theatre (January 17-February 2)
Workshopped on the Alley’s prestigious All New Pageant, this world premiere by award-winning playwright Marisela Treviño Orta tells the story of an uncommon Could-December romance between a artistic writing professor and her former pupil who change time-defying phrases of affection by letters and poetry. A youthful and extra mature set of actors play each characters as love modifications and evolves through the years.
& Juliet introduced by Broadway at Interest Middle (January 21-26)
The good, hilarious e book from Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek author, David West Learn, together with a banger of a playlist from songwriter and file producer Max Martin made this vivacious jukebox musical a smash on Broadway and London’s West Finish. The reveals poses the query: what if Anne (Shakespeare’s spouse, not the actress) Hathaway has editorial notes for her hubby as he writes Romeo & Juliet, and what if that features Juliet ditching useless Romeo and dwelling her finest life in Paris? As each Anne and Will insert themselves into the narrative, Juliet finds her groove singing songs you’ll possible know each lyric, from “Since U Been Gone” to “It’s My Life,” “Stronger,” and “I Need It That Method.”
La bohème from Houston Grand Opera (January 24-Febraury 14)
HGO strains up Grammy-winning artists for the opening manufacturing of their winter repertoire. Considered one of opera’s best and beloved tragedies, Puccini’s La bohème tells the story of the good loves and losses amid the struggling artists of nineteenth century Paris. Initially created by Tony Award- profitable director John Caird, this manufacturing’s intimate set, constructed from work and canvases, will transport us to the belle époque Paris, the place tragedy awaits the opera’s beguiling band of bohemians.
Soprano sensation Yaritza Veliz makes her HGO debut within the function of the delicate Mimì with Grammy Award-winning lyric tenor Joshua Guerrero as her Rodolfo. Different Grammy-winning artists showcased on this revival, a co-production from HGO, Canadian Opera Firm, and San Francisco Opera, are baritone Edward Parks within the function of the painter Marcello and celebrated conductor Karen Kamensek.
Camp Logan at Ensemble Theatre (January 24-February 23)
Celebrated Texas playwright Celeste Beford Walker was impressed by true and tragic Houston historical past when penning this award-winning drama. The gripping play chronicles the lives of six black U.S. troopers and the incidents main as much as the 1917 racially-charged riot at their Camp Logan base – now house to Houston’s Memorial Park. The occasions led to one of many largest courts martial in U.S historical past for the members of the twenty fourth Infantry Regiment, and it wasn’t till 2023 that the Military put aside all of the convictions, acknowledging the troopers weren’t given honest trials.
Imply Women introduced by Theatre Below the Stars (January 28-February 9)
Within the early aughts, Tina Fey made a comic book/anthropology movie concerning the cutthroat world of highschool reputation wars. The film’s plot, characters, and chopping strains grew to become iconic after which in 2018 Fey partnered with Jeff Richmond (music) and Nell Benjamin (lyrics) to show the story right into a smash musical, which might later be become a film musical. However nothing beats hanging out with these imply ladies stay and in individual. As soon as once more, Cady, Regina, Gretchen and the remainder of the woman gang open their burn e book on the Interest Middle to sing their option to the highest of the category.
’Til Dying Do Us Half: Late Nite Catechism 3 at Levels (January 29-February 9)
Levels season of celebrating Sister continues. For his or her hilarious Nun for All Seasons, an add-on to their various lineup of performs and musicals for 24-25, Denise Fennell will get again into the behavior of giving us a Late Nite Catechism perspective on all the key holidays. On this present, she’ll take us into wedding ceremony season, giving us her stern however deeply humorous classes on the Sacraments of Marriage and the Final Rites. As at all times, classroom participation is a should, so look out for some pointed questions, sensible marriage counseling, and possibly even Sister’s personal model of The Newlywed Sport.
The Foreigner at A.D. Gamers (January 29-February 23)
Should you’ve made a brand new 12 months’s decision to chortle extra, do this award-winning basic 80s farce. Via a set of outrageous circumstances, a shy British man named Charlie should faux to be an “unique” foreigner who doesn’t know English whereas visiting a rural Georgia trip lodge. As Charlie tries to get some a lot wanted relaxation amid a lodge-full of colourful characters, the misunderstandings and mistaken identities pile up. As native lies and secrets and techniques are revealed to this harmless foreigner, an explosive comedian ending would possibly simply result in a brand new life for all of the underdogs on this charming story. Timing is all the things in terms of fast-paced farce, so we’re wanting ahead to seeing these skilled comedian Gamers in motion.
West Facet Story from Houston Grand Opera (January 31-February 15)
Final fall, HGO ended their 23-24 season with a dynamic manufacturing of the basic musical, The Sound of Music. This month, they’ll slip on their musical dancing sneakers once more with the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim masterpiece of American musical theater, West Facet Story.
Directed by the legendary Francesca Zambello, who additionally directed Sound of Music, and co-produced by HGO, Glimmerglass Pageant, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, HGO initially provided this manufacturing in 2018 at their particular George R. Brown stage when the corporate was displaced within the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Now opera and musical lovers may have an opportunity to see and listen to it within the full grandeur of the Wortham Middle. Soprano Shereen Pimentel makes her HGO debut as Maria, the function that gained her an Outer Critics Circle Award on Broadway. The stellar forged additionally contains Grammy Award-winning tenor Brenton Ryan as Tony and acclaimed Broadway artist Kyle Coffman, who additionally appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 movie model, in his HGO debut as Riff.
The Coronary heart Sellers at Levels (January 31-February 23)
For what possibly essentially the most well timed present of the month, Levels offers us the Houston premiere of this Lloyd Suh play that’s garnered accolades throughout the nation. Set within the Nineteen Seventies, after the Hart–Celler Act eliminated some boundaries for Japanese European and Asian immigration, The Coronary heart Sellers depicts the lives of two current immigrant girls — one from the Philippines and the opposite South Korea. After first assembly within the grocery retailer on Thanksgiving whereas their husbands are at work, the 2 girls discover a commonality of their day by day loneliness. Over wine and a somewhat-questionable frozen turkey, they share laughs, tears, and their American goals, reminiscent of disco dancing, studying to drive, and visiting Disneyland. Their night of kinship affords hope for friendship and connection that transcends cultural boundaries.
