Sound of Music
Theatre Under The Stars, Dec. 8 - 20
This year, TUTS presents a holiday gift from the wish list of your favorite
things, the classic show for all ages,
The Sound of Music. Winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture, the show is one of only four
that also won Broadway
’s Best Musical Tony Award.
The songs everyone loves, including Lonely Goatherd, Do Re Mi, Sixteen Going on Seventeen and Climb Ev’ry Mountain form a score still a top-seller for nearly five decades. The Sound of Music, last and greatest success of Rodgers and Hammerstein, will charm you once
again just in time for the holiday season. For more information, go to
www.tuts.com.
The Nerd
Company on Stage, Through Dec. 19
The Nerd, a comedy by Larry Shue, will run through Dec. 19. How much does Willum Cubbert
owe the man he
’s never met who saved his life in Vietnam? He’ll have a chance to find out when Rick Steadman shows up unexpectedly at his
birthday celebration. When the hero turns out to be a hopeless and annoying
nerd, Willum
’s undying gratitude is hilariously put to the test.
the nutcracker
Houston Ballet, Through Dec. 27
The Houston Ballet brings its beloved production of Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker to the Wortham Theater Center for 35 performances. A wonderful ballet for the
entire family,
The Nutcracker is the perfect way to introduce young children to the power and beauty of
classical dance. Tchaikovsky
’s magical score, Desmond Heeley’s fairytale scenery and Stevenson’s vibrantly theatrical staging combine to create one of the most visually
stunning productions of
The Nutcracker in the world today.
The Santaland Diaries
Alley Theatre, Through Dec. 27
Company Actor Todd Waite will reprise his role as “Crumpet the Elf” in the outlandish, and true, chronicles of David Sedaris’ experience as a worker in Macy’s SantaLand display. This compact, one-character comedy has been described as “a dream rendition at the Alley Theatre, courtesy of the ideally cast Todd Waite” by the Houston Chronicle.
The Santaland Diaries is an hilarious cult classic, featuring comic encounters during the height of
the holiday crunch.
Recommended for mature audiences due to language and subject matter. For more information, go to www.alleytheatre.org.
Joaquín Torres-García:
Constructing Abstraction with Wood
The Menil Collection, Through Jan. 3, 2010
The Joaquin Torres-Garcia: 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.
The Moon: “Houston, Tranquility Base Here.
The Eagle Has Landed.”
Museum Fine Arts Houston, Through Jan. 10
The Museum Fine Arts Houston celebrates the 40th anniversary of the landing on
the moon with
The Moon: “Houston, Tranquility Base Here. The Eagle Has Landed.” The exhibition pays tribute to the achievements of the Apollo space missions.
This exhibition provides an overview of 500 years of fascination with the
ever-changing phases, yet ever-constant image of the moon. Approximately 130
works of art will be on view and will feature some of the most groundbreaking
treatises on the moon as well as 17th-century telescopes and other early
scientific instruments, moon globes and maps. For more information, go to
www.mfah.org.
El Anatsui
Rice University Art Gallery, Beginning Jan. 28
Rice University Art Gallery has commissioned a site-specific installation by El
Anatsui, one of the foremost contemporary artists of his generations. Anatsui,
who has been called
“a master of material transformation,” is known for turning the detritus of everyday life into works of stunning
beauty and power.
A native of Ghana and resident of Nigeria since 1975, El Anatsui has
experimented throughout the years in variety of media including wood, ceramics
and paint. Although he was a respected teacher and artist in Africa for more
than 30 years, he was little known internationally until 10 years ago when he
began creating dazzling suspended sculptures made from liquor bottle tops and
metal foil collars from the bottle necks.
a little day music series
Da Camera Of Houston, Dec. 2
Da Camera of Houston’s long-standing A Little Day Music series of free lunchtime concerts returns to
the Grand Foyer of the Wortham Theater Center at noon. The popular series of
chamber music and jazz concerts is especially attractive to downtown workers.
A Little Day Music is presented on the first Wednesday of every month and
continues in December with a holiday jazz program by the Sam Dinkins III
Quartet.
Concertgoers are encouraged to enjoy their lunch while listening to the music.
For more information, call 713-524-5050 or go to
www.dacamera.com.
BOWFIRE Holiday Heart Strings
Society for the Performing Arts, Dec. 3
Bowfire Holiday Heart Strings mixes the greatest hits with a holiday twist. Celebrate the festive season with
some of the world
’s greatest fiddlers and violinists in many genres, with step dancing like you
have never seen.
Holiday Heart Strings includes all-time favorite classics, such as The Nutcracker Suite, Sleigh Ride, So This Is Christmas, Dreydl, Dreydl, Dreydl and The Christmas Song, with added singing, as well as the best of Bowfire that audiences have come to
love from its years of touring and performing.
Bowfire’s ensemble of world-renowned musicians takes audiences on a journey that moves
seamlessly from jazz to classical to bluegrass to Celtic to rock. It is a
must-see performance. For more information, go to
www.spahouston.org.
Boston Camerata
Houston Friends Of Music, Dec. 8
The Boston Camerata preserves and reawakens human memory as expressed through
the art of music. It accomplishes this through live, historically informed,
professional performances. Founded in 1954, the Boston Camerata was associated
until 1974 with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Camerata began touring
overseas in 1974, and has maintained an international presence ever since. This
performance promises to be especially interesting with holiday works from the
Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures.
