Houston Lifestyles & Homes August 2009
Grease
Theatre Under the Stars,
Sept. 8 - 20
The one that you want is coming to the Hobby Center. Grease, which was Time magazine’s 2007 pick for No. 1 musical of the year, is rockin’ across the country in this new production direct from Broadway.
Take a trip to a simpler time of poodle skirts, drive-ins and T-birds. Bad boy
Danny and the girl next door, Sandy, fall in love all over again to the tune of
your favorite songs:
Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’ and We Go Together as well as additional songs from the hit movie. For more information, go to www.tuts.com or call 713-558-8887.
Will Blum, Brian Crum, David Ruffin, Eric Schneider and Nick Verina in Grease.
MANON
Houston Ballet, Sept. 10, 12, 13, 18-20
A modern classic, Manon charts the romantic adventures of an irresistibly
beautiful femme fatale and her one true love, the impoverished student Des
Grieux, from the demi monde of Paris to the bayous of Louisiana. Sir Kenneth
has created a brilliant dance drama that explores the relationship between
love, sex and the corrupting power of money. The passion and danger of Manon
’s central pas de deux have proven irresistible to audiences around the world,
and have made it one of the most popular full-length ballets of the second half
of the 20th century. Recommended for 12 years and older.
American string quartet with Menachem Pressler
Houston Friends of Music, Oct. 13
One of the world’s finest quartets, the American String Quartet, celebrated its 33rd anniversary
last year. In over three decades of touring, the American String Quartet has
performed in all 50 states and virtually every important concert hall
throughout the world.
Internationally active as soloist and chamber musician, Menachem Pressler was a
founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio. He established himself among the world
’s most distinguished and honored musicians, with a career that spans over five
decades. American String Quartet will perform in Stude Concert Hall. For more
information, go to
www.HoustonFriendsofMusic.org or call 713-348-5400.
American String Quartet features Wolfram Koessel, cello; Daniel Avshalomov,
viola; Peter Winograd, violin; and Laurie Carney, violin
tapumes
Rice University Art Gallery
Through Aug. 11
Artist Henrique Oliveira uses tapumes, which in Portuguese can mean fencing,
boarding or enclosure as a title for many of his large-scale installations. The
term refers to the weathered wood Oliveira uses as the primary material in his
installations. Early on, Oliveira experimented with the surfaces of his
paintings by gluing newspaper onto a canvas and scraping it, or mixing sand
with the paint.
Over time, Oliveira began to see the deterioration of the wood and its
separation into multiple layers and colors as similar to the process of
painting. Oliveira
’s installations, which he refers to as “tridimensionals,” have evolved into massive, spatial constructions that combine painting,
architecture and sculpture.
The color purple
Theatre Under the Stars, Aug. 18 - 23
The Color Purple will return to Houston for a limited one-week engagement at the Hobby Center.
Nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical,
The Color Purple is based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the
movie by Steven Spielberg. It is a story about hope and joy amongst the often
difficult challenges that life can present.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.tuts.com or call 713-558-8887.
Opening Night Emanuel Ax’s Beethoven
Houston Symphony, Sept. 12
Opening Night will feature not only the world-class talent of pianist Emanuel
Ax, but an early glimpse of
The Planet—An HD Odyssey. Conductor Hans Graf will follow Ax’s rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and the magical journey of Stravinski’s Suite from The Firebird with excerpts from Copp’s space-age masterpiece, shown as the symphony performs one of The Planets best know movements, Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.
Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Through Sept. 13
Houston-based Amy Blakemore takes photographs in order to explore the ways in
which memory both records and transforms visual information. Employing the
camera as a subjective tool, Blakemore, who was born in 1958, has compared the
activity of photography to the process of gathering broken bits and lost
objects discovered serendipitously during long walks.
Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008 surveys Blakemore’s mature career with a carefully distilled selection of 36 works, ranging from
early black-and-white street photographs to her lushly colored portraits and
landscapes.
Josephine Meckseper
Blaffer Gallery, Sept. 12 - Nov. 14
Josephine Meckseper’s work engages leftist theories and politics in a consumerist reality.
Specifically, she examines the semantics of media propaganda as well as
capitalist sales and advertising strategies. The exhibition at Blaffer Gallery,
curated by Cynthia Woods Mitchell Curatorial Fellow Rachel Hooper, will contain
Meckseper
’s documentary photographs of anti-war protests; her signature mannequin and
product display installations; two videos,
0% Down (2008) and Mall of America (2009); and a new installation created on site—a replication of the stage sets used during U.S. presidential television
debates.
Tokyo String quartet
Houston Friends Of Music, Sept. 15
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was
founded more than 30 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber
ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet
—Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive
Greensmith (cello)
—has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a
comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a
distinguished teaching record.
Performing more than 100 concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String
Quartet has a devoted international following. For more information, go to
www.houstsonfriendsofmusic.org or call 713-348-5400.
Joaquín Torres-García: Constructing
Abstraction with Wood
The Menil Collection
Sept. 24, 2009 – Jan. 3, 2010
The Joaquin Torres-García: Constructing Abstraction With Wood exhibition will center chiefly on works from the 1920s to the 1940s, spanning
the time when Torres-Garc
ía lived in Spain, New York, Italy and France, developing toys and the vocabulary
for his wood constructions, to his eventual settlement in Uruguay as the
founder of a Constructivist art movement.
These sculptural works will be accompanied by a selection of Torres-García’s oil paintings and drawings, which demonstrate the connections between his
experiments in two and three-dimensional forms.
Celebrated for his work as a modernist painter, teacher and author, Torres-García is also known for breaking new ground in the realm of wooden constructions or “maderas.” Beginning in the late 1920s in Paris, Torres-García adapted the language of Neo-Plasticism from his colleagues Mondrian and Van
Doesburg into a new three-dimensional concept for grids and planes made of
wood. These maderas informed his simultaneous experiments in children
’s toys, which he promoted and sold as educational tools for young minds.
Der Rosenkavalier - Film & Music
Houston Symphony, Sept. 25 - 27
After seeing Wiene’s film Der Rosenkavalier, Richard Strauss adapted his sumptuous opera score for it. For decades, the
film was thought lost until recent painstaking reconstruction. See this
charming gem of the silent movie era when Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony
unite the classic film with Strauss
’ dazzling orchestral score, filled with virtuosity and passion.
Meet me in st. louis
Theatre Under the Stars, Sept. 29 - Oct. 11
Meet Me in St. Louis makes its TUTS debut as a lavish stage musical. Gorgeous turn-of-last-century
costumes, a wonderful score and the warm humor of nostalgic romance combine in
a brand-new show with old-fashioned appeal for all ages. With a real moving
trolley to make Esther
’s heartstrings go “zing zing zing!” and a Victorian home setting that even Martha Stewart would endorse, Meet Me in St. Louis is a wonderful classic from the golden age of musical comedy. It’s a cavalcade of family fun.
For more information, go to www.tuts.com or call 713-558-TUTS.
No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Through Oct. 4
No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston is the first museum exhibition to consider the current and past efforts of
regional artists working in the urban environment.
The exhibition features works by approximately 18 individuals and collaborative
teams.
No Zoning includes examples and documentation of important city interventions and
visionary structures from the 1980s to the present, and incorporates a
combination performance, lecture and video screening space that presents
special programs during the museum
’s extended Thursday evening hours. In addition, a series of special artistic
programs and educational tours are located throughout the city. For more
information, go to
www.camh.org.
Hits of the 60s & 70s with Rockapella
Houston Symphony, Sept. 4 - 6
Hear Rock the Boat, Shambala, Here Comes the Sun and Under the Boardwalk, performed with infectious energy by the five-part harmony vocal group and the
Houston Symphony with conductor Michael Krajewski.
USA Today puts it simply: “Some say the best musical instrument of all is the human voice—if you’ve seen Rockapella you know that’s the truth.”
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